Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
25. whosoever will save his life shall lose it ] See note, ch. Mat 10:39. Let Christ’s follower lose the lower life on his cross, crucify his earthly affections, and he shall win the higher spiritual life here and hereafter.
will save ] Not the mere future, but= “shall resolve to save.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 16:25
For whosoever will save his life.
Losing the soul to save it
One of the moral paradoxes of Scripture-the most decided, the most contradictory, the most reckless (if we may so say) of them all. A complete inversion of language. And it is no isolated expression. It is forced on our attention again and again. We cannot wander far in any direction without encountering this startling signpost, announcing the path of destruction as the only high-road to salvation. The context, moreover, enhances the paradox. We are told that a mans life (or soul, for it is the same word in the original) is absolutely priceless to him; that no exchange can be an equivalent; that no compensation will requite him for the loss: yet in the same breath we are bidden to despise it, to abandon it, to fling it away like a broken potsherd or a rank weed. The contradiction is direct and positive; and in this contradiction the lesson is to be sought.
I. What is meant by this soul or life of man? It is the living principle; the centre of mans capacities, passions, energies; the very seat of his personality. A mans soul is everything to him. Obviously, then, the health or sickness, the saving or the losing, the life or death of this soul, must be a matter of infinite moment, both in time and eternity; for it guides his actions, regulates his affections, influences his feelings. It is to his whole being what the mainspring is to a watch.
II. What are the faculties and duration of the soul? This question cannot be evaded; it must be faced. Its practical consequences are too momentous to admit of delay. If this life which we call life is only a passing moment of an infinite future, only the seed-time of a heavenly harvest, the infancy of an eternal manhood,-then treat it as such, educate and discipline it as such. You cannot go on drifting through life, till you find yourself at the edge of a cataract. No man going on a journey neglects so to arrange his route that at nightfall he shall halt at some place where food and shelter will be obtained. Darkness will overtake him, perhaps, in any case, for even the grateful interposition and warding of the twilight may not be sufficient; but what sane man would not shrink from finding himself in the darkness in a barren, trackless desert, exposed to the pitiless storm?
III. How is the soul to be saved? By losing it. The meaning of these words in their primary application is simple. To Christs disciples and their immediate followers, no comment was necessary. In an age of persecution, the willingness to lose the lower life for the salvation of the higher would be only too often tested in a literal sense. And the corresponding application now need create no difficulty. Whoever purchases ease by dishonesty, or comfort by neglect of duty, or popularity by concession of principle-preferring self where truth, honour, love, purity, or reverence demands self-negation, self-abandonment-that man loses his soul, loses his life, by saving it.
IV. But though the man who saves his soul is sure to lose it, the converse does not necessarily follow. Here an important proviso comes in-for My sake. There are many ways of losing the soul; but only one way of losing it so as to save. The profligate libertine squanders his means, and neglects his health, and flings himself away; but he does it selfishly, and to him the promise does not apply.
V. Loss for Christs sake is gain. This does not merely apply to sacrifices made consciously and directly in the cause of Christianity. If Christ be (as we believe) the very and eternal Word of God; the very expression of the Fathers truth, righteousness, purity, love; then the sacrifice of self to any one of these things is a saving of the soul by losing it; then the martyr to truth, to holiness, to purity, to love, may claim his portion along with the martyr to religion, for he has thrown himself away, has lost his soul for Christs sake.
VI. The same contrast and the same alternative may exist within the sphere of religion itself. It is possible to be anxious about saving the soul, to be extremely religious in a certain sense, but yet to risk the losing of it in the very desire of saving it. The soul must brace itself by vigorous exercise-spend and be spent. The true method of salvation is a great venture of self, a forgetfulness of self, a going out of self. Lose your soul in energy; spend yourself in alleviating some misery, instructing some ignorance, or reforming some vice. Fling your soul away, that, after many days, you may recover it again, purified, strengthened, renewed, living once more. (Bishop J. B. Light foot.)
Temporal gain eternal loss
It hath cost many a man his life, when his house has been on fire, to attempt through covetousness to save some of his stuff; venturing among the flames to preserve this, he has perished himself. Many more have lost their souls, by attempting to carry some of their own stuff-their own self-righteousness-with them to heaven. O sirs! come out, come out; leave what is your own in the fire; flee to Christ naked! (Gurnall.)
Life lost in the effort to save it
It is reported, in connection with a railway accident that happened a few years ago, that the only person who lost his life was a gentleman who jumped out of the train with a view to save it; all the other passengers who kept their seats were preserved.
Temporal loss eternal gain
God can infinitely more than counterbalance all temporal losses by the larger and richer outpouring of His Spirit on the soul. He may demand our worldly wealth; but if He increase our spiritual riches, are we not therein great gainers? Can He not, by the consolations of His Spirit, raise us far above all temporal distresses; and, by opening up a prospect beyond the grave, make us to glory in all tribulations (Rom 5:3-5). It was thus that St. Paul took, as he strongly phrases it, pleasure in infirmities, and persecutions, and distresses, for Christs sake. It was thus that, in ancient days, they took cheerfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Even so may we expect it to be with us in this world. If our afflictions abound, even so shall also our consolations abound by Christ. And the consciousness, the comfortable reflection, that with a single eye we have sought Gods glory, will make every pain a pleasure, every loss a gain. (R. B. Nichol.)
Losses and gains connected with religion.
I. The things of this life men may obtain by rejecting the religion of Christ. They may obtain a considerable portion of earthly riches; the sensual gratifications of life; the distinctions of worldly honour and praise.
II. In what respect these advantages shall be lost to them. They shall often be interrupted in their enjoyment of them. Sometimes they are overtaken with overwhelming calamities. They must all necessarily be forfeited at death. They produce the most appalling consequences in the eternal world.
III. What we may be called to sacrifice in becoming the disciples of jests. Christ called His disciples to lose all will and choice with respect to this worlds good. We may be called to lose the approbation of friends; to endure the frowns of the world; lose life itself.
IV. In what respects we shall find again the things we sacrifice. In the midst of these sacrifices-we have what is better than life; we are attaining a greater assimilation to the life of Christ; all our sacrifices terminate at death; we shall be superabundantly rewarded at the last day. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. For whosoever will save his life] That is, shall wish to save his life-at the expense of his conscience, and casting aside the cross, he shall lose it – the very evil he wishes to avoid shall overtake him; and he shall lose his soul into the bargain. See then how necessary it is to renounce one’s self! But whatsoever a man loses in this world, for his steady attachment to Christ and his cause, he shall have amply made up to him in the eternal world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We met with these words in Mat 10:39. See Poole on “Mat 10:39“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. For whosoever will saveisminded to save, or bent on saving.
his life shall lose it, andwhosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it(See onMt 10:38,39). “A sufferingand dying Messiah liketh you ill; but what if His servants shall meetthe same fate? They may not; but who follows Me must be prepared forthe worst.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For whosoever will save his life,…. Whoever is desirous of preserving himself from troubles, reproaches, persecutions, and death; and takes such a method to do it, as by forsaking Christ, denying his Gospel, and dropping his profession of it; and by so doing, curries favour with men, in order to procure to himself worldly emoluments, honour, peace, pleasure, and life,
shall lose it; he will expose himself to the wrath of God, to everlasting punishment, the destruction of soul and body in hell, which is the second death, and will be his portion:
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake: that is, is willing to forego all the pleasures and comforts of life, and be subject to poverty and distress, and to lay down life itself, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, rather than deny him, and part with truth,
shall find it; in the other world, to great advantage; he shall enjoy an immortal and eternal life, free from all uneasiness and affliction, and full of endless joys and pleasures.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Save his life ( ). Paradoxical play on word “life” or “soul,” using it in two senses. So about “saving” and “losing” ().
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
25. For he that would save his life shall lose it. It is a most appropriate consolation, that they who willingly suffer death for the sake of Christ (467) do actually obtain life; for Mark expressly states this as the motive to believers in dying — for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel — and in the words of Matthew the same thing must be understood. It frequently happens that irreligious men are prompted by ambition or despair to despise life; and to such persons it will be no advantage that they are courageous in meeting death. The threatening, which is contrasted with the promise, has also a powerful tendency to shake off carnal sloth, when he reminds men who are desirous of the present life, that the only advantage which they reap is, to lose life. There is a contrast intended here between temporal and eternal death, as we have explained under Mat 10:39, where the reader will find the rest of this subject. (468)
(467) “ Ceux qui meurent alaigrement pour Christ;” — “those who die cheerfully for Christ.”
(468) Harmony, vol. 1 p. 472.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) Whosoever will save his life, . . . whosoever will lose his life. . . .There is a subtle distinction between the two clauses in the Greek which the English fails to represent. Whoso ever willethi.e., wishesto save his life (the construction being the same as in Mat. 16:24) in the first clause, Whosoever shall lose his life in the second. It is as though it was felt that no man could wish to lose his life for the sake of losing it, though he might be ready, if called on, to surrender it. The word rendered life is the same as the soul of the next verse. For the most part, it means the former rather than the latter with its modern associations, and is never used as a simple equivalent for the spirit of man as the heir of immortality. Strictly speaking, it is the animating principle of the natural as distinguished from the spiritual life. Man, in the fuller trichotomy of the New Testament, consists of body, soul, and spirit (1Th. 5:23), the soul being the connecting-link between the other two. The truth is, of course, put in the form of a paradox, and hence, with a contrast between the two aspects of the soul, or psyche. To be bent on saving it in its relation to the body, is to lose it in its relation to the higher life of spirit; to be content to part with it in its lower aspect, is to gain it back again in the higher.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Save his life lose. See note on Mat 10:39. The present paragraph, indeed, is in general a reiteration of the substance of that chapter apostolic suffering, in view of a future reward, in order that Christ’s kingdom may be established in the earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.”
On the other hand, He pointed out, in spite of that, there was really only one choice to make, for the alternative was not really a choice at all. Not to respond would be equally fatal. For the one who shunned this dying to self and such a possibility of martyrdom, and thereby sought to save His life for himself, would unquestionably finally lose true life altogether. He would lose his soul. This was the challenge of the last days.
But the one who did, for Christ’s sake, actually lose his life by giving it up to Christ to be solely lived for His purposes, and indeed to die for Him if necessary, would in fact then save it. For he could then be sure that he would have life that was life indeed and that in the final day he would be raised with Him (see Joh 6:39-40; Joh 6:44). We may rightly spiritualise it in applying it to ourselves, but in the violent world of those days it was a genuine option and the mention of the cross had an ominous significance.
The choice He offered was certainly not an easy one for anyone, and especially not for the well-to-do and the influential. By openly following Jesus they might easily cut themselves off from the spheres of influence and power and be degraded and set aside by those in authority. No one knew where his choice would lead him. He might be committing political suicide. He might be ostracised by his friends. And it might even lead to death. It was a choice with which those who thought to follow Christ then would constantly be faced, and in some places still are. But as Jesus wanted each to recognise, the alternative was in the end to lose everything. So while to opt for Christ carried with it the possibility of suffering, persecution, and death, although then with the guarantee of eternal life, to opt against Him was to opt for final destruction.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Ver. 25. For whosoever will save his life ] That is parsimonious of it, when Christ calls him to be prodigal of it. Man is naturally a “life loving creature.” a What man is he that desireth life? I do, and I, and I, as Augustine brings men in, making ready answer. Quis vitam non vult? Life is sweet, we say, and every creature makes much of it, from the highest angel to the lowest worm, as that Father observeth. But life in God’s displeasure is worse than death, as death in his true favour is true life, said Bradford to Gardiner; for such a death lays hold upon eternal life, as St Paul hath it, 1Ti 6:19 , or (as other copies read it) upon life indeed ( ). For, aeterna vita vera vita, saith Augustine. “None to that,” as David said of Goliath’s sword. “None but Christ, none but Christ,” as that martyr cried in the flames. This love of Christ made them sacrifice their dearest lives to his name, yea, profess, as John Ardely did to Bonnet, That if every hair of his head were a man, he would suffer death in them all for his sweet Christ’s sake. My wife and my children are so dearly beloved unto me, that they cannot be bought from me for all the riches and possessions of the Duke of Bavaria; but for the love of my Lord God I will willingly forsake them, said George Carpenter, who was burnt at Munchen in Bavaria.
a . Aesop in Fab.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 16:25 . ide Mat 10:39 . The Caesarea crisis was the most appropriate occasion for the first promulgation of this great ethical principle. It was Christ’s first contribution towards unfolding the significance of His suffering, setting it forth as the result of a fidelity to righteousness incumbent on all.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
will save = be willing (Subj.) to save, as above.
his life. Greek. psuche his soul. Should be “soul” here, if “soul” in Mat 16:26; or, “life” in Mat 16:26, if “life” here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 16:25. -, shall wish-to save) It is not said, shall save, , soul) The soul is the man in his animal and human capacity.-, to save) sc. naturally.-, shall lose) sc. spiritually, or even corporeally.-, will lose) sc. naturally, having cast away all egoism[768] by self-abnegation. It is not said, shall wish to lose.- , for My sake) This is the object of self-abnegation: but many from other causes lose their lives, sc. for their own sake, or that of the world.-, shall find) In St Mark and St Luke , it is shall save, shall save sc. spiritually, or even corporeally. The world is full of danger. The soul that is saved is something that has been found.
[768] Suitate.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 10:39, Est 4:14, Est 4:16, Mar 8:35, Luk 17:33, Joh 12:25, Act 20:23, Act 20:24, Rev 12:11
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:30 – die 2Ki 1:14 – let my life Est 4:13 – Think not Ecc 3:6 – time to get Jer 26:21 – he was Mat 7:14 – narrow Mat 19:29 – every 1Pe 3:14 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LIFE SAVED AND LOST
Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.
Mat 16:25
In the parallel passage of St. Mar 8:35, there is a slight addition: for My sake and the Gospels; and both there and in St. Luk 9:24, for find it, the closing words are save it. The same statement occurs in Mat 10:39, and is abbreviated in St. Luk 14:26 into the short phrase: hate yea, and his own life also.
I. Service not salvation.The topic before us is not the saving or losing of the soul, but the life reckoned as gained or lost, according as it is yielded up to the Masters service, or withheld from Him and kept for selfish ends. A life lost, as the world names it, is really saved, gained and kept; whilst the life spent for worldly advantages, earthly profit, and selfish ends counts but as pure loss, and is worth nothing in His sight.
II. Christ as example.Our Lords use of the idea of losing and keeping the life, in St. Joh 7:24-25, applies it to Himself and His own conduct, and once more makes Him the example for disciples to follow.
III. The yielded life.The condition for consecration and discipleship, which calls for a practical surrender of the whole life, and a willingness to let it be lost to all personal ends for Christs sake, forms in fact the summary and climax of everything. The whole being is put under contribution and nothing is left unclaimed by Christ.
The Rev. Hubert Brooke.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6:25
This verse is explained at chapter 10:39.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 16:25. For whosoever would save his life, etc. Comp, the same thought in chap. Mat 10:39. Whoever makes the lower life the supreme motive shall lose the higher life, and whoever, making Christ supreme, shall lose even life for His sake shall find it in the highest, truest sense. The contrast throughout the passage is not between body and soul, but earthly life in all forms with true heavenly life here and hereafter. Life, worldly, selfish, fleshly, is opposed to life eternal, Christian and spiritual. The fear of death subjects to the bondage of death (Heb 2:15); while readiness to suffer a holy death for Christs sake opens up before us true life.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That the love of this temporal life, is a great temptation to men to deny Christ, and renounce his holy religion.
2. That the surest way to attain eternal life, is cheerfully to lay down a mortal life, when the glory of Christ and his service calleth us thereunto.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 16:25-27. Whosoever will save his life At the expense of his conscience: whosoever, in the very highest instance, that of life itself, will not renounce himself, shall be lost eternally. But can any man hope he should be able thus to renounce himself, if he cannot do it in the smallest instances? And whosoever will lose his life, shall find it What he loses on earth he shall find in heaven. See note on Mat 10:39, where this sentence is explained more at large. For what is a man profited, &c.
To carry home the argument more closely, he puts them in mind of the method according to which men estimate things. If God should offer the riches of Solomon, the strength of Samson, the policy of Ahithophel, the beauty of Absalom, the eloquence of Apollos, universal monarchy, and all kinds of pleasures, and should say, Take them for one hour, and then die; who is the man that would not immediately reject the proposed condition, and reply, that life is better than them all? But will men forego every earthly thing for life, the life of the body? and will they not part with them, nay, and with life itself, for their souls? since the longest any one can enjoy this life with its pleasures, is, in comparison of eternity, no longer than he enjoys the good things mentioned, who dies in the same hour he receives them. Macknight. Or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Namely, at the day of judgment? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father For you may certainly depend upon it that, howsoever he may be now despised and rejected of men, there is a day appointed when he will come in all the glory of the Godhead, encircled in the most pompous manner with his holy angels: and then shall he convene the whole world before him, that he may determine the final happiness or misery of each, and recompense every man according to his conduct. Thus, that the argument, by which the necessity of self-denial is so clearly established, might have the greater weight, our Lord speaks more particularly concerning the rewards and punishments of a future state, assuring his disciples that they are all to be distributed by himself, the Father having appointed him the universal Judge, so that his enemies cannot flatter themselves with a hope of escaping condign punishment, nor his friends be in the least afraid of losing their reward.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall {t} find it.
(t) Shall gain himself: And this is his meaning, they that deny Christ to save themselves, not only not gain that which they look for, but also lose the thing they would have kept, that is, themselves, which is the greatest loss of all: but as for them that doubt not to die for Christ, it goes well with them otherwise.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Mat 16:25-27 all begin with "for" (Gr. gar). Jesus was arguing logically. Mat 16:25 restates the idea that Jesus previously expressed in Mat 10:28. The Greek word translated "life" is psyche, translated some other places in the New Testament "soul." It means the whole person (cf. Jas 1:21; Jas 5:20). Jesus was not talking about one’s eternal salvation. [Note: See Dillow, pp. 116-18.] The point of Jesus’ statement is that living for oneself now will result in a leaner life later whereas denying oneself now for Jesus’ sake will result in a fuller life later. It pays to serve Jesus, but payday will come later. As the next verse explains, the later in view for these disciples was the inauguration of the kingdom.
Two rhetorical questions show the folly of earning great material wealth at the expense of one’s very life (psyche, Mat 16:26). Life in the physical sense is not all that Jesus meant. As He used the word, it includes one’s existence, his or her entire being.
"For the world, there is immediate gain but ultimate loss: for the disciple, there is immediate loss but ultimate gain." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 126.]