Bible Strands
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to his disciples, immediately after their dispute over who is greatest (10:41–44). He has just said whoever wants to be first must be slave of all; this is his own statement of purpose as the ground for that claim.
The words — οὐκ (ouk) is the emphatic negation that drives the verse: "not to be served." It is not a soft denial but a hard pivot that reverses the expected direction of power.
The thread — Matthew 20:28 preserves the same saying in the parallel account. The self-emptying logic extends to Philippians 2:5–8 and 2 Corinthians 8:9.
Why it lands — It removes any room for the reader to treat service as a strategy for gaining status. The verse asks the reader to check whether their life is oriented toward being served or toward serving, and to accept that the difference is not degree but direction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Cross-references
- Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- John 13:14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
- John 10:15 just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.
- Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.
- Luke 22:26 But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.
- Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
- 1 Peter 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.