Mark 8:38
“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
I have always wondered at this verse because Peter denied Jesus three times and Jesus forgave him and that was that. Therefore, I was led by the Spirit of the Lord to investigate further and the answer lies in semantics- which is usual.
The definition of the word “ashamed “in this verse as etymologically defined by its two root words gives the understanding of what being “ashamed” of Jesus really means. It really means that when you do this, you have chosen Jesus as your savior but then when the pressure is on, you have decided on purpose no longer to follow Jesus. It is a final decision, not just something that you say to protect yourself from being martyred. This is like when Jesus said in Hebrews 6:4 that once someone has gone as far as they can go with God on this earth and they decide that Jesus will no longer be their savior, then there is nothing Jesus can do. He is not going to go to the cross again. So basically Jesus is saying here that if someone chooses that path then Jesus will tell God that they have chosen to walk away…it was not Jesus’ choice nor doing.
Looking at the verse in this way makes it obvious why Jesus forgave Peter. Peter did not mean it and that is why Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. He just wanted Peter to know that he himself in his heart of hearts really didn’t turn on the Messiah, even if he did choose his own natural mind over trusting God.
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