Mark 8:36

36 For what profiteth it to a man [+Soothly what shall it profit to a man/Soothly what profiteth it a man], if he win all the world, and do impairing to his [own] soul?

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 And when the people was called together, with his disciples, he said to them, If any man will come after me, deny he himself, and take his cross, and follow he me [deny he himself, and take his cross, and follow me].
35 For he that will make safe his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for me, and for the gospel, shall make it safe. [Soothly who so will make his soul, that is, his life, safe, he shall lose it; forsooth he that shall lose his soul, that is, his life, for me and the gospel, shall make it safe.]
36 For what profiteth it to a man [+Soothly what shall it profit to a man/Soothly what profiteth it a man], if he win all the world, and do impairing to his [own] soul?
37 or what (ex)changing shall a man give for his soul?
38 But who that acknowledgeth me [Forsooth who that shall acknowledge me] and my words in this generation adulterous and sinful, also man's Son shall acknowledge him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.