The Crucified Life
Notes
Transcript
The word “if” introduces a conditional clause, “on the condition or supposition that”; “in the event that” (Oxford Languages). It introduces to us the matter of choice and the matter of cost. The Lord does not assume everyone is going to follow Him. He would lóve to have everyone following Him, but He knóws that not everyone will. He knows that the majority of people will ignore His invitation.
God created man with a free will, the ability to make decisions and to act on those decisions. It is up to man to decide between that which is good and that which is bad. We never read in the Word of God that man is ever forced to do what God actually expects of him. We see that free will being exercised in Genesis 2, 3 with Adam and Eve been given the freedom of choice between obedience to the command of God or disobedience to His command.
A choice normally have multiple consequences and the consequences at times might be slight and at other times extreme. The consequences for Adam and Eve were Life or Death and they choose death, resulting in death. Here, in this verse the Lord Jesus follows the same pattern as in Genesis. He leaves the choice of man following Him with man. He does not say “Come after Me...” but rather “If (indeed)...”.
In the Greek the word if is a more emphatic, if indééd. (Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 72.) The word indeed would imply a if truly or if really.
except this time He says that choosing death will result in Life. t extends the invitation and leaves it to man on whether to accept or decline that invitation. .
This decision must not be based of experiences, feelings or emotions.