Besides Matthew 16:25 and parallel passages (vide supra), cf. also Luke 17:33 and even John 12:25. Observe that in our chapter John 12:37, John 12:38 arc equivalent to Luke 14:26, Luke 14:27; verses 38, 39 to Luke 9:23, Luke 9:24; Luke 9:39 to Luke 17:33.
A comparison of the various passages leads to the inference that the original occasion of Luke 17:37, 38 was that of Luke 14:26, Luke 14:27, and the original occasion of verse 39 was that of Matthew 16:25.
Thus our passage is a compendium, and Matthew 16:25 is either a modification by our Lord of an earlier thought, or, more probably, another "setting" of the utterance in place of something that corresponded to it.
Luke 17:33, on the other hand, may be a modification by our Lord, or an insertion made in the process of the composition of the Gospel. He that findeth; found; ὁεὑρών: but unnecessarily, the statement is timeless, and the inherent thought of completion is contained also in our present tense.
Findeth; after expenditure of trouble, and so Matthew 16:25 with parallel passages, "wish to save," and Luke 17:33, "seek to gain." Observe also the idea of acquiring for personal use common both to εὑρίσκειν and περιποιεῖσθαι (Luke).
The phrase, "find the soul," occurs only here (twice) and Matthew 16:25; of. Hebrews 10:39. His life (Matthew 6:25, note). As the full develop-merit of personality in true independence and energy is the aim and the promise for hereafter, so its shrinking and weakening by sin ends in loss of moral independence and mental worth.
Shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He shall acquire that personality of Iris with all its inherent germs of power fully developed. In Talm. Bab., 'Tamid,' 32a, Alexander the Great asks "the elders of the south" ten questions, among them," What shall a man do that he may live?"
They answer, "Let him put himself to death." "What shall a man do that he may die?" "Let him make himself alive." But though there is so much verbal similarity, it may be doubted whether Rashi is not right in explaining the passage as a merely worldly wise warning against provoking the envy of others by pride and ostentation.