10:39 How can one find his life by losing it?

(cp Mt 16:25-27; Mk 8:35-38; Lk 9:24-26) These passages enable us to better understand what Jesus is saying in Mt 10:39: what Jesus says here has a two-fold application for Christians.

One is that whoever lives a life of self-gratification will lose it; whoever puts to death the sinful deeds of the body will gain it (cp Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23; Ro 8:12-13; 1Cor 6:9-11; Col 3:5-10). Deny himself in Mk 8:34 and Lk 9:23 means to put the interests of God’s kingdom above all else and renounce all self-interests and ambitions which are contrary to God’s word (cp Col 3:1-4).

The other application is that if Christians are put to death for the gospel’s sake, they have the sure hope of eternal life (cp Ac 6:8-7: 60; Rev 3:5); if through fear of physical death they deny Jesus, God will punish them (cp Mk 8:38 (also Lk 9:26); 2Ti 2:11-12; Rev 21:8).

The fearful in Rev 21:8 are professing Christians whose fear of man overrides their loyalty to Christ. This explains the paradox of discipleship – to lose life is to find it: to die is to live (cp Mt 10:24-28; Mk 8:35-37; Lk 9:24-25; Jn 12:25-26).

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