Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 17:33

"Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose [his life] shall preserve it." — Luke 17:33 (ASV)

Whosoever shall seek to save his life.—The better manuscripts give a word which is translated elsewhere as “purchase” (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:13), and perhaps always suggests, as the other word for “save” does not suggest, the idea of some transaction of the kind. So here, the man must purchase, as it were, his lower life at the price of the higher, and he will be a loser by the bargain.

Shall preserve it.—Here, again, the English verb is weak. Better, shall give life to it. The same Greek word occurs in the better manuscripts of 1 Timothy 6:13, and is there translated as “quicken,” and in its passive form in Acts 7:49, where it should be translated preserved alive, and this is clearly the meaning here. The man who is content to risk his natural life shall gain a life of a higher spiritual order.