In light of the above, we may safely conclude that Mark 8:38 is not suggesting the possibility of a saved soul losing their salvation over being ashamed of Christ. Having scripturally eliminated this possibility, we are left with only two possible interpretations of our Savior’s words in this troubling verse.
First, our Lord may be speaking in this verse of how embarrassing it will be for Him at His coming to have to confess Christians who were ashamed of confessing Him (witnessing for Him) during their lifetimes. Since we cannot lose our salvation, what worse fate could possibly befall us than for Christ to be ashamed of us at his coming? Truly, every Christian should strive to be such a witness for Christ that Christ will not be “ashamed to be called [our] God” at His return (Hebrews 11:16).
Although parents are often embarrassed by their children and children are often ashamed of their parents, neither dissolves the family ties that bind them. The simple truth is: embarrassing children are never disowned by loving parents, no matter how much they disappoint their parents. Likewise, Christ will never disown His own, no matter how ashamed they are of Him or how embarrassing they are to Him.
The story is told of a youth who overheard two teachers speaking of her mother before a school play. One teacher asked the other if the mother of the young girl, who was the star of the play, would be attending the performance. Having never met the girl’s mother, the teacher hoped to have an opportunity to do so that evening. The other teacher explained, however, that the mother, whose face was badly scarred from burns that she had suffered years earlier, had stopped coming out in public after her daughter told her she was ashamed of her.
“The real shame of it all,” explained the one teacher to the other, “is that the mother suffered her burns saving her daughter from a house fire when she was only an infant.” Upon overhearing this conversation, the young girl immediately broke down in tears. Not only had her mother never told her the story of how she had gotten burned, but she had asked others to keep it a secret from her as well, fearing that she might somehow blame herself for her mother’s scars. Just imagine how ashamed of herself that young girl suddenly became and how very proud of her mother she must have been after learning that her mother had once saved her life.
You and I know for sure who’s to blame for the scars of Christ; we are. So just imagine how ashamed we’ll be at our Savior’s return if He should find us ashamed of Him. Ashamed of Christ of whom there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about? God forbid!
The other possible interpretation of this verse, and the more plausible one in light of its context (Mark 8:34-38), is that Christ is speaking here of unbelievers, not believers. Having already separated the sinner from the saint by differentiating between those who are unwilling and those who are willing to: (1) come to Him (2) deny themselves (3) take up their cross (4) follow Him, and (5) lose their lives for His sake and the gospel’s, Christ’s now makes a final distinction between sinner and saint. Whereas the saint is one who unashamedly confesses Christ (Romans 10:9-10) and preaches the Gospel (Romans 1:16), the sinner is too ashamed to do either.
Sinners and saints are easily detected. Sinners, for fear of suffering this world’s persecution and in hopes of securing this world’s praise, will refuse to profess Christ (1 John 4:1-3) and to preach the cross (Galatians 5:11). Saints, on the other hand, will do both, regardless of cost and consequence to themselves (Acts 4:20; 1 Corinthians 9:16).
