Mark 8:35

Mar_8:35

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

Bearing the cross

A three-fold inducement is here held out.

I. Each man has two lives-A lower and earthly, and a higher and heavenly. If any man thinks only of the former, and makes everything bend to that, with all its temporal enjoyments and self-pleasing, he will forfeit all right to the latter. If, however, he learns to sit loosely to that, and is prepared to resign it whenever a strong sense of duty prompts the resignation, he carries in his hand a passport into a higher and nobler existence.

II. There is a vast disproportion between the two lives.

1. He pictures to His hearers a man placed upon trial for his conduct, and condemned to forfeit all claim to eternal life, because he has thought only of the present, and taken his fill of its pleasures; and then He weighs in the balance one against the other, what he has gained and what he has lost, and the former flies up at once and kicks the beam, for it is altogether lighter than vanity itself.

2. There are many things which may be recovered by ransom or won back by exchange; but eternal life, once forfeited, is past recovery; at least no corruptible things, such as silver and gold, neither thousands of rams nor ten thousands of rivers of oil, can effect a redemption or offer the least compensation.

III. He appeals to the requital at the final judgment. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

Meaning of the term life

The first thing for us to do is to settle the meaning of the word life. In this the Lord helps us. He calls it in one place our life in this world (Joh_12:25). The term is the very same which is used in Genesis, where it is said that man became a living soul. Again, it is a word which the Hebrews used as a synonym for happiness. A happy life in this world; perhaps that phrase might do by way of beginning our definition. But that definition is not complete. A good Christian life is a happy life; nay, it is the happiest of all, and it is led in this world; so that one might lead a happy life in this world, and yet lose nothing in the world to come. Let us go on then to take in other elements. Life in this world appears to mean life which has no reference to any other; a worldly life only-no more; a life which is regarded as a complete and finished thing in itself; which needs no rounding and filling out by aught to come after it; a life which has in its activities, in its aims, in its felt necessities, no relation to any other: that seems to be the life here spoken of … God Almighty, when He made man, made him at first the tenant of this natural world, which was to him, for a time, a home, and, during that time, gave him all that the natural man requires: nor was it till God proposed to him a supernatural end, and an eternal life of glory and felicity like that of God Himself, that the natural earthly life sank away out of sight, and man, reaching forth towards the heavenly prize, lost his relish for visible and temporal joys. This, then, is what we understand by that life which we are hidden not to love, nor save, nor find. It is this natural existence, this earthly state, this present life, alone and by itself, with nothing in it prophetic of the world to come, with nothing in it to sanctify, hallow, bless; a life, perhaps of toil, perhaps of pleasure, yet marked by no holy signs, secular, social, and domestic; wherein all is for time and man, and nothing for God. That is our natural state; we began that way; and there should we have remained, but for some act on Gods part calling us away; as the scripture calls it, electing us; giving us a new birth unto another and wholly different condition; and begetting us again unto a lively hope which has its spring and centre in a supernatural region. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)

Life saved, yet lost

Let us force again upon our thoughts the danger of getting back into the bondage from which the Lord has made us free. This common natural life of ours; the life of those who are conceived and born in sin; the life which is so loaded down with divers kinds of trial and sorrow; the life which has, no doubt, much that is bright and pleasant in it, but also much that is very hard and bitter; this life which can be abstracted from any practical relation to aught that is to come hereafter, and made to look as if it came out of nothing and went back into nothing; why should we love it so dearly as to care for nothing else? why should we be so wrapped up in it as to feel almost as if it sufficed to our necessity? Men thus love it; and a cold shudder passes through the soul when they think, After a little while, comes an end, and then what shall become of me? And some men are like persons seeking to find what is lost. You lose a piece of silver, and you give your whole thought to searching for it. You mislay a book, or an important paper, and you give yourself no rest till you find it again. A name is gone from your memory, or the details of an incident from your recollection, and you think, and think, and try to get hold of the lost idea, the impression which you cannot trace. So do some men search the world through, fix their whole thoughts on their life, and try to get out of it the pleasure they miss, and of it to fill the void in their hearts. And think what it is to save: the double sense that is here. You save a thing from destruction: you rescue a drowning man, you run in haste to snatch something from the flames. Or again, you save things by putting them away and making no use of them. You hide things in dark closets or on top shelves, and there they remain, unused, till the dust settles on them, and the moth or the worm consume them. Or so might one hide grain away, instead of sowing it in the ground, and what might have produced the bright green leaf and the rich full fruit in the ear, lies there sterile and valueless. Thus do some men save their lives; they never will take any risk; they never do one brave, unselfish thing; they are always in alarm for consequences, afraid of compromising themselves or their interest, afraid of losing the earthly possession. Or they bury their talents and skill, their ideals and ambitions, so that when they come to die no one can recollect one single thing they ever did in all their lives, that others might be thankful for, or for which society was the better. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)

Insecurity of this life

Some years ago a vessel lay becalmed on a smooth sea in the vicinity of an iceberg. In full view the mountain mass of frozen splendour rose before the passengers of the vessel, its towers and pinnacles glittering in the sunlight, and clothed in the enchanting and varied colours of the rainbow. A party on board the vessel resolved to climb the steep sides of the iceberg, and spend the day in a picnic on the summit. The novelty and attraction of the hazardous enterprise blinded them to the danger, and they left the vessel, ascended the steep mountain of ice, spread their table on the summit, and enjoyed their dance of pleasure on the surface of the frosty marble. Nothing disturbed their security, or marred their enjoyment. Their sport was finished and they made their way down to the water level and embarked. But scarcely had they reached a safe distance before the loud crash of the crumbling mass was heard. The scene of their gaiety was covered with the huge fragments of the falling pinnacles, and the giant iceberg rolled over with a shock that sent a thrill of awe and terror to the breast of every spectator. Not one of that gay party could ever be induced to try that rash experiment again. But what is this world with all its brilliancy, its hopes, and its alluring pleasures, but a glittering iceberg, melting slowly away? Its false splendour, enchanting to the eye, dissolves, and as drop after drop trickles down its sides, or steals unseen through its hidden pores, its very foundations are undermined, and the steady decay prepares for a sudden catastrophe. Such is the world to many who dance over its surface, and in a false security forget the treacherous footing on which they stand. But can anyone who knows what it is, avoid feeling that every moment is pregnant with danger, and that the final catastrophe is hastening on? Is it in a merely fanciful alarm that we warn you to flee from the wrath to come, that we tell you that every moment of life is full of the deepest solemnity, and that we admonish you of the treacherous character of hopes that glitter like the pinnacles of the iceberg in the sunlight, which a moment may crumble to ruined fragments, strewn over your grave? If it is solemn to die, is it not solemn to live, when any moment may be the door through which you may pass into eternity? What are all the objects upon which you rely-health, strength, youthful vigour-but the frozen marble beneath your feet, that may yield in an hour when you dream not, and leave you to sink in a river which no plummet can fathom? Could you be so secure, so heedless of warning, if you realized your true condition. (Homiletic Encyclopaedia.)

The shroud of Saladin

Who has not heard, or rather read, of that famous Asiatic warrior, Saladin? After subjugating Egypt, establishing himself as Sultan of Egypt and Syria, taking towns without number, and retaking Jerusalem itself from the hands of the crusaders, this Moslem hero of the Third Crusade, and beau ideal of mediaeval chivalry, had at length to yield to a still mightier conqueror. A few moments before he breathed his last he ordered a herald to suspend on the point of a lance the shroud in which he was to be buried, and to cry as he raised it, Look, here is all that Saladin the Great, the conqueror, the emperor, bears away with him of all his glory. Thus all the honours and riches of this world, all bodily pleasures and gratifications, all earthly greatness, are reduced by death to the shroud and the winding sheet; but the soul, immortal in its nature, and secure in its existence, smiles at the drawn dagger or other implement of death. Who, then, can estimate the untold value of the soul? (J. J. Given, M. A.)

Men burn for goods, who will not for Christ

Richard Denton, a blacksmith, was the means of converting the martyr, William Woolsey. When told by that holy man that he wondered he had not followed him to prison, Denton replied that he could not burn in the cause of Christ. Not long after, his house being on fire, he ran in to save some of his goods, and was burnt to death!

And the gospels

These words, peculiar to St. Mark, are written for those who in this day cannot follow Christ personally, as the apostles did. They teach us that those who now forsake the comforts of home and intellectual society, and the prospects of preferment in a wealthy Church, to preach the gospel amongst uncivilized or savage tribes, in so doing lose their lives, or all that worldly men esteem life worth living for, not only for the gospel, or for the Churchs sake, but for Christ Himself. (M. F. Sadler.)

Life lost and saved

It is a riddle to flesh and blood, that the same life should be both saved and lost: For the resolving whereof we must know that there is a two-fold tribunal, the court of the world, and the court of heaven; and as he that saves himself in the common law, may be cast in the Chancery; so he that saves himself here in the consistories of men, may elsewhere lose himself, namely, in the court of heaven. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Loving Christ best

I. If we look at Christ, He is to be loved best of all, and all things must be accounted dross and dung in comparison of Him (Php_3:7-8). Again, if we look on His merit and desert, he loved not His life unto death for us, but readily offered it up on our behalf (Luk_12:50). How then should we hold ourselves bound in way of thankfulness, if we had a thousand lives, to give them up for Him? shall the Just for the unjust, and not the unjust for the Just?

II. If we look to the truth and gospel, it is far more worthy than all we can give in exchange for it; it cost Christ dear: He thought it worthy of His life, and bought with His precious blood, which was the blood of God (Act_20:28); and should we think much to buy it with our last blood?

III. If we look on ourselves:

1. We are soldiers under Christs colours. A soldier in the field sells his life for a base pay, and is ready for his king and country to endure blows, gashes, and death itself. How much more ought the Christian soldier for the love of his Captain, and honour of his profession, contemn fears and perils, and think his life well sold in so honourable a quarrel and cause as Christs is?

2. This is indeed rightly to love ourselves, when we can rightly hate ourselves. We must learn to love ourselves by not loving ourselves. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Thought no test of love

I grant we have callings, and earthly affairs, which tie us ordinarily to speak and think of such things; but the special calling of a Christian must be ever subordinate to the general, and in all earthly business a man must carry a heavenly mind. God gives no leave to be earthly-minded, even while a man is earthly employed. Again, the speaking and thinking more of a thing upon necessity doth not ever argue more love unto it, but the speaking and thinking of things out of the valuation of judgment: for instance, a workman thinks more of his tools, and an husbandman speaks more of his husbandry, than of his wife or children, because these are the objects of his labour; but it follows not he loves them better, because he does not in his judgment esteem these better. Now let a Christian preserve in his judgment a better estimate of Christ and heavenly things, and his speeches in things earthly will still prefer that, and run upon it. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Life saved by losing it

And this is, if we believe our Lord, to save and preserve our life by thus casting it away. A man that will save his seed, and not cast it away into the ground, loseth it by such saving; but if he sow it, he reneweth it, and multiplieth it, some times an hundredfold. So to lose thyself for Christ, is to save thyself, and to reap an hundred fold. For it is but sown to spring out unto the eternal harvest. Ever remember that the right love of a mans self is in and for Christ. Objection. You speak of nothing but hindrance and loss, and as if a Christian may not have riches, friends, life and comforts of it. Answer.

1. Yes, he may have them, and must save them; but not in Christs cause when he is called from them.

2. Divorce not the parts of the text: as there is loss in the text, so there is a greater gain by it; as the harvest makes him a gainer, who in seed time seemed a loser. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:35 If you try to hang on to (literally save) your life by keeping it from Jesus, you will lose it in the next world. But if you lose it to Jesus and his cause (the spread of the Good News), you will save it forever.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 8:35. Καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, and of the Gospel) So, and of My words, Mar 8:38. [Especially those concerning the cross.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 8:35 . τοῦ εὐαγγελίου : for my sake and the Gospel’s , an addition of Mk.’s, possibly a gloss. σώσει , instead of the more enigmatical εὑρήσει of Mt.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 35. For whosoever will save his life] On this and the following verses, see Mt 16:24, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(35) And the gospel’s.—In St. Matthew we find simply “for Me.” The addition is significant, as showing that though our Lord demanded in the first instance entire personal devotion, it was for Himself as identified with the cause of the good news from God of which He had borne witness, and of which He was to be the martyr (Joh_18:37).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. shall lose it] This solemn saying our Lord is found to have uttered on no less than four several occasions: (a) here, which corresponds with Mat_16:25, Luk_9:24; (b) Mat_10:39; (c) Luk_17:33; (d) Joh_12:25.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For whosoever will save his life,.... Life is a valuable thing, and all that a man has he will give for it; self preservation is a principle in nature; and it becomes every man to take all lawful methods to save his life, when it is threatened, or is in danger: but whoever is willing to save it, when it is called for to be laid down for Christ's sake; and rather than lay it down, will deny Christ, and give up a profession of him, and his Gospel,

shall lose it: he shall not enjoy it with honour and comfort now, and much less with peace, pleasure, and happiness hereafter, but shall be under the power of the second death:

but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's; that is, shall willingly part with it when he is called to it, rather than deny Christ and his Gospel,

the same shall save it: though he will lose it now, he will find it again in the resurrection of life; for he will rise to eternal life; when such, who have apostatized from Christ, will rise to shame, and everlasting contempt: this man will have greatly the advantage over such; they will die the second death, or be destroyed soul and body in hell; and he will live for ever with Christ, in endless pleasure and glory; See Gill on Mat 16:25.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Ver. 35. For whosoever will save his life] As that revolting priest, host to Philbert Hamlin, martyr, slain by his enemy upon a private quarrel. As those Angrognians that yielded to the Papists that came against them, and were more cruelly handled by them than their neighbours they continued constant in the truth. As Denton, the smith of Wells, in Cambridgeshire, that could not burn for Christ, and was afterwards burned in his own house, As West, that was chaplain to Bishop Ridley, who, refusing to die for Christ’s cause with his master, said mass against his conscience, and soon after pined away for sorrow. If I shrink from God’s truth (said Doctor Taylor, martyr), I am sure of another manner of death than had Judge Hales, who being drawn, for fear of death, to do things against his conscience, did afterwards drown himself. (Acts and Mon.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We met with this argument twice in Matthew, to the notes upon which I refer the reader.

See Poole on "Mat 10:39". Mark adds those words,

and the gospel’s, thereby teaching us that a suffering for the sake of the gospel, with therefore owning the propositions of it, or living up to the precepts, is by Christ accounted a suffering for Christ’s sake. ψυχην here must signify life, ( as it is translated), for a man cannot lose his soul for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s. The meaning is, He that will deny and abandon me and my gospel, out of a desire to save his temporal life, shall lose it, or at least shall lose his soul’s portion in a better life. But he that is willing to lose his life, or will run the hazard of it, for my sake, for his owning and professing me, and the faith of my gospel, or living up to the rules, shall either save it in specie, by the special workings of my providence for him, delivering him out of his persecutors’ hands, or shall be recompensed with an eternal life, of much more value.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Because the cross is sharp and afflicting, our Lord animates his followers to bear it by the thought of its great and everlasting rewards. The meaning of the verse is this: he who by trying to shun the cross and to escape self-denial would save his life here, will lose it hereafter. But he who loses his life here for the sake of Christ, either by dying in his cause or by denying and mortifying his lusts out of love for him, he in the life to come shall find his life in the bosom of Christ and in eternal joy.

Vers. 35-38. Parallel passages: Mat_16:25-27 Luk_9:24-26. Secular profit and spiritual loss.

I A CURIOUS CALCULATION. These verses present themselves in the light of an arithmetical calculation regarding profit and loss a calculation as important as it is curious. In this calculation the soul is on one side, and the world on the other; secular matters on the one hand, spiritual concerns on the other. A calculation of this sort involves a difficulty, for there is no common standard to which we can bring things so different in their nature. There is no common measure by which we can simplify their comparison, and so better gauge their real relative proportions. They have no common factor; they stand prime to each other. But perhaps it were better to regard these verses as an allusion, not so much to a bare arithmetical calculation, as to a practical mercantile reckoning. It is customary with merchants and others, at some particular period of the year, to look into their books and see how they stand with the world, and how the world stands with them to balance their accounts, ascertaining their profits and determining their losses. Now, the course thus pursued in secular may with still greater advantage be adopted in spiritual concerns, while the adoption of some such course seems suggested by the inquiry, "What shall it profit a man?

II SUPPOSED PROFIT. The supposed profit is here set forth to the greatest advantage. The supposed gain is the very maximum the greatest possible. It is, in fact, much greater than any man has ever reached. That any one individual should gain the whole world is quite improbable nay, it is almost, if not altogether, impossible. No man has ever gained so much, no man is ever likely to do so; no man nowadays ever dreams of such a thing. We read, indeed, of one in ancient times that made an approximation to it. We are informed that Alexander the Great subjected the surrounding hostile tribes to the arms of Macedon; conquered the provinces of Asia Minor, deciding the empire of all Asia in three great battles at Granicus, Issus, and Arbela; received the submission of Italian, Scythian, Kelt, and Iberian ambassadors; penetrated to the furthest limit northward, and overthrew the Scythians on the banks of the Jaxartis; pushed his victories far eastward, even to the Hyphasis or Sutlej; founded cities and planted colonies in the Punjab. And when at that point his progress was checked by the murmuring of his troops, and he was obliged to retreat to the Hydaspes or Jhelum, he built a fleet, sailed down the Indus to its mouth, and there, standing in view of the Indian Ocean," and feeling he had arrived at the limit of his career, tears filled his eyes, and he wept because his victories were at an end, and there was no more for him to subdue other world," say the old historians, "for him to conquer." But, if we examine the matter with any degree of accuracy, we shall find that this bold adventurer overran only a few countries of the then known world, and but a very inconsiderable portion of those immense continents and many islands which modern geographical discovery has added to the present huge dimensions of the globe. We have all heard of another in modern times who grasped at the scepter of universal empire, who rose rapidly from a lieutenant of artillery to captain, and from captain to colonel, and from colonel to general of division. Soon he became first consul for ten years, then for life, and afterwards ascended the imperial throne. The empire of France he increased by one-third; but what was that to the high-vaulting ambition of Napoleon? He must needs reign supreme and without a rival in Europe, and in prosecution of that gigantic scheme of conquest he actually added to his empire Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hanover, the Hanse towns. He seized on Spain and Portugal, and set his kinsmen on foreign thrones. He sought Russia, but above all he sighed for England. He pounced on Egypt; thence, as the most potent point of attack, he fixed his eye on India. India once gained, the world, he thought, would be laid subject at his feet, and he its one and sole possesser. This, doubtless, would have been the result of its successful invasion. But the tide of fortune ceased to flow. To his failure in Spain succeeded his retreat from Moscow, next his defeat at Leipzig, then his banishment to Elba, and, last of all, his final and fearful overthrow on the plains of Waterloo. No. one individual has ever yet attained to the possession of the world; no one has advanced beyond a distant approximation to it. But let us for a moment fancy the supposition, to have become an accomplished fact. Let us suppose the wide empire of earth in the hands of one man; let us take for granted that the possession of the world the whole world is realized by a single individual; let us imagine all the benefits of that vast dominion its conveniences and comforts, its riches and honors, its pleasures, praises, and profits, all at the command of one man.

III THE DURATION OF SUCH PROFIT BRIEF. What then would be the continuance of such? Why, he would find it impossible to retain it for any considerable length of time. We cannot calculate with certainty on the continuance of any worldly possession during the whole of life; we cannot reckon on its lasting for even a few years of that life in advance; and, even if we could, we are not sure of life itself fur a single moment. "Life is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away;" "There is but a step between us and death;" "This night the soul may be required." There is no permanence of possession upon earth; there is no fixity of tenure here below. The heirloom handed down from father to son, and again from son to father, shall pass into strangers" hands. The hereditary estate, secure it as you may by deeds and settlements, will soon, notwithstanding all your caution, change proprietorship. The baronial residence will in time become a ruin grey, round which the ivy twines. Truly as well as eloquently has the poet said"The cloud-capp"d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.

Our most cherished possessions must soon revert to others. It matters not how firmly we hold them; three, or fraud, or casualty, or imprudence, or disease, or death one or other of these will wrench them from our reluctant grasp; and the question may be asked of us, as of the fool in the Gospel, "Then whose shall these things be?" If, then, we possessed the whole world, every instant we lived in it we should run the risk of losing it or leaving it, of being taken from it or having it snatched from us, of being compelled to give up the possession either by the open violence of enemies or the treacherous avarice of friends, by folly on our part or dishonesty on that of others, by some sudden reverse of fortune or by some sad dispensation of providence.

IV THE ENJOYMENT OF IT IMPOSSIBLE. Further, if we had the whole world in actual possession, and were able to retain it in inalienable and never-failing proprietorship, still we could not enjoy it all. With all the progress of modern times, with all the advances of science, with all the forward strides of this nineteenth century, with all that geological research and chemical analysis and botanical skill have discovered, there are still many plants and many substances of which we know. not the nature, or at least have not yet learned the use. So long as the properties of any object remain unknown, it is manifest that that object itself cannot be enjoyed.

And even if we knew all the qualities of every fowl of heaven, of every fish of the sea, of every plant that grows on the surface and of every mineral that is buried in the bowels of the earth, yet what use could any one individual make of them all? What a small portion of them would meet all the real necessities of life! How few of them would suffice for man"s limited powers of enjoyment! How few of them would supply a substantial answer to that wide question, "What shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal shall I be clothed?" If the cattle on a thousand hills were ours, if all the mineral wealth of the world were our own, if earth and all its store of gold and silver and precious stones were at our feet, if earth with all its fruits and flowers, its animal and vegetable productions, were at our disposal, what could one individual, possessing limited powers and capacities, do with them all? How could he enjoy them? Where would he store them that they might be safe? What, in a word, would they really profit him? Ah! how forcibly is the whole expressed in the simple lines!"Man needs but little here below, Nor needs that little long.

V THE UNSATISFACTORY NATURE OF IT. The world, if we possessed it all, and could retain it always, and enjoy it fully, would not satisfy us. We all know the possibility of being as much or more disappointed in a thing, as inconvenienced by being disappointed of it. Hope has its pleasures, and they are frequently as great, sometimes far greater than those of enjoyment. The poet, when he wrote of "the pleasures of hope," knew well that hope was one main source of human enjoyment. But in the supposed possession of the whole world that source of enjoyment would be cut off, as in that case man would have nothing to hope for. The distance, that lent its enchantment to the view, would be annihilated; desire would still be unsatisfied, and yet hope would be at an end. Besides, where is the rich man who is perfectly satisfied with his wealth, and who feels that it is a sufficient source of happiness? Where is the man of pleasure who can truly say that his pleasures have been without alloy? Where the ambitious aspirant who is not in feverish dread of the fickleness of popular favor? Where the heart that has not yearned for more than earth can furnish? Who has not felt that "aching void" which "the world can never fill"? It is not in the increase of riches, nor in the accession of honors, nor in any augmentation of creature enjoyments, that true satisfaction is to be found: the wealth of this world cannot purchase it; the pleasures of sense and sin cannot procure it; honors bestowed by fellow-creatures cannot confer it. Nor yet do we mean to decry the importance of temporal things. We know that they can minister much to man; they can add to our convenience and comfort; they can furnish their quota to our enjoyment; they can supply enlarged means of usefulness; they can contribute to the decency and dignity of life; they can shield us from the distresses, and difficulties, and discomforts of poverty. But we deny altogether that they can prevent or remove the vanity and vexation of spirit that are inseparably associated with all worldly things. In the midst of all that this world can furnish men have been heard to cry out, if not in Words, at least in the sentiments of the patriarch, "I would not live alway." When this is the way with the prosperous worldling, often too has the child of God, amid the perplexities of life, cause to repeat the saying"I would not live alway; I ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o"er the way. The few fleeting mornings that dawn on us here Are enough for life"s sorrows, enough for its cheer. "Who who would live alway, away from his God; Away from you heaven, that blissful abode, Where rivers of pleasure flow o"er the bright plains, And the noontide of glory eternally reigns?

VI SPIRITUAL LOSS.

1. Practical bearing of all this. What, it may be asked, is the practical lesson from all this? It is to lead us to God as the end, and to Christ as the way to the Father; to show us the value of salvation, the importance of eternal things; to make us alive to the things of God; and, above all, to impress on us the worth of the soul and spiritual life. We have seen that if a man could possess the whole world he might still be unhappy ay, perfectly miserable; fears harassing him, conscience tormenting him, afflictions overwhelming him, death overtaking him, and his worldly all departing from him amid "the swellings of Jordan." But in general men stop far short of what has been thus supposed. They are willing to lose the soul for infinitely less than the world: at all events, a small thing takes the place of all the World to the sinner, and is made the means of his losing the soul. Thus, to the drunkard, the indulgence of his passion for strong drink is the horizon that bounds the world of his happiness and of his hopes; while to gain his object he submits to the loss of his soul. So with the licentious; the gratification of their low lust is all the world to them, and to it they sacrifice the soul. "Avoid," says the apostle, "youthful lusts, that war against the soul." So with the ambitious; the attainment of the object on which their heart is set is their world of gratification, and, for the sake of it, they will not only run the risk of losing the soul, but rush upon sure destruction. We might enumerate many and various classes of sinners the horse-racer, the gamester, the blasphemer, the liar, the murderer all ruining their own soul for the sake of questionable pleasures; at all events, pleasures that last but for a season, and that perish in the using. With sinners of every grade the indulgence of sin is their world of gratification, their all of wretched happiness, for which they are every day throwing away their chances of salvation and deliberately damning their own soul. Oh, what fearful folly! What unspeakable madness! Oh, may we not with propriety appeal to that sinful man, to whatever category or class his sin belongs, and with all the earnestness of our nature plead with him to spare his own soul? Should we not urge him, with all the powers of persuasion we can possibly command, to part with his vice at once and fur ever, rather than plunge his soul into a hell of eternal misery?

2. Exegetical note.

(1) The word yelh is not will "of future time, but will "connected with choice or purpose." It is correctly-rendered "would" in the Revised Version. The word is also distinguished from boulomai , which expresses a wish mere willingness or inclination. Homer employs the latter for the former in the case of the gods, for with them wish is will. Thus the meaning is, "Whosoever may will or choose to save his life; "while in the next clause it is taken for granted that no one, of his own free will and choice, would desire to lose it, and therefore the expression is different, being literally, Whosoever shall (as a matter of fact) destroy (apolesei ) his life.

(2) The word quch is the bond of union between the body and the spirit in the triple trichotomy of "body, soul, and spirit". (1Th_5:23) Viewed in connection with the body, it is the natural or animal life, but in its relation to the spirit it is the spiritual or higher life. Thus in one sense it is less than what we understand by soul, and in another sense it is more, comprehending not only the immortal life of the soul, but the never-ending life of soul and body when reunited.

(3) Zhmiwyh denotes forfeiture, and so it is correctly rendered in the Revised Version "forfeit;" while antallagma (from the roots anti , instead of, and allov , another) denotes one thing given in exchange for another, and so an equivalent or ransom, the idea being that if a man have lost, by way of mulct or forfeiture, his life or soul, what ransom will he be able to give in order to buy it back or redeem it? The expression in St. Luke is, "What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and destroy himself" or "suffer forfeit?

3. A celebrated choice. The fabled choice of Hercules has at least a useful moral. Two ladies of gigantic stature-one graceful and modest, with raiment white as snow, the other florid and affected; the former called Virtue, the latter Pleasure, though self-named Happiness, approached the youthful hero. The latter promised him the possession of all pleasures, and that his path in life would be strewed with flowers, if he chose to follow her, reminding him at the same time that the path of virtue was tedious and thorny; the former promised to make his name glorious to posterity, and introduce him at death into the society of the Gods, reminding him that the pleasures of the senses are the enjoyments of the brute, and that true pleasure springs from virtuous conduct. The hero, as the fable goes, did not long hesitate, but, giving his hand to Virtue, bade her be his guide, saying, "Lead on, and I will follow you.

VII THE VALUE OF THE SOUL, OR EVERLASTING LIFE.

1. Value of the soul variously estimated. We may estimate the value of the soul in several ways; we may enumerate four of these as the most obvious. We may estimate it by the infinite price paid for it, by the immensity of its capacities, by its intrinsic worth, and by the immortality of its being.

2. The price paid. The price paid for the soul was a precious ransom price, "for the redemption of the soul is precious." That price was not "corruptible things, as silver and gold," but "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." In him we have "redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." On account of the soul Christ died; on account of the soul the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, is at work; on account of the soul the Word of God is given, the gospel is preached, and "the arm of the Lord revealed." Thus, from the pains God takes to save the soul, from the power the Spirit exerts to sanctify the soul, from the efforts Satan makes to destroy the soul, as well as from the blood which Christ shed to redeem the soul, we may infer the value of the human soul, and consequently infer the exceeding greatness of its loss.

3. Its intrinsic worth. Again, we think of its intrinsic worth. It is a scintillation of Deity; it is the breath of the Almighty; it is the candle of the Lord in man. "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." It was at its creation the image of its Maker as well as the masterpiece of his workmanship; it was stamped with the likeness of the Eternal. And though the superscription is sadly defaced by sin, it is an infinite spirit still, and the direct offspring of the Father of spirits.

4. Its immense capacities. When we reflect on its great capacities, we bethink ourselves of its capability of suffering, which is immense. No pain or" body is to be compared with the unspeakable anguish of the soul. There is, on the other hand, no pleasure of bodily organization to be compared with the intensely thrilling joyousness of the soul, when it delights itself in God, or meditates on his Word and works, or soars aloft in high and holy contemplation. Even a worldly poet, speaking of the happiness of thought, says, "I have oft been happy thinking." Besides, there is its wonderful power of development. The little that the lower animals possess is soon perfected; instinct flows in at once. The mind of man con-rains in itself the elements of almost unlimited improvement. As long as life lasts, accessions may be made to our knowledge, additions made to our attainments, new discoveries made in science, fresh advances in art. Better still, it is the very prerogative of the soul, as it is the very purpose for which its powers were bestowed, to glorify God on earth and be glorified with him in heaven, to enjoy him both here and hereafter, to see him and serve him, to hold converse with angels and glorified spirits, to have fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit, to drink deep of the fountain of grace and love that wells up beside the throne of the Eternal.

5. The immortality of its being. Add to all this the immortality of its being. It is an immortal spirit; it is a flame that can never be extinguished; it is a light that can never be put out; it is unseen, but eternal. The babe that is only a span tong has a soul that will outlive this world. In the bosom of that babe, as it sleeps in the cradle, or hangs on the breast, is a soul that will last longer than sun and moon endure. When the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the earth shall be burnt up, and the heavens rolled together like a crumpled scroll, that soul shall survive, and remain unhurt amid "the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." Not so the body.

6. The shroud of Saladin. Who has not heard, or rather read, of that famous Asiatic warrior, Saladin? After subjugating Egypt, establishing himself as Sultan of Egypt and Syria, taking towns without number, and retaking Jerusalem itself from the hands of the Crusaders, this Moslem hero of the Third Crusade, and beau-ideal of mediaeval chivalry, had at length to yield to a still mightier conqueror. A few moments before he breathed his last, he ordered a herald to suspend on the point of a lance the shroud in which he was to be buried, and to cry as he raised it," Look, here is all that Saladin the Great, the conqueror, the emperor, bears away with him of all his glory." Thus all the honors and riches of this world, all bodily pleasures and gratifications, all earthly greatness, are reduced by death to the shroud and the winding-sheet; but the soul, immortal in its nature, and secure in its existence, "smiles at the drawn dagger "or other implement of death. From all these considerations may be inferred the immeasurable loss of the soul; for"What is the thing of greatest price, The whole creation round? That which was lost in Paradise, That which in Christ is found. "The soul of man, Jehovah"s breath, It keeps two Worlds in strife; Hell works beneath its work of death, Heaven stoops to give it life.

7. The full force of the question. What, then, we may repeat, shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and yet all! the gain any man can expect is infinitely less than that and lose his own soul or higher heavenly life? What shall it profit him, if he shall make a little sordid gain, but lose his soul? What shall it profit him, if he shall indulge some degrading passion, and thereby lose his soul? What shall it profit him, if he gratify some vile lust, and by it lose his soul? What shall it profit him, if he swallow a few more intoxicating draughts, and in the end lose his soul? What shall it profit him, if he gratify a few more lusts of the flesh, and lose his own soul? What shall it profit him, if he enjoy a little longer the society of evil companions, or even the smile and favour of the great ones of the earth, and lose his soul? What will it profit him, if he have a few more pleasures of any kind pleasures that last so short a space, and satisfy so very little while they do last and in lieu of them lose his own soul. Who is not, on due reflection, prepared to answer any such questions with the strongest negative? The angels in heaven, and the spirits of the just made perfect that are already there, if asked the same question, would declare, in tones of loudest earnestness and solemn emphasis, "Nothing, nothing!" Lost souls in hell, if malice prevented not, would assert the same. God the Father, who sent his Son to save the soul; God the Son, who suffered on the cross to redeem it; God the Spirit, who came to sanctify it; the Almighty undivided Three in One, would answer their own question in this passage by a negative that neither man nor angel, fallen nor unfallen, would gainsay, and that would wake an echo both in heaven above and in earth or hell beneath.

VIII EXTENT OF THE LOSS.

1. This is an entire loss. The loss in question is an entire and unqualified loss. When Francis I lost the important battle of Pavia, he described it by saying, "We have lost all but honour." And thus, though the disaster was overwhelming and the loss exceeding great, yet there was one qualifying circumstance the preservation of honour intact and unsullied. Not so with the loss of the soul: there is nothing to qualify it, nothing to mitigate it. It is the loss of losses, the death of deaths a catastrophe unequalled in extent, and unparalleled in its amount through all the universe of God.

2. A loss without compensation. The loss of the soul is a loss for which there is no compensation. The great fire of London consumed six hundred streets, thirteen thousand dwellings, and ninety churches, and destroyed property to the amount of seven and a half millions of pounds sterling. Yet that calamity was in some sort changed into a blessing; for the rebuilding of the city, in a superior style of architecture, and with more regard to sanitary arrangements, banished for ever the fearful plague which had previously made such havoc in that populous place. There is, besides, a well-known compensatory principle in the providence of God, so that, when a man loses his sight, the sense of hearing becomes more acute, and the perception of sounds more exact and accurate. The deaf mute, again, is said to have the sense of sight quickened; while the man both blind and dumb gains a more exquisite sense of touch. But the loss of the soul is a calamity for which there is nothing to compensate, and which nothing can countervail so as to make amends for it.

3. The loss is irreparable. Other losses may be repaired. The friend you love as your own soul may take an umbrage; he may misunderstand you, or you may be misrepresented to him; "Angry words will soon step in, To spread the breach that words begin.

But let a proper explanation be given, and his friendship may be regained; or, if he continue obstinate, other and even better friends may supply his place. You may lose your health; you may be like the poor woman who had suffered so much from, and expended so much on, physicians without any improvement; but, under the blessing of Providence on the skill of yet another physician and the use of proper medicines, or by the intervention of the great Physician apart from any means, or when all means have failed, you may regain that inestimable blessing. You may lose your property, like Job when his cattle were lost, and when his children had perished, and want had come in like an armed man; yet, by years of patient industry and steady perseverance, under the Divine blessing, you may, like that same patriarch, gain double of all you lost. But oh! there is no reparation for the loss of the soul; that loss can never be retrieved, and can never be recalled. When Sir Isaac Newton had lost some most important and complicated calculations, the result of years of patient thought and investigation, by the burning of his papers, the loss to him was immense; and yet, with patience equal to his genius, he could say to the favourite animal that caused it, "Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the labour thou hast cost me!" But what is the loss even of years of patient philosophic investigation and profound mathematical research compared with the loss of a human soul, capable of conducting, in some degree, similar investigations, and of repeating and repairing, in case of loss, those investigations?

4. Cast away. " This is the expression in the parallel passage of St. Luke. Though it may serve in exposition, it is not quite exact. The word has rather the signification of having incurred a forfeiture; but, in sooth, a fearful forfeiture a forfeiture that involves the fate of being cast away into that "blackness of darkness," unrelieved by any starlight of hope or sunshine of promise, and where no rainbow of mercy ever spans the sky. The heathen, without any proper notion of a future state, shrank from the death of the body, because they were then deprived for ever of the light of day. "There is a magnificent fullness of life," says Bulwer, "in those children of the beautiful Hellas. They ever bid a last lingering and half-reluctant farewell to the sun. The orb which animated their temperate sky, which ripened their fertile fields, in which they saw the type of eternal youth, of surpassing beauty and incarnate poetry human in its associations, yet divine in its nature is equally beloved and equally to be mourned by the maiden tenderness of the heroine or the sullen majesty of the hero. The sun was to them a familiar friend. The terror of the nether world lay in the thought that its fields are sunless." Oh, what shall we, to whom futurity has been revealed, then say of the second death, when the lost soul is cast away, through a fatal forfeiture of the light of heaven, into that sunless region where the "blackness of darkness" ever reigns, where it is consigned to the companionship of devils and the damned, where it sinks deeper and deeper into the bottomless abyss of misery," where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched"? J.J.G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. xvi, 25; Luke ix, 24; Luke xvii, 33; John xii, 25.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For whoever wants

"For anyone who wants"

life

This refers to both physical life and spiritual life.

for my sake and for the gospel

"because of me and because of the gospel." Jesus is talking about people who lose their lives because they follow Jesus and the gospel. This can be stated clearly. AT: "because he follows me and tells others the gospel" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and then forfeit his life?

This can be written as a statement. AT: "Even if a person gains the whole world, it will not benefit him if he forfeits his life." (See: Rhetorical Question)

to gain the whole world and then forfeit his life

This can also be expressed as a condition starting with the word "if." AT: "if he gains the whole world and then forfeits his life"

to gain the whole world

The words "the whole world" are an exaggeration for great riches. AT: "to gain everything he ever wanted" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

forfeit

To forfeit something is to lose it or to have another person take it away.

What can a person give in exchange for his life?

This can be written as a statement. AT: "There is nothing a person can give in exchange for his life." or "No one can give anything in exchange for his life." (See: Rhetorical Question)

What can a person give

If in your language "giving" requires someone to receive what is given, "God" can be stated as the receiver. AT: "What can a person give to God"

translationWords

save

life

good news

profit

world

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

35. ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν θέλῃ. For whosoever would save (R.V.), or de sireth to save. “Will save” (A.V.) is too like the simple future, a defect found again in A.V. in Luk 19:14; Joh 6:67; Joh 7:17; Joh 8:44. The meaning of ψυχή varies in N.T., and we have no exact equivalent in English. It is (1) the physical life, which animates the flesh and perishes in death, Mar 10:45; (2) the immaterial part of man’s nature, which does not perish in death, and which is also called πνεῦμα, Luk 1:46; (3) where man’s nature is regarded as threefold, ψυχή is the lower side of the immaterial part, πνεῦμα being the upper, 1Th 5:23, where see Jowett, Lightfoot, and Milligan. Here the word fluctuates between (1) and (2). “Life” must be kept throughout the three verses, the context showing whether physical life or spiritual life is meant. The sweep of this Saying is immense. The world thinks that “nothing succeeds like success,” and that the chief end of human activity is one’s own happiness. Experience confirms Christ in teaching that nothing fails like success, for it is generally disappointing and often depraving to character, and that to seek one’s own happiness in all things is a sure way of missing it. Bede gives a good illustration; Frumentum si servas, perdis; si seminas, renovas. Cf. Joh 12:24; 1Co 15:36.

ὃ δʼ ἂν ἀπολέσει. The fut. indic. may be caused by the preceding ἀπολέσει, but the constr. is found elsewhere both in LXX. (Winer, p. 385) and in N.T. (W.H. App. p. 172). Cf. Rev 4:9. It is, however, exceptional and anomalous.

ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ. This important condition is in all three reports of this occasion, but not in Luk 14:26; Luk 17:33 or Joh 12:25. Καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου is peculiar to Mk both here and Mar 10:29; see on Mar 1:15. Syr-Sin. has “and whosoever shall lose his life for My gospel’s sake.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. Ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν θέλῃ—For whoever wishes.1 ὃς δʼ ἂν ἀπολέσει— but whoever shall lose.2 σώσει αὐτήν (omit οὗτος, this one) will save it.

ἐὰν before θέλῃ, instead of ἄν, Tisch. Treg. WH. א BCKM ΔΠ 1, 28, 33. ἀπολέσει, instead of ἀπολέσῃ, Tisch. Treg. WH. א BCD 2 ΓΔ Omit οὗτος before σώσει, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א ABC* DLM* X ΔΠ Latt. Memph. Syrr.

Jesus has just bidden them to sacrifice even their lives, and this gives the reason for that bidding, showing them that this is really the way to save their lives. The paradox consists in the two meanings of the word life. In the first clause, it means the bodily life, and in the second, the true life of the spirit, which is independent of that bodily condition. The general principle is, that there is no such thing as ultimate loss in the kingdom of God. And in this case, a man loses his life only to receive it again enriched and multiplied. He sacrifices himself so far as he is identified with lower interests, only to become absorbed in higher and larger interests, in righteousness and love, in God and man. ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου—for the sake of me and of the Gospel. Here we have the higher objects stated, for which a man sacrifices himself, and in which the merely personal life is absorbed. He becomes absorbed, in the first place, in a higher personality, that of Jesus, the Redeemer, and the head of the Messianic kingdom, who represents interests human and universal. And all personal interests become merged in those of the Gospel, the glad-tidings that Jesus brings, that the kingdom of God is coming. This coming is involved in the advent of its king.3 It is as a man loses himself in so great and high things, that he finds himself, and as he sacrifices his life in their behalf, that he saves it. Only in such things is there any true life.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the gospel 's. Peculiar to Mark.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.