24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: If
anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture
stake and continually follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save his soul
[comparative speech] will lose it;
but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.
26 For what benefit will it be to a man if he
gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul?
27 For the Son of man is destined to come in
the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will recompense each one
according to his behaviour.
28 Truly I say to you that there are some of
those standing here that will not taste death at all until first they see the
Son of man coming in his kingdom (Matthew16).
34 He now called the crowd to him with his
disciples and said to them: If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown
himself and pick up his torture stake and follow me continually.
35 For whoever wants to save his soul
[comparative speech] will lose it;
but whoever loses his soul for the sake of me and the good news will save it.
36 Really, of what benefit is it for a man to
gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?
37 What, really, would a man give in exchange
for his soul?
38 For whoever becomes ashamed of me and my
words in this adulterous and sinful generation [that
seeks a sign], the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he
arrives in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (Mark 8).
23 Then he went on to say to all: If anyone
wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day
after day and follow me continually.
24 For whoever wants to save his soul
[comparative speech] will lose it;
but whoever loses his soul for my sake is the one that will save it.
25 Really, what does a man benefit himself if
he gains the whole world but loses his own self or suffers damage?
26 For whoever becomes ashamed of me and of
my words, the Son of man will be ashamed of this one when he arrives in his
glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 But I tell you truthfully, There are some
of those standing here that will not taste death at all until first they see the
kingdom of God [Peter
James and John saw the transfiguration. This was not a vision but a real glimpse
of a resurrected Moses talking to Elijah and Jesus. So it was a true glimpse of
the kingdom. A view of a kingdom reality, which would end the faith covenant for
them].
28 In actual fact, about 8 days after these
words, he took Peter and John and James along and climbed up into the mountain
to pray (Luke 9).
We all want to save our souls. That desire inbuilt by God does not sentence us to lose our souls. But those who love their own soul more than they love God or the kingdom will lose their souls. These 3 scriptures are comparative speech. They are written in the same way as the famous...
26
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and
mother and wife and
children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own soul
[This has to be comparative speech. For if it
were absolute then it would break the second commandment to love your brother as
yourself! There is 'just as' and there is 'moreso' in comparative speech]
he cannot be my disciple.
27
Whoever is not carrying his torture-stake and coming after me cannot be my
disciple (Luke 14).
The second law is that you should love your relatives as yourself, as your own soul. But that is the second law, not the first law. the first law is that you should love God with all your soul. So he comes before your soul and before your relatives. That is what Abraham was doing with the sacrifice of Isaac. But Isaac was compliant in that case. So Abraham would have been guilty of assisted suicide not murder.
All of these things seem like pathological tests for put people through. But
without our two Gods we are all dead anyway since they are the only ones who can
teach us sustainable morality. And recognising that is the first law.