He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Ver. 39. He that findeth his llfe shall lose it] This is a strange expression, a riddle to the world, a seeming contradiction, a such as natural reason can never reconcile. But if the paradoxes of the Stoics might be proven, much more may those of the gospel. He that findeth his life, that is, redeemeth it with the forfeiture of his faith, with the shipwreck of his conscience, makes a loser's bargain, makes more haste than good speed; while in running from death as far as he can he runs to it as fast as he can. Christ will kill him with death, Revelation 2:23; and sentence him, as an apostate, unto double damnation.
He that loseth his life for my sake, &c.] For else all is lost, since it is not poena penalty, but causa reason that makes a martyr. Christ and the thieves were in the same condemnation: Samson and the Philistines in the same destruction, by the downfall of the house: Similis poena, dissimilis causa, saith Augustine. Martyrdom is a crown, as old age, if it be found in the way of righteousness. One martyr cried out, Blessed be God that ever I was born to this happy hour. To another, when it was said, Take heed; it is a hard matter to burn. Indeed, said he, it is for him that hath his soul linked to his body, as a thief's foot in a pair of fetters. Can I die but once for Christ? said a third.
Shall find it] For the line of his lost life shall be hidden in the endless maze of God's surest mercies. The passion days of the martyrs were therefore anciently called, Natalitia salutis, the birthdays of salvation, the daybreak of eternal brightness. Those poor seduced souls that lost their lives in the Holy Wars, as they called them, and were persuaded that thereby they made amends to Christ for his death, were much to be pitied.
a παραδαξον αλλ ' ου παραλογον .