>>57
The interesting thing about this quote is that it is often rendered like this:
because what profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?
It seems that at the time (and in the language used) when the New Testament was written, there was no concept of "soul", as it is. In other words, they had a single word denoting both "soul" and "life".
So when Jesus spoke about this stuff, he used much more pragmatic words, that send the message across much clearer: first, you are not going to sell your life for any amount of gold, right? Because that would be pointless. Second, I tell you that your life here might continue eternally in God's domain, so doing stuff that might endanger that continuation is just as stupid.