Mark 8:31-38
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
[31] Καὶ ἤρξατο διδάσκειν αὐτοὺς ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πολλὰ παθεῖν, καὶ ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ τῶν γραμματέων, καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι, καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναστῆναι·
[32] καὶ παρρησίᾳ τὸν λόγον ἐλάλει. καὶ προσλαβόμενος αὐτὸν ὁ Πέτρος ἤρξατο ἐπιτιμᾶν αὐτῷ.
[33]ὁ δὲ ἐπιστραφεὶς καὶ ἰδὼν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἐπετίμησε τῷ Πέτρῳ λέγων· ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ· ὅτι οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
[34] Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν ὄχλον σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ὅστις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἀκολουθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι.
[35 ]ὃς γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι, ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, οὗτος σώσει αὐτήν.
[36] τί γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἄνθρωπον ἐὰν κερδήσῃ τὸν κόσμον ὅλον, καὶ ζημιωθῇ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ;
[37] ἢ τί δώσει ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ;
[38] ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ μοιχαλίδι καὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπαισχυνθήσεται αὐτὸν ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ἁγίων.
Comments
The three infinitives in v. 31 produce a jingle; they also make up a climakoton, an ascending scale (rejection- murder-resurrection). Jesus is up-front and vocal (v. 32, παρρησίᾳ).
[31] ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ τῶν γραμματέων, καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι, καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναστῆναι: the three infintives depend on the impers. vb δεῖ, ‘it is necessary’, which is used of absolute, unconditional necessity. The inf. are all cmpds, and create assonance (-ῆναι), ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι being aor. pass. ( < ἀποδοκιμάζομαι, ‘Ι am rejected’), ἀποκτανθῆναι, a koine pass. aor. (< ἀποκτείνομαι, ‘Ι am slain, killed’), and ἀναστῆναι, 2nd aor. (< ἀνίστημι, intrans., ‘I rise [sc. from the dead]’).
[32] παρρησίᾳ τὸν λόγον ἐλάλει: dat. of manner; παρρησία, ἡ, lit. ‘saying/ telling everything’, means ‘outspokenness, freedom of speech’, a term associated with Athenian democracy of the fifth century BC. Here it means ‘openness, publicness’ (EDNT, s.v., p.45).
ἐλάλει: λαλέω/ ῶ has several meanings in cl. Gk, but here means ‘speak’ (its only sense in the NT).
προσλαβόμενος αὐτὸν: προσλαμβάνομαι, mid. voice, is construed with an. acc. obj. in koine Greek; it means ‘I take aside’. (In cl. Gk the vb takes a gen., and means ‘ I take hold of’.) One can imagine Peter taking Jesus by the arm in order to have a word with him in private (in contrast to Jesus’ public message, cf. παρρησίᾳ).
[33] ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου: ὕπαγε, 2nd pers. sg., pres. imperative of ὑπάγω, intr., which in cl. Gk means ‘I go away’, but becomes standard in the sense ‘I go’ in Hellenistic Greek. From Hellenistic ὑπάγω is derived the modern Greek πηγαίνω, πάω, ‘I go’. Jesus is speaking colloquial Greek: ‘Go behind me!
[34] τὸν ὄχλον: ὄχλος, ὁ, in cl. Gk, ‘crowd’; ‘mob’; generally, ‘multitude’, which is the general meaning in the NT.
ἀκολουθείτω μοι: 3rd pers. sg. imper., pres. tense < ἀκολουθῶ (έω), c. dat. pers., ‘follow, freq. of soldiers and slaves’ (cl. Gk: LSJ). Cf. Engl. acolyte. Here the vb refers to discipleship (EDNT, s.v., p. 502).
[36] τὴν ψυχὴν: ψυχή, ἡ, in cl. Gk, ‘soul’ (Homer uses θυμός). Plato often refers to the disjunction between ‘body’ and ‘soul’ (e.g. Phaedo 91 d, ‘the soul/ ψυχή is more lasting than the body/ σῶμα’). In our pericope ‘soul’ is contrasted to ‘world’.
[38] τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους: pl. λόγους (‘my words’) here; in v. 32, sg. τὸν λόγον ἐλάλει, ‘he spoke this word’.
μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων: ἄγγελος is a good example of semantic shift across time and religions. Already in Homer and in cl. Gk the noun means ‘messenger, envoy’. By the time of the LXX it means ‘angel’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 