What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
To gain the whole world means to possess all its riches, honors, and pleasures. To lose the soul means condemnation to hell. Christ drives home two truths: those who cling to the world for religion's sake will lose their souls, and once lost, the soul cannot be redeemed. There is no salvation in hell.
AI summary
Learn, 1. That God has intrusted everyone of us with a soul of inestimable worth and preciousness, capable of being saved or lost, and that to all eternity. 2. That the gain of the whole world is not comparable with the loss of one precious soul. The soul's loss is an incomprehensible and irrecoverable loss.
The soul was made not for a few years of worldly pleasure but for eternity in heaven. What stupidity blinds men so that they abandon their immortal souls to ruin for things of this world, when even they acknowledge the soul's surpassing worth? Remember this truth, and the empty allure of earthly happiness will lose its grip.
AI summary