Luke 14:26 Commentaries
From John Gill's NT Notes
Ver. 26. If any man come to me, &c.] Not in a corporeal, but in a spiritual way; nor barely to hear him preach; but so come, as that he believes in him, applies to him for grace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation; professes to be his, submits to his ordinances, and desires to be a disciple of his;
and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple: not that proper hatred of any, or all of these, is enjoined by Christ; for this would be contrary to the laws of God, to the first principles of nature, to all humanity, to the light of nature, to reason and divine revelation: but that these are not to be preferred to Christ, or loved more than he, as it is explained in #Mt 10:37 yea, these are to be neglected and forsaken, and turned from with indignation and resentment, when they stand in the way of the honour and interest of Christ, and dissuade from his service: such who would be accounted the disciples of Christ, should be ready to part with their dearest relations and friends, with the greatest enjoyment of life, and with life itself, when Christ calls for it; or otherwise they are not worthy to be called his disciples. The Ethiopic version inserts, "his house", into the account.
From Wesley's Notes
26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father-Comparatively to Christ: yea, so as actually to renounce his field, oxen, wife, all things, and act as if he hated them, when they stand in competition with him. # Mt 10:37.
From Schofield's Notes
[1] {hate}
All terms which define the emotions or affections are comparative. Natural affection is to be, as compared with the believer's devotedness to Christ, as if it were hate. See
# Mt 12:47-50
where Christ illustrates this principle in His own person. But in the Lord the natural affections are sanctified and lifted to the level of the divine love (cf)
# Joh 19:26,27 Eph 5:25-28
From Robertsons NT Word Pictures
{Hateth not} (\ou misei\). An old and very strong verb
\mise“\, to hate, detest. The orientals use strong language where cooler spirits would speak of preference or indifference. But even so Jesus does not here mean that one must hate his father or mother of necessity or as such, for #Mt 15:4 proves the opposite. It is only where the element of choice comes in (cf. #Mt 6:24) as it sometimes does, when father or mother opposes Christ. Then one must not hesitate. The language here is more sharply put than in #Mt 10:37. The \ou\ here coalesces with the verb \misei\ in this conditional clause of the first class determined as fulfilled. It is the language of exaggerated contrast, it is true, but it must not be watered down till the point is gone. In mentioning "and wife" Jesus has really made a comment on the excuse given in verse #20 (I married a wife and so I am not able to come). {And his own life also} (\eti te kai tˆn psuchˆn heautou\). Note \te kai\, both--and. "The \te\ (B L) binds all the particulars into one bundle of _renuncianda_" (Bruce). Note this same triple group of conjunctions (\eti te kai\) in #Ac 21:28, "And moreover also," "even going as far as his own life." Martyrdom should be an ever-present possibility to the Christian, not to be courted, but not to be shunned. Love for Christ takes precedence "over even the elemental instinct of self-preservation" (Ragg).
From The Fourfold Gospel
# Lu 14:26
If any [man] cometh to me, and hateth not his father, etc. "Hateth," as used here, is an example of phenomenal speech, or speaking from appearances. In the cases supposed, the person would APPEAR to hate those whom he abandoned for Christ. It is like repent, anger, etc., when spoken of God. To construe the passage literally as enjoining hatred would be contrary to the fifth commandment as re-enacted at
# Eph 6:1-3 Col 3:20
and also contrary to our Lord's own example.
# Joh 19:25-27
Seeing the number of those adherents which now surrounded him, Jesus made use of this striking statement that he might startle each hearer, and impress upon him the wide difference between a mere outward appearance upon him and a real, disciple-like adhesion to him. The latter requires that we be ready to
sacrifice all, even our animal life, in so far as it tends to separate from Christ.
# Ac 20:24 Ro 12:11
(McGarvey TFG 397-498)
From People's NT Notes
#Lu 14:26,27
If any [man] come to me. See notes on #Mt 10:37,38.
Hate not his father. In just the same sense that he hates "his own life also". That is, these must all be given up, turned away from, if we have to choose between them and Christ.
From Geneva Notes
14:26 If any [man] come to me, and {d} hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
(d) If anything stands between God and him, as Theophylact says: and therefore these words are spoken in a comparative way, and not by themselves.
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