For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

LUKE 9:25KJV
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Luke 9:25 (KJV)

What does Luke 9:25 mean?

Luke 9:25 asks what a person truly gains by acquiring everything the world offers if the cost is the loss of oneself. Jesus uses a question about profit and loss to show that even the greatest imaginable gain cannot outweigh that loss.

Jesus is speaking to those listening to him about following him. After speaking of losing and saving one’s life in verse 24, he pictures a person gaining “the whole world” but losing the very self that would enjoy it.

The Greek behind Luke 9:25

  • “advantaged” — ὠφελέω (ōpheleō): This word carries the sense of benefiting or profiting. Jesus frames his question in terms of what a person actually has to show for a gain.
  • “lose” — ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi): This word can mean to lose or destroy. Here, the person’s own self is what is lost.
  • “away” — ζημιόω (zēmioō): This word can carry the sense of suffering loss or forfeiting something. In “be cast away,” the KJV describes the person as the one who bears that loss.

Why Luke 9:25 matters

  • Jesus makes the contrast as strong as possible. “The whole world” sets the imagined gain at its greatest, making the question sharper than one about an ordinary possession.
  • The question addresses the person, not just possessions. The words “lose himself” place the person’s own fate on one side of the comparison.
  • The setting concerns following Jesus under pressure. In verse 23, Jesus speaks of taking up a cross daily and following him; verse 25 continues that discussion by asking what a person’s gains are worth.

Where else these words appear

“away” Greek G2210 · used in 6 verses

  • Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
  • Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
  • 2 Corinthians 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

“is” Greek G5623 · used in 15 verses

  • Matthew 15:5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
  • Mark 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
  • 1 Corinthians 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

“gain” Greek G2770 · used in 15 verses

  • Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
  • Matthew 25:22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
  • 1 Corinthians 9:21 To them that are without law, as without law,(being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

“lose” Greek G622 · used in 86 verses

  • Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
  • Luke 5:37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
  • John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.