This is a Hebraic oriented analysis

for Mark 8:31-38 which can be used

for a sermon or a Bible Study. The
Sermon Connect section connects
the analysis of the Scripture for a
sermon.

Mark 8:31-38

Michael Koplitz, D. Min., Ph.D.

(rev: 02/22/2018)

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@2018. Copyright Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz, D.Min., Ph.D. All rights reserved.

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 Scripture Exegesis for the Sunday Sermon Outline
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Contents
The main differences between the Greek method ................................................................4
and Hebraic method of teaching .............................................................................................4
Methodology .............................................................................................................................5
The Process of Discovery ....................................................................................................5
Language ................................................................................................................................ 10
Process of Discovery ............................................................................................................. 11
Linguistics Section .............................................................................................................. 11
Linguistic Structure ......................................................................................................... 11
Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 11
Questioning the Passage ............................................................................................... 12
Sermon Connect..................................................................................................................... 16
Hebraic View ....................................................................................................................... 17
Ideas for the Sermon .......................................................................................................... 17
Christian Theology.............................................................................................................. 17
Pastoral View ...................................................................................................................... 18
Sermon Ideas ...................................................................................................................... 18
Sermon Outline Plus .............................................................................................................. 19
Abstract................................................................................................................................ 19
Outline ................................................................................................................................. 19
Works Cited............................................................................................................................. 21

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 The main differences between the Greek method
and Hebraic method of teaching
Once you are aware of the two teaching styles, you will be able to determine if you are in
a class or reading a book, whether the analysis and/or teaching method is either in a
Greek or Hebraic method. In the Greek method it is automatically thought that the
instructor is right because of advanced knowledge. In the college situation, it is because
the professor has his/her Ph.D. in some area of study, so one assumes that he or she
knows everything about the topic. For example, Rodney Dangerfield played the role of a
middle-aged man going to college. His English midterm was to write about Kurt Vonnegut
Jr. Since he didn’t understand any of Vonnegut’s books he hired Vonnegut himself to the
write the midterm. When it was returned to him, the English Professor told Dangerfield
that whoever wrote the paper knew nothing about Vonnegut. This is an example of the
Greek method of teaching. Did the Ph.D. English professor think that she knew more
about Vonnegut’s writings than Vonnegut did? 1

In the Greek teaching method, the professor or the instructor claims to be the authority.
If you are attending a Bible study class and the class leader says, “I will teach you the
only way to understand this biblical book,” you may want to consider the implications. This
method is common since most Seminaries and Bible colleges teach a Greek method of
learning, which is the same method the church has been utilizing for centuries.

Hebraic teaching methods are different. The teacher wants the students to challenge what
they hear. It is through questioning that a student can learn. In addition, the teacher wants
his/her students to excel to a point where the student becomes the teacher.

It is said that if two rabbis come together to discuss a passage of Scripture, the result will
be at least ten different opinions. All points of view are acceptable if biblical evidence can
support the points. It is permissible and encouraged for students to have multiple
opinions. There is a depth to God’s Word, and God wants us to find all His messages that
are placed in the Scriptures.

1
Back to School. Performed by Rodney Dangerfield. Hollywood: CA: Paper Clip Productions, 1986. DVD.

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Seeking out the meaning of the Scriptures beyond the literal meaning is essential to fully
understanding God’s Word.2 The Greek method of learning the Scriptures has prevailed
over the centuries. One problem is that only the literal interpretation of Scripture was often
viewed as valid, as prompted by Martin Luther’s “sola literalis” meaning that only the literal
interpretation of Scripture was valid. The Fundamentalist movements of today are
generally based on the literal interpretation of the Scripture. Therefore, they do not believe
that God placed any deeper, hidden, or secret meanings in the Word.

The students of the Scriptures who learn through Hebraic training and understanding
have drawn a different conclusion. The Hebrew language itself leads to different possible
interpretations because of the construction of the language. The Hebraic method of Bible
study opens avenues of thought about God’s revelations in the Scripture that may have
never been considered. A question may be raised about the Scripture being studied for
which there may not be an immediate answer. If so, it becomes the responsibility of the
learners to uncover the meaning. Also, remember that multiple opinions about the
meaning of Scripture are also acceptable if Scripture can support them.

Methodology

The methodology employed is to use First Century Scripture study methods integrated
with the customs and culture of Yeshua’s day to examine the Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures, thus gathering a deeper understanding by learning the Scriptures in the way
the people of Yeshua’s day did.

The Process of Discovery

I have titled the methodology of analyzing a passage of Scripture in a Hebraic manner

the “Process of Discovery.” This methodology was developed by the author bringing
together the various areas of linguistic and cultural understanding. There are several

2
Davis, Anne Kimball. The Synoptic Gospels. MP3. Albuquerque: NM: BibleInteract, 2012.

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sections to the process and not all the sections apply to every passage of Scripture. The
overall result of developing this process is to give the reader a framework into the ideas
being presented.

The “Process of Discovery” starts with a Scripture passage. If the passage is in a poetic
form, it is identified. Possible poetic techniques include: parallelism, chiastic structures,
and repetition. Formatting the passage in its poetic form allows the reader to be able to
visualize what the first century CE listener was hearing. The chiasms are labeled by their
corresponding sections, for example: A, B, C, B’, A’. Not all passages of the Scriptures
have a poetic form.

The next step is to “question the narrative,” which is accomplished by assuming the reader
knows nothing about the passage. Therefore, the questions go from the simple to the
complex. The next task is to identify any linguistic patterns. Linguistic patterns include,
but are not limited to: irony, simile, metaphor, symbolism, idioms, hyperbole, figurative
language, personification, and allegory.

Any translation inconsistencies discovered between the English NASB version and either
the Hebrew or Greek versions are identified. There are times when a Hebrew or Greek
word can be translated in more than one way. Inconsistencies also can be created by the
translation committee, which may have decided to use traditional language instead of the
actual translation. The decision of the translation committee can be generally found in the
Preface or Introduction to the Bible. Perhaps some of the inconsistencies were
intentionally added to convey some deeper meaning therefore, the inconsistencies need
to be examined.

Echoes of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Christian Scripture are identified. This occurs
when a passage from the Hebrew Scripture is used in the Christian Scripture or when a
3
command is directly discussed in the Christian Scriptures. In addition, echoes can be
found when Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) passages are used in other Hebrew

3
Mitzvot are the 613 commandments found in the Torah that please God. There are positive and negative
commandments. The list was first development by Maimonides. The full list can be found at:
ttp://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm.

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Bible books. In addition to echoes, cross references are listed. A cross reference is a
reference to another verse in the Scripture which can assist the reader to understand the
verse that is being read.

The names of persons mentioned in the passage are listed. Many of the Hebrew names
have meaning and may be associated with places or actions. Jewish parents used to
name their children based on what they felt God had in store for their child. An example
of this is Abraham whose original name was Abram and was changed to mean eternal
father (in this case Abram’s name was changed by God to Abraham indicating a function
he was to perform). When the Hebrew Bible gives names, many of the occurrences will
indicate something special to the reader/listener. The same importance can hold true for
the names of places. The time it takes to travel between places can supply insight to the
event.

Key words are identified in a verse when they are important to an understanding of that
passage. There are no rules for selecting the key words. Searching for other occurrences
of the keywords in Scripture in a concordance is necessary to understand how the word
was being used; this must be done in either Hebrew or Greek, not in English. A classic
Hebraic approach is to find the usage of a word in the Scripture by finding other verses
that contain the word. The usage of a word, in its original language, is discovered by
searching the Scripture in the language of the word. The verses that contain the word
being researched are identified and a pattern for the usage of the word is discerned. Each
verse is examined to see what the usage of the word is which, may reveal a pattern for
the word’s usage. For Hebrew words the first usage of the word in the Scripture, especially
if used in the Torah, is important. For the Greek words the Christian Scriptures are used
to determine the word usage in the Scripture. Sometimes finding the equivalent Greek
word in the Septuagint then analyzing its usage in Hebrew can be very helpful.

The Rules of Hillel for Bible understanding can be used when applicable. Hillel was a
Torah scholar who lived shortly before Yeshua’s day. Hillel developed several rules for
Torah students to interpret the Scriptures which are referred to as halachic midrash. In
several cases these rules are helpful in the analysis of the Scripture.

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After the linguistic analysis is complete an examination of the cultural implications will be
examined. The culture is important because it is not specifically referenced in the biblical
narratives as indicated earlier.

From the linguistic analysis and the cultural understanding, it is possible to obtain a
deeper meaning of the Scripture beyond the literal meaning of the plain text. That is what
the listeners of Yeshua’s time were doing. They put the linguistics and the culture together
without even having to contemplate it. They simply did it.

This will lead to a conclusion or a set of conclusions about what the passage is talking
about. Most of the time the Hebraic analysis leads to the desire for a deeper analysis to
fully understand what Yeshua was talking about or what was happening to Him. Whatever
the result, a new deeper understanding of the Scripture will be obtained.

The components of the Process of Discovery are:

Linguistics Section

Linguistic Structure of the Scripture

Discussion

Questioning the Passage

(Answers to these questions are offered for discussion purposes

and you may have different answers. Remember, answers must
be defendable from Scripture. In addition, you may have
additional questions about the passage that is not covered. This
applies to this section and to the Questioning the Passage in the
Cultural section.)
Verse Comparison on citations or proof text

Translation inconsistencies

People’s names

Name of places

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 Word Study

Scripture cross references

Echoes

Rules of Hillel

Culture Section

Discussion

Questioning the passage culturally

Culture and Linguistics Section

Discussion

Main/Center Point

Only the applicable sections are in this document.

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Language
New American Standard 1995
31
And He began to teach them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things and be rejected by
the elders and the chief priests and the scribes,
and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32
And He was stating the matter plainly. And
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33
But turning around and seeing His disciples,
He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me,
Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's
interests, but man's."
34
And He summoned the crowd with His
disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to
come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up
his cross and follow Me.
35
"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake and the
gospel's will save it.
36
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world, and forfeit his soul?
37
"For what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?
38
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words
in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes
in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.")
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Koine Greek
31
Καὶ ἤρξατο διδάσκειν αὐτούς, ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ
ἀνθρώπου πολλὰ παθεῖν, καὶ ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι ἀπὸ
τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ τῶν
γραμματέων, καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι, καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς
ἡμέρας ἀναστῆναι·
32
καὶ παρρησίᾳ τὸν λόγον ἐλάλει. Καὶ
προσλαβόμενος αὐτὸν ὁ Πέτρος ἤρξατο ἐπιτιμᾷν
αὐτῷ.
33
Ὁ δὲ ἐπιστραφείς, καὶ ἰδὼν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ,
ἐπετίμησεν τῷ Πέτρῳ, λέγων, Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου,
Σατανᾶ· ὅτι οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν
ἀνθρώπων.
34
Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν ὄχλον σὺν τοῖς
μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ὅστις θέλει ὀπίσω
μου ἀκολουθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτόν, καὶ ἀράτω
τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι.
35
Ὃς γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι,
ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· ὃς δ᾽ ἂν ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν
ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, οὗτος σώσει αὐτήν.
36
Τί γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἄνθρωπον, ἐὰν κερδήσῃ τὸν
κόσμον ὅλον, καὶ ζημιωθῇ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ;
37
Ἢ τί δώσει ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς
αὐτοῦ;
38
Ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους
ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ μοιχαλίδι καὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ, καὶ
ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπαισχυνθήσεται αὐτόν, ὅταν
ἔλθῃ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων
τῶν ἁγίων.
Process of Discovery

Linguistics Section
Linguistic Structure

A 31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after
three days rise again.

B 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began
to rebuke Him.

B’ 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said,

A’ "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but
man's."

A: Human. B: Peter.4

A 34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone
wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

B 35 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
My sake and the gospel's will save it.

B’ 36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
37
"For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

A’ 38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful

generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of
His Father with the holy angels."

A: Person who obey to Jesus and person who doesn't obey to Jesus. B: Losing a life.5

Discussion
This narrative consists of two chiasms. The first chiasm is a definition of who the Son of
Man is. There are several distinct definitions for the Son of Man. All but one is positive.
Peter asks about the negative definition and is rebuked by Yeshua. Yeshua did not
believe the negative passage about the Son of man was either valid or interpreted
properly.

4
Accessed February 21, 2018. http://www.bible.literarystructure.info/bible/41_Mark_pericope_e.html.
5
IBID.

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Questioning the Passage
(The questions and answers offered are for discussion purposes. You may have
different questions and answers. Remember all questions are valid and all answers
must be defendable from Scripture. This applies to this section and to the Culture
Section.)

1. Why did Peter rebuke Yeshua? (v. 32)

There were several understandings from the Hebrew Scripture what the purpose
of the Son of Man was. The suffering of the Son of Man is described in Isaiah 50-
55, the suffering servant passages. Peter did not want to see Yeshua suffer. He
probably remembered the Job passage about the insignificant creature description
of the Son of Man.
4
"How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is
born of woman? 5 "If even the moon has no brightness And the stars are
not pure in His sight, 6 How much less man, that maggot, And the son of
man, that worm!" (Job 25:4-6 NAU)

If the Son of Man is insignificant then the suffering of the Son of Man would also
be insignificant. Peter was looking out for the welfare of his Master. Yeshua
rebukes Peter telling him that the Job definition of the Son of Man is flawed. The
Son of Man must be willing to give up his life to bring the message of God’s love
to His people. So, Yeshua tells us to disregard the Job definition. By doing so the
Suffering Servant passage is a part of the life of the Son of Man.

2. What does “take up your cross” mean? (v. 34)

Taking up your cross and not denying Yeshua is tied together with the rest of the
narrative. The Early Church that Mark wrote to was under the pressure of
persecution. How do you explain to people that when they come to faith in Yeshua
the Messiah that they will suffer for it? Many would lose their vocations. Many
would lose their lives. All for the sake of the Gospel these things were happening.
The author decided to have Yeshua make this statement to help the disciples. To
become a disciple of Yeshua in the early years meant an unwelcomed death. But

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 it was worth it because Yeshua was blessing all who came to follow Him. The
earthly existence was not as important as a Heavenly one?

3. What about “being ashamed? (v. 38)

The faith was not going to grow unless the faithful went out and told everyone they
knew about Yeshua. To be ashamed of Yeshua meant that one would not talk
about Yeshua. For the early church not speaking about Yeshua was considered
sinful. They had to spread the word. Therefore, Mark’s author has Yeshua telling
us that we must not hide our faith in Him. Mark’s author knew of the need to
evangelize even in the face of death. He uses the same writing vehicle here. He
places the need to talk about Yeshua into Yeshua’s words. The faith spread by
word of mouth in the early church.

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Page 14 of 21
Page 15 of 21
Sermon Note Sheet – Mark 8:31-38

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Sermon Connect

Hebraic View
This narrative from Mark’s Gospel tells us that the one negative reference from the
Hebrew Scripture about the Son of Man was rebuked by Yeshua. The overwhelming
belief is that the content found in Job is not valid. The statements about the Son of Man
was made by Bildad the Shuhite. A discussion could be held that Bildad really did not
understand the God of Israel and God’s purpose for Creation. The biblical references to
the Son of Man is that he is the crown of God’s creation is plentiful in the Scripture.
Yeshua tells us that Bildad is incorrect because He rebuked Peter for rebuking Him
about the suffering of the Son of Man. Perhaps Peter brought the Job reference,
indirectly, because he did not want to see his Master killed. Peter and the other followers
of Yeshua had to understand that He was the Son of Man as described in the Psalms,
Daniel and Isaiah. Because Yeshua was the Son of Man He had to endure suffering
and death. A possible explanation was Yeshua as the Son of Man who endured death
and was all the time the Messiah, but it was the resurrection that allowed the followers
of the time to see it. Yeshua is God’s Messiah in all ways. The introduction was Yeshua
as the Son of Man described in the Scripture. The resurrection opened their eyes that
He was also the Messiah.

Ideas for the Sermon

1. Explain why Yeshua rebuked Peter

2. Explain the idea of the Son of Man
3. Explain the idea of the Messiah

Christian Theology
At this point in Mark’s Gospel Jesus started to talk to his disciples about his upcoming
suffering and death. Since the form of death was crucifixion, if carried out by the
Romans, then Jesus knew that the religious leadership would not kill him but rather they
would get the Romans to do it. This could have been a guess on Jesus’ part since there
is always uncertainty when dealing with our human free choice. Peter was not happy
with this prophecy and challenged Jesus. The problem in the church today with respect

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 to these death passages is that the congregation wants to skip Good Friday. In fact, in
Protestant churches in general, Good Friday is a poorly attended worship. People want
to remember Jesus as forgiving everyone no matter what. They do not want to deal with
how the forgiveness became a reality. The biblical truth is that to confess Jesus as the
Messiah is to recognize that He died and was raised three days later. It is to understand
that it is not easy to be a disciple.

Pastoral View
It is present in every church. It is usually a centerpiece of the sanctuary. What is it? It is
a cross to remind us of Jesus Christ. The books of the Christian Scriptures (New
Testament) point to the cross as the defining point of Jesus’ redeeming work and a
foundation of our faith in Jesus. Of course, without the cross you cannot have Easter
morning and the resurrection of Jesus. In this narrative Jesus tells His followers to pick
up their cross and follow Him.

For the early church this would have helped to smooth out the knowledge that if you
became a believer in Jesus Christ that you would probably become poor and die a
horrific death filled with pain and suffering. How about today? There are people who do
suffer for being followers of Jesus Christ. In North America there is very little, in any,
suffering for the sake of following Jesus Christ. Well, except if you have been called into
pastoral ministry. Whether you are called a pastor or a priest there is suffering for the
sake of Christ. Unfortunately, a lot of the suffering comes from the one place you would
not expect it to come from. Yes, it is from the church that the pastor or priest is serving.
This is the one type of suffering for Christ that the church itself can control. How does
your church treat the pastor? A couple of things that you can look at to decide that
answer: (1) Salary, (2) If you offer a parsonage is it up to date and well taken care of.
Should we not take care for the people who Jesus calls to bring us the Gospel? I leave
that answer to your thoughts.

Sermon Ideas

1. Suffering for the cross of Jesus Christ

2. The true meaning of the cross

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 3. Why we do not connect with Jesus’ suffering

Sermon Outline Plus

Abstract
An area of discussion is why would Peter rebuke Jesus? This does show that one can
question one’s teacher. Jesus then rebukes Peter. Mark’s Gospel does not include the
actual conversation so there is speculation about what was discussed. The answer may
lie in the definition of the “Son of Man.” This is explored. The second part of the narrative
is about the cost of discipleship. Why does Christianity allow itself to be attacked today?
Christians need to stand up and fight back.

Outline

1. Introduction
a. Section of Mark’s Gospel defining who Jesus was
b. Definition of “Son of Man”
c. Definition of “Discipleship
2. Peter Rebukes Jesus (Definition of “Son of Man”)
a. Why would Peter rebuke Jesus?
b. Foundation of the Faith
i. Jesus was crucified and rose from death 3 days later
ii. Jesus had to suffer
iii. Jesus was the “Son of Man” described in the Hebrew Scriptures
c. “Son of Man” definition
i. Positives of the definition
1. Humanity is the crown of Creation (Ps 8:3-6)
2. Apocalyptic figure (Dan 7:13-14)
3. Authority (Mark 2:10)
ii. Negative of the definition
1. Insignificant creatures Job 25:4-6 (Bildad statement)
iii. Peter did not Jesus to die a horrific death
iv. Using the Job passage he rebuked Jesus’ prediction of suffering
and death
v. Jesus Rebukes – calls on Satan because Job is all about Satan
fighting God
vi. Job passage – Jesus said that Bildad was under Satan’s influence
3. Definition of Discipleship
a. Take up the cross was telling followers that discipleship is not easy
b. Early church “stood up” for the faith
c. Does that exist today.
4. For us Today
a. When Christianity is under attack where are our church leaders?
b. We must define the faith!

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c. We need to spread the faith no matter what the cost

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Works Cited

1986. Back to School. Directed by James Signorelli. Performed by Rodney Dangerfield.

Davis, Anne Kimball. 2012. The Synoptic Gospels. Albuquerque.
n.d. Feasting on the Word. Accessed 1 6, 2016. http://www.feastingontheword.net.
Funk, Robert W., and Roy W. Hoover. 1997. The Five Gospels. New York, New York:
HarperCollins Publishers.
n.d. Mark Chiasms. Accessed February 21, 2018. Accessed February 21, 2018.
http://www.bible.literarystructure.info/bible/41_Mark_pericope_e.html.
Scherman, Nosson. 2002. The Chumash: The Torah:Haftaros and Five Megillos. Brooklyn, NY:
Mesorah Publications.

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