What does Matthew 16 v 24 mean?

Answer 1

Matthew 16:25 says, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

In this verse, life also means soul. It is saying that in order to be saved, you must surrender your soul to God. You must die to your earthly self and put behind you the desires of the world. You have to lose your life in the sense that you give up all control to God in order for you to have a complete relationship with him. Once you give up your life to Christ, you will find you have found true happiness and completeness in your life. Having faith in God requires us to give up ourselves completely to God in order for him to make us into the individual he wants us to be.

Answer 2

Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

This statement is one of the many ways by which Jesus (and His apostles) taught the necessity of putting aside worldliness and developing a Christ-like nature in order to be a true disciple. However, the statement "take up his cross" is obviously figurative, not literal.

Figuratively, what was the cross to Jesus? It was a symbol of something difficult and undesirable, but necessary. Jesus the man (as opposed to Jesus, the Son of God) had no desire to be crucified. Consider His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just moments before His arrest:

"O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me..."

Significantly, His prayer did not stop there, but continued:

"...nevertheless, not as I will, but as Youwill." (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus denied Himself and carried out God's will.Similarly, anyone who would "come after" Jesus must do the same: deny the sinful desires of the flesh and take the more difficult way (which human nature finds undesirable) in order to be obedient and pleasing to Jesus instead of the easy, undemanding way by which we only please ourselves.

Answer 3

When Peter confessed that Jesus was Christ, Jesus told Peter (who was also called Simon) That Peter was the rock that He would build His church. But when Jesus predicted His death when He returns to Jerusalem. Peter showed sharp disapproval and criticism and warned Jesus that it would never happen. Jesus said "Get behind me satan..." the word satan is taken or "borrowed" from Hebrew. The word satan means adversary or accuser. Jesus probably called Peter at this moment an accuser because his statement to Jesus held the same temptation to Jesus as Satan (the evil one) did at the start of Jesus' ministry (Matt 4:8-10)