“And
having called the crowd, together with his disciples, to Himself, He
said to them, If, as is the case, anyone is desiring to come after Me
as a follower of mine, let him at once begin to lose sight of himself
and his own interests, and let him at once begin to take up his
cross, and let him start taking the same road in company with Me, and
let him continue to do so moment by moment.”
Follow
me. The word “follow” is
akoloutheo “to
take the same road as another does.” It is used with the
associative instrumental case. It is, “Let him follow with Me.”
The idea is not that of following behind another, but that of
accompanying the other person, taking the same road that he takes and
fellowshipping with him along that road. The first two imperatives
are aorist, giving a summary cmomand to be obeyed at once.
The
“coming after” and the “taking up” are to be obeyed at once
and are to be a once-for-all act. That is, these acts are to be
looked upon as a permanent attitude and practice of life. The whole
life is to be characterized by an habitual coming after and taking up
of the cross. After having once for all given over the life to the
Lord, the believer must hence-forward count it ever so given over. He
is not his own anymore. He belongs to the Lord. He is the Lord's
property.
The
word “follow” however, is the present imperative, which commands
the doing of an action and its habitual, moment by moment
continuance. The first two imperatives give direction to the life.
The last speaks of the actual living of that which has been given
direction by two once-for-all acts.
No comments:
Post a Comment