Mark 8:36

36 Indeed, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?

Mark 8:36 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 8:36

For what shall it profit a man
In the long run, in the issue of things, who by denying Christ, and his Gospel, may not only save his life for the present, but procure for himself great riches and wealth:

if he shall gain the whole world;
were that possible to be done, and which the ambitious, worldly man is desirous of; yet supposing he: had his desire, of what avail would this be in the upshot of things, should the following be his case, as it will,

and lose his own soul?
which is immortal and everlasting, when the world, and the glory of it pass away, and so is of more worth than the whole world. The world can only be enjoyed for a season, and that with a great deal of fatigue and trouble; but the soul continues for ever; and if it is lost and damned, its torment always abides, and the smoke of it ascends for ever, its worm never dies, and its fire is never quenched; (See Gill on Matthew 16:26).

Mark 8:36 In-Context

34 Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him say `No' to himself, take up his execution stake, and keep following me.

35 For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will save it.

36 Indeed, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?

37 What could a person give in exchange for his life?

38 For if someone is ashamed of me and of what I say in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.