Mark 8:36

36 Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not!

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 Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. "If any of you want to come with me," he told them, "you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.
35 For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.
36 Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not!
37 There is nothing you can give to regain your life.
38 If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.