Matthew 16:26
Matthew 16:25-26 (see also Mark 9:43)
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Adrian Rogers explains: “Some things you can replace when you lose them. Other things you can find a substitute for. But you will never replace or find a substitute for your soul. ...To lose your soul is an irreversible loss.” (The Value of a Soul)
According to Calvinism, though, an alleged non-elect soul is already lost, from birth. So Calvinists need to explain how an alleged non-elect soul could “forfeit” their soul.
Question: The appraised value of any
given item is based upon what someone
else is willing to pay for it. Therefore,
what is the appraised value of your soul?
Answer: The appraised value of your soul
was the price that God paid by sending
Jesus to the Cross of Calvary. That is the
appraised value of your soul.
John Bevere: “If you would have been worth less to God than the value of Jesus, then God wouldn’t have sent Him to die for you; for He would never make an unprofitable deal! In God’s eyes, Jesus’ value is the same as yours!” (Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant to Live; Devotional Workbook, p.5)
Sometimes a parent will refuse to kick a grown child out, and often people will be puzzled as to why. “Just kick them out! Get them out of the house.” And you know what, if they were anyone else’s child, they probably would, but they are not just someone else’s kid. It’s their kid, and that’s the difference. Being created by God, we have special meaning to God, and not because we are so awesome, but because we are God’s children (Acts 17:29), which no one on the outside could otherwise relate to.
John Calvin: “Everyone confesses that the soul is more than all riches and delights of the world; yet the sense of the flesh blinds them and they cast their souls knowingly and willingly into destruction. Therefore, lest the world should bewitch us with its charms, let us remember the excellency of our souls. If we consider this earnestly, it will easily shake off the empty imaginations of earthly happiness.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, A Harmony of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. II, p.195, emphasis mine)
Actually, if you consider this passage earnestly, what it will “shake off” is Calvinism.
When Jesus asks, “What would it profit a man if he were to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”, He implies that if a man loses his own soul (due to placing a greater importance on living a life dedicated to gaining material wealth or power), he has made a poor choice. However, if Jesus was speaking to those who could never, ever be saved, namely, Calvinism’s alleged “passed by,” then the question becomes irrelevant because they are going to lose their souls whether they die rich or poor. On the other hand, if He’s talking to those who are allegedly, predestined for salvation, then the question also becomes irrelevant because they are not going to lose their souls whether they die rich or poor. Therefore, Jesus can only be speaking to a single group, and that group being all of mankind. So His question reveals that anyone can lose his own soul if his desire to obtain riches and power is more important to him than obedience to God.
Jesus asked the question, Mark 8:36, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? This is in direct disagreement with the teachings of Calvinism which blatantly and wrongly declares that a man’s soul has been predestined by God for either salvation or destruction. Jesus clearly stated that man himself is responsible for the loss of his own soul, if he values riches more.
Question: Is Jesus saying that people’s choices determine their destiny?
Answer: If there did exist one group who were, allegedly, unconditionally predestined to salvation, and if there did exist another group, who were, allegedly, unconditionally predestined to destruction, how would Jesus’ question have any relevance to either group, since neither group would be in control of their own destiny to gain or lose their soul?
Matthew 16:25-26 poses no small problem for Calvinists. It is an enormous problem because it calls into question the possibility of the existence of any predestined group, since the responsibility of choosing between wealth and power, over the final destination of the soul, is placed back upon the individual. How can a man lose his own soul by gaining the whole world if God had already selected him for destruction? How can a man lose his own soul by gaining the whole world if God had already selected him for eternal life? Therefore, for this verse to make any sense, it must not be God’s selecting, but man’s own choosing of material wealth or power over his concern for being obedient to God and the eternal security of his own soul, which determines his fate. It’s obvious that Jesus did not consider the choice of trying to gain the whole world a wise exchange for the soul. Jesus gave the explanation as to why people do ignore spiritual matters when He said, “their ears have grown dull from hearing” (Matthew 13:15; Isaiah 6:10), which would only square with Calvinism if God allegedly caused their reprobation (Unconditional Reprobation) or merely abandoned them (Preterition).
If a person offered you one million dollars for just one of your eyes, it’s not likely that you would accept that offer, even though such an offer would still leave you with a spare eye. Why? Because you need both of your eyes. With only one eye, you would not have the same quality of life as if you had both, and therefore the one million dollars just isn’t worth it. So what if a person offered you ten million dollars for both eyes? Ten million dollars can go a long way in order to accomplish much. But what’s the point?, since your quality of life will have been so drastically reduced? Now there are some parents who would accept such an offer, in dire circumstances, if the money was needed for vital medicine or surgery that would save the life of their child. So some would accept that offer, desperate as it may be. When God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to the cross, Jesus paid the dire price, and laid down His life, though He rose again on the third day and reclaimed it for all eternity, which is also the Lord’s promise to each of those who trust in Him. The point of all of this is that if you value your own eyes, both of them, being vital to the quality of your life, then how much more ought you to value your own soul, which is vital for quality of life in eternity? Our circumstances in this life dictate that our soul has little more value than our appendix. However, on Judgment Day, your circumstances will have changed, and on that day, the true value of your soul will have been realized. What Jesus is saying is that the quality of life, now, pales to compare with the quality of life in eternity, and that you should not underestimate it, just because you cannot see it, touch it, taste it or feel it. It’s there, and you ought not forfeit it in favor of the quality of life in the now.
The Most Important Question Jesus Asked, by Mark Monte.
Do you only get one life to live? You only get one life to live now, but in the resurrection, you get life eternal. A man is no fool, who surrenders what he cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose.
