For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
All Commentaries on Mark 8:35 Go To Mark 8
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
This precept by which we are enjoined to lose our life does not mean that a person should kill himself, which would be an unforgivable crime, but it does mean that one should kill that in oneself which is unduly attached to the earthly, which makes one take inordinate pleasure in this present life to the neglect of the life to come. This is the meaning of “shall hate his life” and “shall lose it.” Embedded in the same admonition, he speaks most openly of the profit of gaining one’s life when he says: “He that loses his life in this world shall find it unto life eternal.” Letter , To Laetus.
