Limitless Word
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • KJV For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
  • BSB 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.”
  • NKJV For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
  • NASB 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.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. This is the heart of the gospel and the model for all discipleship.

Overview

This climactic verse grounds servant greatness in Jesus' own mission and unveils the meaning of his death. As a "ransom for many," his life is the price that frees sinners from bondage to sin and judgment. Here substitutionary atonement and the call to servanthood meet, for the Servant-King saves by giving himself.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Matt 20:28even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • Phil 2:5–8Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
  • 2 Cor 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
  • Titus 2:14who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
  • John 13:14If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
  • John 10:15even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
  • Heb 5:8though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
  • Luke 22:26–27But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.
  • Isa 53:10–12Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
  • 1 Pet 1:19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;
  • 2 Cor 5:21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
  • Dan 9:26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
  • Gal 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
  • Dan 9:24Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
  • 1 Tim 3:4–6one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Mark 10:45YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MarkMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 10:45 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.