to be able or possible · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
be
εἶναίeinai
G1511
to exist · verb — present active infinitive
my
μοῦmoû
G3450
of me
disciple
μαθητής.¶mathētēs
G3101
a learner · noun — nominative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Philippians 3:7-8 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
1 John 2:15-16 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Luke 5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, h…
Luke 18:28-30 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
Luke 18:22-23 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and…
Luke 5:11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Acts 5:1-5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Luke 14:25–end
See how Christ in his doctrine suited himself to those to whom he spoke, and gave every one his portion of meat. To Pharisees he preached humility and charity. He is in these verses directing his discourse to the multitudes that crowded after him, and seemed zealous in following him; and his exhortation to them is to understand the terms of discipleship, before they undertook the profession of it, and to consider what they did. See here,
I. How zealous people were in their attendance on Christ (Luk 14:25): There went great multitudes with him, many for love and more for company, for where there are many there will be more. Here was a mixed multitude, like that which went with Israel out of E…
which of you, &c.--Common sense teaches men not to begin any costly work without first seeing that they have wherewithal to finish. And he who does otherwise exposes himself to general ridicule. Nor will any wise potentate enter on a war with any hostile power without first seeing to it that, despite formidable odds (two to one), he be able to stand his ground; and if he has no hope of this, he will feel that nothing remains for him but to make the best terms he can. Even so, says our Lord, "in the warfare you will each have to wage as My disciples, despise not your enemy's strength, for the odds are all against you; and you had better see to it that, despite every disadvantage, you still ha…
Whosoever he be of you - This seems to be addressed particularly to those who were then, and who were to be, preachers of his Gospel; and who were to travel over all countries, publishing salvation to a lost world.
John Gill on Luke 14:33
So likewise whosoever he be of you,.... Let him be ever so forward to follow me, to make a profession of me and of my Gospel, and to become a disciple of mine:
that forsaketh not all that he hath; when called to it, relations, friends, possessions, estates, and what not, which is an explanation of Luke 14:26
he cannot be my disciple; he is not in fact one, and is not worthy to be called one.
The Church Fathers
But there is a difference between renouncing all things and leaving all things. For it is the way of few perfect men to leave all things, that is, to cast behind them the cares of the world, but it is the part of all the faithful to renounce all things, that is, so to hold the things of the world as by them not to be held in the world.
Whoever would truly be a follower of God must break the bonds of attachment to this life. This is done through complete separation from and forgetfulness of old habits. It is impossible for us to achieve our goal of pleasing God unless we snatch ourselves away from fleshly ties and worldly society. We are then transported to another world in our manner of living. The apostle said, "But our citizenship is in heaven." The Lord specifically said, "Likewise every one of you that does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple."
Now to what these comparisons refer, He on the same occasion sufficiently explained, when he said, So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. The cost therefore of building the tower, and the strength of the ten thousand against the king who has twenty thousand, mean nothing else than that each one should forsake all that he hath. The foregoing introduction tallies then with the final conclusion. For in the saying that a man forsakes all that he hath, is contained also that he hates his father and mother, his wife and children, brothers and sisters, yea and his own wife also. For all these things are a man's own, which entangle him, and hinder him from obtaining not those particular possessions which will pass away with time, but those common blessings which will abide for ever.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Disciple — A scholar, sometimes applied to the followers of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), and of the Pharisees (22:16), but principally to the followers of Christ. A disciple of Christ is one who (1) believes…
Devotedness To God · Should be: Unreserved — Should be: Unreserved
Discipleship · Tests of — Tests of
Parables · Builder of a tower — Builder of a tower
Pilgrims And Strangers · Saints are called to be — Saints are called to be
Seekers · 5:4-6,8,14;8:12; — 5:4-6,8,14;8:12;
Self-Denial · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Luke 14:25-33
Luke 14:25-32
Matthew 10:37-42
Mark 9:41
Luke 14:25-32
37. He who loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38. And he who doth not take his cross and follow me, [603] is not worthy of me. 39. He who findeth his life [604] shall lose it; and he who loseth his life for my sake shall find it. [605] 40. He who receiveth you receiveth me: and he who receiveth me receiveth him who sent me. 41. He who receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward: he who receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall a righteous man's reward. 42. And whosoever shall give to one…
