Emphatic: "but ye, whom do ye say that Iam?"

The Christ of God

Each evangelist gives Peter's confession differently. Matthew, The Christ, the Son of the living God. Mark, The Christ. See on Matthew 16:15. On Christ, see on Matthew 1:1.

The word implies an emphatic, solemn charge; its meaning being, strictly, to lay a penalty upon one, and thence, to charge under penalty.

No man (μηδενὶ)

The conditional negative: no man, whoever he might be.

The verb means to reject on scrutiny or trial, and therefore implies deliberate rejection.

Of the elders (ἀπό)

Lit., from the side of; on the part of.

Not the future tense of the verb come, but the present of the verb to will: wills to come. See on Matthew 1:19; and Mark 8:34. Rev., properly, would come.

Daily

Peculiar to Luke.

The same construction as will come after (Luke 9:23). Rev., would save.

Life (ψυχὴν)

See on soul, Mark 12:30.

A merchant's word. Jesus is putting the case as a common-sense question of profit and loss.

Lose (ἀπολέσας)

"When he might have been saved" (Bengel). This word, in classical Greek, is used: 1. Of death in battle or elsewhere. 2. Of laying waste, as a city or heritage. 3. Of losing of life, property, or other objects. As an active verb, to kill or demolish. 4. Of being demoralized, morally abandoned or ruined, as children under bad influences. In New Testament of killing (Matthew 2:13; Matthew 12:14). 5. Of destroying and perishing, not only of human life, but of material and intellectual things (1 Corinthians 1:19; John 6:27; Mark 2:22; 1 Peter 1:7; James 1:11; Hebrews 1:11). 6. Of losing (Matthew 10:6, Matthew 10:42; Luke 15:4, Luke 15:6, Luke 15:8). Of moral abandonment (Luke 15:24, Luke 15:32). 7. Of the doom of the impenitent (Matthew 10:28; Luke 13:3; John 3:15; John 10:28; 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:12.

Cast away (ζημιωθείς)

Another business term. The word means to fine, amerce, mulct; to punish by exacting forfeit. Hence Rev., correctly, forfeit his own self. See on win your souls, Luke 21:19. Also on Matthew 16:26.

The feeling expressed by this word has reference to incurring dishonor or shame in the eyes of men. It is "the grief a mail conceives from his own imperfections considered with relation to the world taking notice of them; grief upon the sense of disesteem" ("South," cit. by Trench). Hence it does not spring out of a reverence for right in itself, but from fear of the knowledge and opinion of men. Thus in the use of the kindred noun αἰσχύνη, shame, in the New Testament. In Luke 14:9, the man who impudently puts himself in the highest place at the feast, and is bidden by his host to go lower down, begins with shame to take the lowest place; not from a right sense of his folly and conceit, but from being humiliated in the eyes of the guests. Thus, Hebrews 12:2, Christ is said to have "endured the shame," i.e., the public disgrace attaching to crucifixion. So, too, in the use of the verb, Romans 1:16 : "I am not ashamed of the gospel," though espousing its cause subjects me to the contempt of the Jew and of the Greek, to whom it is a stumbling-block and foolishness. Onesiphorus was not ashamed to be known as the friend of a prisoner (2 Timothy 1:16). Compare Hebrews 2:11; Hebrews 11:16. It is used of the Son of Man here by a strong metaphor. Literally, of course, the glorified Christ cannot experience the sense of shame, but the idea at the root is the same. It will be as if he should feel himself disgraced before the Father and the holy angels in owning any fellowship with those who have been ashamed of him.

His glory, etc

Threefold glory. His own, as the exalted Messiah; the glory of God, who owns him as his dearly beloved son, and commits to him the judgment; and the glory of the angels who attend him.

The word taste, in the sense of experience, is often used in classical Greek; as, to taste of toils, of sorrow, of freedom, but never of death. The phrase, taste of death, is common in Rabbinical writings. In the New Testament only here and Hebrews 2:9, used of Christ. Chrysostom (cited by Alford) compares Christ to a physician who first tastes his medicines to encourage the sick to take them.

The kingdom of God

See on Luke 6:20.

Rev., the mountain. The tradition that this mountain was Tabor is generally abandoned, and Mount Hermon is commonly supposed to have been the scene of the transfiguration. "Hermon, which is indeed the centre of all the Promised Land, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; the mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs of Jordan descended to the valleys of Israel. Along its mighty forest-avenues, until the grass grew fair with the mountain lilies, his feet dashed in the dew of Hermon, he must have gone to pray his first recorded prayer about death, and from the steep of it, before he knelt, could see to the south all the dwelling-place of the people that had sat in darkness, and seen the great light - the land of Zabulon and of Naphtali, Galilee of the nations; could see, even with his human sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a place loved by him and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left unto them desolate; and, chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the hills above Nazareth, sloping down to his old home: hills on which the stones yet lay loose that had been taken up to cast at him, when he left them forever" (Ruskin, "Modern Painters," iv., 374).

To pray

Peculiar to Luke.

Lit., became different. Luke avoids Matthew's word, μεταμορφώθη, was metamorphosed. He was writing for Greek readers, to whom that word represented the transformations of heathen deities into other forms. See, for instance, the story of the capture of Proteus by Menelaus, in the fourth book of Homer's "Odyssey." See on Matthew 17:2.

White (λευκὸς)

In classical Greek very indefinite as an expression of color; being used, not only of the whiteness of the snow, but of gray dust. Its original sense is clear. All three evangelists use the word, but combined with different terms. Thus, Matthew, as the light. Mark, στίλβοντα, glistering (see on Mark 9:3). Luke, ἐξαστράπτων (only here in New Testament), flashing as with the brilliance of lightning. Rev., dazzling.

The imperfect is graphic; as the vision revealed itself, the two were in the act of talking.

Spake (ἔλεγον)

Imperfect, were speaking.

Decease (ἔξοδον)

The Rev. retains the word of the A. V., though it has, to modern ears, a somewhat formal sound. No word, however, could more accurately represent the original, which is compounded of ἐξ, out of, and ὁδός, a journeying; and thus corresponds to the Latin decessus, a going away, whence the word decease. The Greek word is familiar to us as exodus, applied principally to the migration of the Hebrews from Egypt, and thus used at Hebrews 11:22, departing. In the mouth of Christ it covers the ideas both of death and ascension. Peter uses it of his own death (2 Peter 1:15, where see note).

He should accomplish (ἔμελλεν πληροῦν)

Better, as Rev., was about to accomplish. "Accomplish," or "fulfil," is very significant with reference to Christ's death. Moses and Joshua had begun an exodus from Egypt, but had not accomplished the going out of God's people from this present world. See Hebrews 3:18; Hebrews 4:8.

The perfect participle. Lit., burdened or oppressed. "It was but natural for these men of simple habits, at night, and after the long ascent, and in the strong mountain air, to be heavy with sleep; and we also know it as a psychological fact, that, in quick reaction, after the overpowering influence of the strongest emotions, drowsiness would creep over their limbs and senses" (Edersheim).

Lit., in their departing. The verb only here in New Testament. The whole sentence is peculiar to Luke's narrative.

Master

See on Luke 5:5.

Let us make

See on Matthew 17:4.

Tabernacles

See on Matthew 17:4. "Jesus might have smiled at the naive proposal of the eager apostle that they six should dwell forever in the little succo equals th of wattled boughs on the slopes of Hermon" (Farrar).

Not knowing what he said

Not implying any reproach to Peter, but merely as a mark of his bewilderment in his state of ecstasy.

"A strange peculiarity has been noticed about Hermon, in the extreme rapidity of the formation of cloud on the summit. In a few minutes a thick cap forms over the top of the mountain, and as quickly disperses and entirely disappears" (Edersheim).

Overshadowed them (ἐπεσκίαζεν)

A beautiful imperfect: "began to overshadow them;" thus harmonizing with the words, "as they entered into." Them (αὐτοὺς) must, I think, be confined to Moses, Elias, and Jesus. Grammatically, it might include all the six; but the disciples hear the voice out of the cloud, and the cloud, as a symbol of the divine presence, rests on these three as a sign to the disciples. See Exodus 14:19; Exodus 19:16; 1 Kings 8:10; Psalm 104:3.

Lit., in the coming to pass of the voice. Rev., when the voice came, with A. V. in margin.

Very frequent in Luke, and only once elsewhere: James 3:15.

Teacher.

Look upon (ἐπίβλεψαι)

Only here and James 2:3. To look with pitying regard; and by medical writers of examining the condition of a patient.

See on Mark 9:18.

Suddenly (ἐξαίφνης)

Used only once outside of the writings of Luke: Mark 13:36. Naturally, frequent in medical writers, of sudden attacks of disease. Luke has more medical details in his account than the other evangelists. He mentions the sudden coming on of the fits, and their lasting a long time. Mr. Hobart remarks that Aretaeus, a physician of Luke's time, in treating of epilepsy, admits the possibility of its being produced by demoniacal agency. Epilepsy was called by physicians "the sacred disease."

Bruising (συντρῖβον)

See on bruised, Luke 4:18. The word literally means crushing together. Rev. expresses the σύν, together, by sorely. Compare the details in Mark, gnashing the teeth and pining away (Mark 9:18). The details in Mark 9:21, Mark 9:22, we might rather expect to find in Luke; especially Christ's question, how long he had been subject to these attacks. See note on Mark 9:18.

See on Mark 9:19.

Perverse

See on Matthew 17:17.

How long (ἕως πότε)

Lit., until when.

Suffer (ἀνέξομαι)

Better as Rev., bear with. See Acts 18:14; 2 Corinthians 11:1. The literal meaning is to "bear up (ἀνά) under."

See on teareth, Mark 9:18.

Tare (συνεσπάραξεν)

Only here in New Testament. Convulse, which is the exact Latin equivalent, would, perhaps, be the nearest rendering. Σπαραγμός, a kindred noun, is the word for a cramp.

See on Matthew 7:28.

Mighty power (μεγαλειότητι)

Used only by Luke and at 2 Peter 1:16, on which see note.

He did (ἐποίει)

Imperfect. Better, was doing.

Lit., put these sayings into your ears.

Shall be delivered (μέλλει παραδίδοσθαι)

Rather, is about to be delivered.

A debate or discussion. See on Luke 24:38, and James 1:22; James 2:4.

Strictly, having laid hold of.

By him (παῤ ἑαυτῷ)

Lit., by himself. Mark alone record the taking him in his arms.

See on Matthew 18:5.

Lit., in the fulfilling of the days. This means when the days were being fulfilled; not when they were fulfilled: when the time was drawing near. Rev., were well-nigh come. Luke is speaking of a period beginning with the first announcement of his sufferings, and extending to the time of his being received up.

That he should be received up (τῆς ἀναλήμψεως αὐτοῦ)

Lit., the days of his being taken up: his ascension into heaven. Ἀνάλημψις, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; but the kindred verb, ἀναλαμβάνω, is the usual word for being received into heaven. See Acts 1:2, Acts 1:11, Acts 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:16.