For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? Godet's comment here is pithy and quaint: "Jesus supposes, in this twenty-fifth verse, the act of saving one's own life accomplished with the most complete success … amounting to a gain of the whole world.
But in this very moment, the master of this magnificent domain finds himself condemned to perish! What gain to draw in a lottery a gallery of pictures … and at the same time to become blind!" "O flesh," writes Luther (quoted by Dr.
Morrison), "how mighty art thou, that thou canst still throw darkness over those things, even to the minds of the holy!"