INTRODUCTION

Different aspects of the redemptive work of Christ are not as completely separated in the Scriptures as they are sometimes in human commentaries and theologies. Even when He was nailed to the cross Jesus was recognized as "Lord" [Luke 23:42], and even amid prophetic scenes of divine judgment upon His enemies He is referred to as the "Lamb" [Revelation 6:16].

Consideration of the sacrificial aspects of salvation, therefore, must not obscure the mighty power of God both in the provision and in the acceptance of the sacrifice of His own Son as the meritorious ground of our eternal redemption. The very words of this lesson title, "The Suffering Savior," are highly suggestive: His sufferings would have been pointless and useless if He were not the divine Savior, and He could not be the triumphant Savior if He had not endured those divine sufferings.

Added to the mystery of the sufferings of Christ is the mystery of our required fellowship in those sufferings. Our sufferings for His name's sake have no merits in themselves; we are saved by virtue of His sufferings alone: yet he requires as a condition of discipleship our personal spiritual participation in His sufferings. From this experience of suffering most professing "Christians" shrink back, preferring fleshly formality rather than spiritual power. By definition of Christ Himself, such rejecters of the cross of self-sacrifice are not His disciples [Luke 14:27].

For an outline of this lesson, note the following points:

1. Recognition, Mark 8:27-30. 
a. Public recognition, 27-28. 
b. Private recognition, 29-30 

2. Reprimand, Mark 8:31-33. 
a. Prophetic revelation, 31. 
b. Presumptous rebuke, 32. 
c. Proprietary rebuke, 33. 

3. Requirement, Mark 8:34-37. 
a. Carrying the cross, 34. 
b. Saving the soul, 35-37. 

4. Reciprocation, Mark 8:38. 

NOTES ON THE TEXT:

RECOGNITION, Mark 8:27-30.

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" [John 1:10]. After nearly 2,000 years the world still does not know Him. This spiritual ignorance is not for lack of evidence: the simple truth is that a sinful world is not willing to believe in Jesus as the Son of God because His life and teachings condemn sin. True, He is also the Savior of sinners, but most sinners are not willing to be saved: they refuse to recognize themselves as sinners, and therefore have no use for the Savior.

Yet the character and works of Jesus are such that He could not and cannot be ignored. Men must form some opinion about Him, whether they accept Him as He is in truth or whether they rationalize their failure to do so by supposing Him to be something less than He is.

Public Reputation, Mark 8:27-28.

Jesus' question to His disciples concerning other men's opinions of Him was calculated to lead them to clarify their own thinking. Considering their close association with Him, their daily observation of His life and works, could they offer any better testimony to His true identity than a mere recital of His public reputation?

People generally were agreed that Jesus was no ordinary man. It is noteworthy that the Jewish people themselves, familiar with their own history and with the more recent ministry of John the Baptist, recognized in Jesus the same power and truth, the same Spirit of God, manifested in their greatest prophets. So warped by tradition, however, was their conception of the Messiah that it was easier to believe that a former prophet had returned from the dead than that the promised Messiah had finally appeared.

Private Recognition, 29-30.

No matter, though, what other people think: the important question for the disciples and for us is what we think and say of Jesus. We do not truly know Him until we recognize Him as the Messiah, the Christ. To be meaningful, of course, such recognition must be based on a Scriptural understanding of the Messianic office.

Private recognition was all that Jesus desired at that time; the time for public declaration would come later. This is understandable in terms of developing events; but apart from the historical setting we may observe that we need a good private or personal knowledge of Christ before we can be prepared to tell other people about Him.

REPRIMAND, Mark 8:31-33.

If some people think too much of the apostle Peter, perhaps others think too little of him. There is no good Scriptural reason to suppose that Peter was either the best or the worst of the apostles; he seems to have been both by turns. If in one eager moment he led the group in confessing that Jesus was Christ, in another hasty moment he would have led them in rejecting the authority of that Christ.

Prophetic Revelation, 31.

"Son of man" is one of the Messianic titles. Since the disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah, they needed to learn more about Him. Especially they needed to learn, contrary to established traditions, the Scriptural truth about the sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Christ. This was the prophetic revelation that Jesus now "began to teach them."

Presumptuous Rebuke, 32.

"Openly" apparently means here that Jesus was giving this instruction to the entire company of disciples, the whole church [Matthew 16:21]. Mark now the gross inconsistency of this noted apostle: first of the twelve to confess that Jesus was the Christ, now he is the first and only one to dare to "rebuke" his supposed "Lord" [Matthew 16:22].

Even so, the presumptuousness of Peter is no match for that of the Roman harlot who bases her vain claims of authority on her pretended connection with this volatile "rock"!

Proprietary Rebuke, 33.

Who has authority to rebuke Whom? Sinner or saint, minis- ter or apostle, it matters not: the person who dares to dispute the Word of Jesus, the Word of God -- that person is playing the role of Satan, and does not "savor," does not have in mind, the things of God, but the things of men.

REQUIREMENT, Mark 8:34-37.

Genuine recognition of Jesus as the Christ necessarily involves the acknowledgment of His divine authority. Just as surely as He is the only begotten Son of God, He requires what He will of His creatures. No man or group of men, no church or any other institution, has any right to change His terms.

Carrying the Cross, 34.

As Jesus laid down His life to take it again [John 10:17], so His followers must spiritually die in order to live [Galatians 2:19-20; 5:24]. Men would like to water down this doctrine, so that we hear a lot of foolish talk about "cross- bearing" as if it meant no more burden of trouble or sorrow, or as if only an exceptional disciple here and there even learned to bear his cross. But Jesus' demand that every follower take up the cross of self-crucifixion is set as a requirement at the very beginning of discipleship [Luke 14:27]. Beyond this it is a daily requirement for an obedient Christian life [Luke 9:23]. To take up the cross means to deny self in total surrender to the will of God as Jesus did; in brief, it means honestly to follow Jesus at the cost of life itself.

Saving the Soul, 35-37.

Here is one of the many paradoxes boldly set forth in the Word of God: In Christ the sure way to lose life is to desire to save it for ourselves; the only way to save it is to lose it for the sake of Christ and His gospel. The "disciple" who does not understand this is not much of a disciple.

"Life" in verse 35 and "soul" in verses 36 and 37 are different words only in translation; Jesus used the same word in the Greek.

RECIPROCATION, Mark 8:38.

Is it possible that our Savior shall ever be ashamed of a genuine believer in Himself -- a believer whom He loved with an everlasting love and for whom He died the shameful death of the cross? The question is no more difficult than another: Is it possible that a genuine believer can ever be ashamed of his divine Savior and His Words?

Whatever we may think about all this, the words of our Lord will stand when heaven and earth have passed away [Mark 13:31

CONCLUSION [Isaiah 53:5].

Vicarious or substitutionary atonement could hardly be stated in words more clear than these, though many other passages of Scripture declare the same truth. The persons in view here, for whom the Messiah suffered as the divine Substitute, are those who find peace with God and are healed with His stripes. "He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" [Isaiah 53: 11].
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[From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, December 20, 1974, pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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