The Text of Matthew 10:39

Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it. (TEV)

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (NRSV)

One who grasps at self will lose it, but one who rejects self on my account will gain it. (Anchor Bible)

The parallel verse in Mark 8:35

For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (TEV)

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. (NRSV)

In his commentary on Mark 8:35, Sherman E. Johnson (Black's New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to Mark, A&C Black: London, 1977, page 151) writes:

His willingness to risk and lose his physical life is given as the supreme example of the true way of salvation. Whosoever wishes to save his life, to hoard it and protect it, as though it belonged to him alone, will lose it or destroy it in the true sense of the word. But to lose it, as Jesus does, in the cause of the Good News, is to preserve it.

Barclay Newman and Philip Stine (UBS Handbook Series: A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, New York: United Bible Societies, 1988, page 314) write:

Lose it does not mean "he will die" but rather " will not have true life."

And he who loses his life for my sake will find it states the opposite of the first clause. As one commentator notes: "...to 'lose one's life' could mean 'to die a violent death' because of one's faithfulness in following Christ; but it seems more likely that it vividly denotes self-denial...." MACL translates "but whosoever denies himself because of me will experience true life" and for the first part of the sentence INCL has "whoever loses his life because of faithfulness to me." The idea of self-denial seen in loses his life sometimes has been rendered as "does not consider himself important" or "does not consider his life of great value."

Will find it may be translated "will gain eternal life" or "...true life."

Several very early Christian writers commented on the parallel verse in Mark 8:35. (See Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament II, Mark, edited by Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA: InterVarsity Press, 1998):

Augustine of Hippo, Letters, 243, To Laetus [354-430 AD, writing from 387-430 AD]: This precept by which we are enjoined to lose our life does not mean that a person should kill himself, which would be an unforgivable crime, but it does mean that one should kill that in oneself which is unduly attached to the earthly, which makes one take inordinate pleasure in this present life to the neglect of the life to come. This is the meaning of "shall hate his life" and "shall lose it" Embedded in the same admonition he speaks most openly of the profit of gaining one's life when he says: "He that loses his life in this world shall find it unto life eternal.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermons 159, 1.4-6.[470-542 AD]: When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think he is imposing a burden on us. But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair -- by ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ's promise... One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked. Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ's resurrection leveled it. By passing over it himself he transformed the narrowest of tracks in to a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top -- well, the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you -- do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing.

Also shedding light on the practical and spiritual implications of this verse is the following passage from the New Testament:

Get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to--the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy. (Eph 4:22-24, TEV)

The Greek word psuche, which in this verse is usually translated as "life" is the same word that is otherwise translated as "soul." For a very useful explanation of "soul" that is very relevant to the meaning of this verse, browse:

http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/soul.htm

See also:

• Mat 10:39
• Mat 16:25
• Mar 8:35
• Luk 9:24
• Luk 17:33
• Joh 12:25
• 1Pe 2:21
• Rev 12:11
• Mis 211:21
• Mis 327:25
• Ret 32:6
• My 233:25
• To explore additional references in the Bible and other writings, browse "Deny self, take up one's cross, and follow Christ" at http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/d.htm.
• See also "Deny self" (2.d.2.) in the webpage on "Prayer -- some of the many types of prayer taught in the Bible" at http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/prayer2.htm.