Matthew 16:21-28

16:21 The word (deiknumi) for show/explain here has a more sensory instead of verbal connotation.

16:22 Peter here literally says "mercy to you, Lord, no not this be to you." As the NET commentary puts it, this is a shorthand for "May God be merciful to you in sparing you from this." (Internse grammar note: ou meh is an emphatic future negative)

16:23
- The ordering of the clauses in Greek implies that Jesus turned -- turned away -- from Peter before talking.
-Jesus uses the same words "behind me" (opisoo mou) in Matt 4:19 when he invited Peter to become a disciple.
-The word for stumbling block here is literally "skandalon"
-The word for thinking here "phroneoo" is what Paul uses in Romans 12:16

16:24
-Again Jesus uses the word "behind me" in his invitation to discipleship
-deny and take are both aorist verbs (one time events), whereas "follow" is a present tense verb.
-The construction "let him" is normally how 3rd person imperatives are translated in Greek, however, there is nothing passive about the command "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me..."
-The "if" clause here is more like a condition of fact: Since someone does want to follow me, he must...

16:25
-The word for life here is psyche, not simply bios. There is something deeply spiritual (and still physical) about what will be lost.
-The verse here is conditional -- it could go either way.
-Lose is a weak translation used because it mirrors finding. The real word here is apollumi, which means destroy or ruin.

16:27 Jesus here says he will repay people; this echoes Paul's admonishion that God will be the one who repays people.