Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 10:39

"He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." — Matthew 10:39 (ASV)

He who finds his life—The word is the same as that translated “soul” (i.e., that by which a person lives in either the lower or the higher sense of life) in Matthew 10:28. The point of this maxim lies in the contrast between the two senses. To gain the lower life now is to lose the higher life hereafter; conversely, to lose the lower life for the sake of Christ (that is, to die a martyr’s death in confessing Him) is to gain the higher life.