Matthew 16:26 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For what is a man profited, &c.— To carry home the argument more closely, he puts them in mind of the method according to which men estimate things. If God should offer the riches of Solomon, the strength of Samson, the policy of Ahithophel, the beauty of Absalom, the eloquence of Apollos, universal monarchy, and all kinds of pleasures, and say, Take them for one hour, and then die,—who is the man that would not immediately reject the proposed condition, and reply that life is better than them all? But will men forego every earthly thing for life,—the life of the body? and will they not part with them, nay, and with life itself, for their souls? since the longest any one can enjoy this life with all its pleasures is, in comparison of eternity, no longer than he enjoys the good things before mentioned, who dies in the same hour that he receives them. The latter part of this verse may be rendered, and lose his own life; Ψυχη, (the same word is used, Matthew 16:25.) or what shall a man give as a ransom for his life? The Greek word ανταλλαγμα, properly signifies a ransom; and in this connection leads us to reflect, how willing a condemned malefactor would be, to give up all that he had gotten by his crimes to buy his pardon, and how vain his attempt must in this case prove. The phrase Την Ψυχην ζημιωθεσθαι, does not merely signify to lose the life, which might be applied to a man who accidentally met death in the pursuit of gain,—as a merchant who should be lost in his voyage; but it properly imports the undergoing a capital execution; which is an idea of much greater terror, as well as of much stricter propriety in the present case. See Job 2:4.Luke 9:25. Raphelius's Annotations, and Archbishop Tillotson's Sermons, vol. 3.