(Comp. Matthew 10:39; John 12:25.) Whosoever will ( ὃς γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ, whosoever wills to) save his life ( ψυχήν). Here are set forth the highest motives for courage, endurance, and perseverance in the way of righteousness.
The word translated "life" is used four times in this and the following verse, though in the latter it is rendered "soul" in the Anglican Version. The fact is the word is used in two senses: for the life which now is—the bodily life: and the life which is to come—the spiritual, the everlasting life.
These are indeed two stages of the same life—that which is bounded by earth and that which is to be passed with the glorified body in heaven; but they are for the moment regarded as distinct, though intimately connected by belonging to the same personality.
And the Lord intimates that any one who avoids bodily death and suffering by compromise of duty, by denying Christ and disowning the truth, shall lose everlasting life. On the other hand, whosoever sacrifices his life for the sake of Christ, to promote his cause, shall save his soul and be eternally rewarded.
Shall find it. "Find," as the opposite of "lose," is here equivalent to "save." There may, too, be in it a notion of something great and unexpected, a treasure discovered, "salvation far beyond all that they looked for" (Wis.
5:2). Says St. Gregory, "If you keep your seed, you lose it; if you sow it, you will find it again" ('Hom. in Evang.,' 32.).