What Does Luke 9:25 Mean?
For what does it profit a human, if they gain the whole world, and lose themselves, or suffer damage?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?THE KEY
The world can be yours while the one who gains it is the one who loses.
THE MEANING
You can gather everything the world calls gain and still lose the person doing the gathering. The verse measures advantage by what happens to you, so possessing the whole world does not settle whether you have truly gained.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that enough acquisition can compensate for losing yourself. The verse says the world’s full value cannot make that loss profitable.
THE ROOT
ἀπολέσας
apolésas
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apóllumi
To destroy, cause to perish, or lose.
“lose” in this verse is apolésas. This is more than a small setback: the verb can mean to perish or be destroyed. The verse sets that kind of loss against world-scale gain, asking whether acquisition costs the very self it is supposed to benefit.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: Loss, ruin, destruction
ἀπώλεια
The related noun names loss as ruin, deepening what is at stake when the verse says a person can lose himself.
apolōlōs: Lost, perished
ἀπολωλώς
This related form describes one who is lost or has perished, connecting the verse’s loss to the condition of the person, not merely to possessions.
ζημιωθείς
zēmiōtheís
GROWS FROM
ζημιόω
zēmióō
To suffer loss, forfeit, or sustain damage.
“suffer damage” in this verse is zēmiōtheís. The verse ends with a second word for loss, distinct from the word translated “lose himself.” Its sense of suffering loss or forfeiting something keeps the ending inside the language of cost and consequence.
ALSO GROWS
zēmía: Loss, damage
ζημία
The related noun makes the cost explicit: what appears to be gain can leave the person bearing a real loss.
ezēmiṓthēn: I suffered loss, I forfeited
ἐζημιώθην
This related verb form expresses loss as something incurred, echoing the verse’s question about whether the gain truly benefits the one who acquires it.
κερδήσας
kerdḗsas
GROWS FROM
κερδαίνω
kerdaínō
To gain, acquire, or profit.
“gain” in this verse is kerdḗsas. The word belongs to the language of acquisition and profit, while the verse opens by asking whether the person is actually advantaged. It separates having the world from being benefited by what you have gained.
ALSO GROWS
kérdos: Gain, profit
κέρδος
The related noun names the profit being pursued, which the verse weighs against the possible loss of the self.
kerdaínein: To gain, acquire
κερδαίνειν
This infinitive form keeps the focus on acquiring and sharpens the question of whether acquisition amounts to real advantage.
THE PATTERN
The world’s abundance can increase what a person possesses without increasing the person’s life or lasting gain.
And he said to them, Watch, and guard yourselves against grasping, for a person's life does not lie in the overflow of what they hold.The lover of silver is not filled with silver, and the lover of the crowd is not filled with the harvest. This too is vapor.For we brought nothing into the world, and it is clear that we can carry nothing out.THE THREAD
For what does it profit a human, if he gains the whole world and is damaged in his living soul? Or what will a human give in exchange for his living soul?Matthew shares Luke’s gain root, κερδαίνω (kerdaínō, gain), and loss root, ζημιόω (zēmióō, suffer loss), while naming what Luke calls “himself” as ψυχή (psychḗ, living soul). Together, the verses make the stake plain: the world’s gain can coincide with the loss of the living self.
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