Luke 14:33

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not . . .—Better, that renounceth not. This, then, was the immediate lesson which the company of eager disciples had to learn: to say good-bye to their “all,” whatever that might be. Fishing-nets and hired servants, or great possessions, or ease and safety, or besetting sins, or fancied righteousness—all had to be renounced. The word for “forsake” is that which was afterwards used in the baptismal formula, “I renounce the devil and all his works,” and the same as that which is translated “bidding farewell” in Luke 9:61, Acts 18:18.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:25-35 Though the disciples of Christ are not all crucified, yet they all bear their cross, and must bear it in the way of duty. Jesus bids them count upon it, and then consider of it. Our Saviour explains this by two similitudes; the former showing that we must consider the expenses of our religion; the latter, that we must consider the perils of it. Sit down and count the cost; consider it will cost the mortifying of sin, even the most beloved lusts. The proudest and most daring sinner cannot stand against God, for who knows the power of his anger? It is our interest to seek peace with him, and we need not send to ask conditions of peace, they are offered to us, and are highly to our advantage. In some way a disciple of Christ will be put to the trial. May we seek to be disciples indeed, and be careful not to grow slack in our profession, or afraid of the cross; that we may be the good salt of the earth, to season those around us with the savour of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or else - If he is not able. If he is satisfied that he would be defeated.

An ambassage - Persons to treat with an enemy and propose terms of peace. These expressions are not to be improperly pressed in order to obtain from them a spiritual signification. The general scope of the parable is to be learned from the connection, and may be thus expressed:

1. Every man who becomes a follower of Jesus should calmly and deliberately look at all the consequences of such an act and be prepared to meet them.

2. Men in other things act with prudence and forethought. They do not begin to build without a reasonable prospect of being able to finish. They do not go to war when there is every prospect that they will be defeated.

3. Religion is a work of soberness, of thought, of calm and fixed purpose, and no man can properly enter on it who does not resolve by the grace of God to fulfil all its requirements and make it the business of his life.

4. We are to expect difficulties in religion. It will cost us the mortification of our sins, and a life of self-denial, and a conflict with our lusts, and the enmity and ridicule of the world. Perhaps it may cost us our reputation, or possibly our lives and liberties, and all that is dear to us; but we must cheerfully undertake all this, and be prepared for it all.

5. If we do not deliberately resolve to leave all things, to suffer all things that may be laid on us, and to persevere to the end of our days in the service of Christ, we cannot be his disciples. No man can be a Christian who, when he makes a profession, is resolved after a while to turn back to the world; nor can he be a true Christian if he "expects that he will" turn back. If he comes not with a "full" purpose "always" to be a Christian; if he means not to persevere, by the grace of God, through all hazards, and trials, and temptations; if he is not willing to bear his cross, and meet contempt, and poverty, and pain, and death, without turning back, he "cannot" be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28-33. 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 have wherewithal to hold out and win the day, or else not begin at all, and make the best you can in such awful circumstances." In this simple sense of the parable (Stier, Alford, &c., go wide of the mark here in making the enemy to be God, because of the "conditions of peace," Lu 14:32), two things are taught: (1) Better not begin (Re 3:15), than begin and not finish. (2) Though the contest for salvation be on our part an awfully unequal one, the human will, in the exercise of that "faith which overcometh the world" (1Jo 5:4), and nerved by power from above, which "out of weakness makes it strong" (Heb 11:34; 1Pe 1:5), becomes heroical and will come off "more than conqueror." But without absolute surrender of self the contest is hopeless (Lu 14:33).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 14:28"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 14:33 gives the applicatio of the parable. Hofmann, Keil, and Hahn divide the sentence into two, utting a full stop after ὑμῶν and rendering: “So then every one of you! (do the same thing, i.e., consider). He who does not renounce all he hath is not able to be a disciple of mine.” This is very effective; it may have been what Jesus actually said; but it is hardly how Lk. reports His words. Ha he meant the sentence to be read so he would have put γὰρ after ὃς. He runs the two supposed sentences into one, and so the counsel to deliberate is left out or latent in the requirement of renunciation, which is the reason for deliberation.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. forsaketh not all that he hath] i.e. every affection, gift or possession that interferes with true discipleship. We must be ready ‘to count all things but loss for Christ,’ Php 3:7-8.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 14:33. Οὐκ ἀποτάσσεται, doth not renounce or detach himself from [bid farewell to]) The builder exercises self-denial as to (renounces), and expends, unhesitatingly, sums of money, the warrior his forces, and the disciple parents, and all ties of affection. The former two have a positive expenditure; the latter, a negative (self-denying) expenditure (the foregoing, where called on, of that which one might otherwise enjoy, home affections). [It is a mighty undertaking to compass the being a disciple of Christ. He is better to abstain from the attempt, who is not altogether well pleased with all the things which tend to the attainment of that object.—V. g.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. "We must live in this world as though the soul was already in heaven and the body mouldering in the grave" (St. Francis de Sales). There was much unreasoning, possibly not a little sentimental enthusiasm, among the people who crowded round Jesus in these last months of his work. The stern, uncompromising picture of what ought to be the life of his real followers was painted especially with a view of getting rid of these useless, purposeless enthusiasts. The way of the cross, which he was about to tread, was no pathway for such light-hearted triflers. Luke 14:33

Vincent's Word Studies

Forsaketh (ἀποτάσσεται)

Bids good-by to. Rev., renounceth. See on Luke 9:61. "In that forsaketh lies the key to the whole passage" (Trench). Christian discipleship is founded in self-renunciation.