Matthew 16:26

New Testament

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

2 Baruch 51:15

Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch
Pseudepigrapha

13 For the first shall receive the last, those whom they were expecting, and the last those of whom they used to hear that they had passed away. 14 For they have been delivered from this world of tribulation, And laid down the burden of anguish. 15 For what then have men lost their life, And for what have those who were on the earth exchanged their soul? 16 For then they chose (not) for themselves this time, Which, beyond the reach of anguish, could not pass away: But they chose for themselves that time, Whose issues are full of lamentations and evils, And they denied the world which ages not those who come to it, And they rejected the time of glory, So that they shall not come to the honour of which I told thee before.'

 Notes and References

"... Matthew 16:25-26 ... The logic is relentless: ('for') begins verses 25-27. For the sense of verse 25, see 10:39. The orientation is eschatological: saving one's psyche ('life') now will result in losing it at the end, and losing it now will result in finding it at the end. Verse 26 (compare 2 Baruch 51:15) furthers the argument by asking twin rhetorical questions, showing the folly of possessing all created abundance and wealth at the expense of one's psyche. NIV here changes its rendering 'life' (verse 25) to 'soul' (verse 26). This is not necessarily wrong. The abrupt change from the physical to the spiritual is amply attested elsewhere (compare 8:22; John 4:10; 6:27); but the change in English is perhaps too sharp (compare Luke 9:25: 'his very self'). The focus is still eschatological, and the loss is the eternal loss of one's soul = life = self (on the afterlife, see 22:23-33). Terminology aside, the bargain is a bad one ..."

Gaebelein, Frank Ely The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (p. 379) Pickering & Inglis, 1984

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