Mark 8:31

And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31-33) And he began to teach them.—See Notes on Matthew 16:21-23. The points peculiar to St. Mark are, (1) that our Lord “spake that saying openly”—the absence of any reticence in this announcement of apparent failure was what startled the disciples; and (2) the graphic touch that as He rebuked Peter, He turned and looked, not on that Apostle only, but on the whole company of the disciples.

Benson Commentary

Mark 8:31-33. And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer — The disciples being now convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and having made confession of him as such, they were prepared to receive this further and equally important discovery, which they could not have borne before, without being so offended as to forsake him; and which, perhaps, they could hardly have borne now, had they thoroughly understood, and fully believed, Christ’s words; for they certainly still expected that he would assume external pomp and power, and restore the kingdom of Israel, an expectation which they held fast, even till the day of his ascension into heaven. And he spake that saying openly — Παρρησια, plainly, namely to the apostles. Our Lord frequently after this repeated the prediction of his sufferings; for instance, Matthew 17:22; Matthew 20:18; Matthew 26:2; Luke 22:15. But it is remarkable that on none of those occasions was the prophecy delivered to any but the twelve, and a few select women, one instance excepted, namely, Luke 17:25, when it was expressed in terms somewhat obscure. The multitude of the disciples were never let into the secret, because it might have made them desert Christ, as they had not, like the apostles, raised expectations of particular preferments in his kingdom, to bias their understandings, and hinder them from perceiving the meaning of the prediction. It is true, he foretold his resurrection from the dead more publicly; for oftener than once he appealed to it as the principal proof of his mission, even in the presence of the priests, as is evident from their mentioning it to Pilate, Matthew 27:63. It seems the priests had often been our Lord’s hearers. See the notes on Matthew 16:21-23.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:27-33 These things are written, that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These miracles of our Lord assure us that he was not conquered, but a Conqueror. Now the disciples are convinced that Jesus is the Christ; they may bear to hear of his sufferings, of which Christ here begins to give them notice. He sees that amiss in what we say and do, of which we ourselves are not aware, and knows what manner of spirit we are of, when we ourselves do not. The wisdom of man is folly, when it pretends to limit the Divine counsels. Peter did not rightly understand the nature of Christ's kingdom.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage illustrated in the notes at Matthew 16:13-28.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 8:27-38. Peter's Noble Confession of Christ—Our Lord's First Explicit Announcement of His Approaching Sufferings, Death, and Resurrection—His Rebuke of Peter, and Warning to All the Twelve. ( = Mt 16:13-27; Lu 9:18-26).

For the exposition, see on [1461]Mt 16:13-28.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Our Lord is elsewhere said to have taught his disciples, according as they were able to bear, or to hear, what he spake unto them. He did not at the first teach them that he must suffer death: the doctrine of the cross of Christ was like new wine not fit to be put into old bottles; yet necessary to be taught them, lest when they saw it soon after they should have been offended, as indeed they were to some degree, notwithstanding the premonition they had of it. With the doctrine of his suffering, he joins also the doctrine of his resurrection the third day: so saith Matthew. Mark saith, after three days, meta, which seemeth to be a difference between the two evangelists, and also a difficulty, when it is certain that our Saviour did not lie three entire days in the grave. But either Mark reckons the time from his first being betrayed and apprehended, so it was after three days; and Matthew speaketh only of the time which he lay in the grave, that was but part of three days; or else it was the fault of our translators to translate meta, after, because indeed it often so signifies, whereas it sometimes signifies in, which had better fitted this text, to make it agree with Matthew. This is Grotius’s and Beza’s observation, (see his notes on the text), and is abundantly justified by Matthew 27:64, where his adversaries desired of Pilate that the sepulchre might be made fast ewv thv trithv hmeras until the third day, because he had said while he was alive, Meta treiv hmerav egeiromai, After three days I will arise, which if they had understood of after the third day fully spent, they would not have petitioned that the sepulchre should have been made fast only until the third day, but it is plain they understood it the third day he would rise. So after three days here is, after the third day is come, not after the third day is past, which neither agrees with Matthew nor yet with the truth. If any desire further to make out this notion, he may read the learned Beza’s larger notes on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he began to teach them,.... For as yet he had said nothing to them about his sufferings and death, at least in express terms; but now they being firmly established in the faith of him, as the Messiah, he thought it proper to inform them,

that the son of man must suffer many things; meaning himself, as that he should be betrayed, apprehended, and bound, should be smitten, spit upon, buffeted, and scourged; and which things must be done, and he suffer them, because it was so determined by God, and foretold in the Scriptures:

and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests and Scribes; which composed the grand sanhedrim of the nation, and are the builders that were prophesied of by whom he should be rejected, Psalm 118:22,

and be killed; in a violent manner; his life be taken away by force, without law, or justice:

and after three days rise again: not after three days were ended, and on the fourth day, but after the third day was come; that is, "on the third day", as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read; and even the Pharisees themselves thus understood Christ, Matthew 27:63, so the phrase, "after eight days", is used for the eighth day, being come, or that same day a week later; see Luke 9:28 compared with Matthew 17:1.

Geneva Study Bible

{8} And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

(8) All that Christ suffered for us he suffered not unwillingly, neither as being unaware, but foreknowing it and willingly.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 8:31-33. First announcement of the Passion.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. And he began to teach them] The question and the answer it called forth were alike preparatory to strange and mournful tidings, which He now began to reveal distinctly to the Apostles respecting Himself, for clear and full before His eyes was the whole history of His coming sufferings, the agents through whom they would be brought about, the form they would take, the place where He would undergo them, and their issue, a mysterious resurrection after three days.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 8:31. Τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, the Son of Man) He calls Himself by an humble title: after the resurrection, He says, Christ ought to have suffered; Luke 24:26.—ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι, to be rejected) For they [the elders, etc.] denied that which Peter, Mark 8:29, had confessed; ch. Mark 14:63-64.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, etc. In St. Matthew's narrative he says (Matthew 16:21), "From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples," etc. - from the time, that is, of this great confession; from the time when he had openly acknowledged to his disciples the truth of his essential Divinity; from that time he began to instruct them as to his passion and his death. There are two great principles of faith, namely,

(1) the Divinity and the humanity of Christ, and

(2) his cross and passion, whereby he has redeemed the world.

And it was necessary that the disciples should be thus instructed in his amazing dignity as the Son of God, lest, when they saw him put to death, they might doubt as to his Godhead. And after three days rise again. St. Matthew and St. Luke say, "on the third day" - the day of his death counting for one, and the day of his resurrection for another, with one clear day intervening. Mark 8:31