Matthew 16:23-26 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
In those verses, Jesus was saying to deny our selfish desires, things we want that are not of God, and to follow in Jesus’ Way. For whoever will live for self and the world shall lose his eternal life, but whoever will sacrifice his life for the sake of Jesus shall gain eternal life.
If we live for self and the worldly things, we gain the world but we lose our soul because we lose eternal life. The soul that gains eternal life is
near to God so it is in heaven. The soul that loses eternal life continues to exist in the spiritual world (since all souls are immortal) but that soul is
far from God, so it is in hell.
In Verse 23, the
things that are not of God, but are rather of men, are the
things that cause us to sin, our selfish desires (things of the flesh which men savor).
Jesus said to deny our selfish desires and instead follow Him. For whosoever will live for the things of the flesh shall lose it (eternal life), and whosoever will sacrifice those things for Jesus’ sake shall find it (
it refers to eternal life).
This is a warning not to exchange one’s eternal life for our selfish desires that cause us to sin.” To lose one’s soul means to lose eternal life, since Eternal Life refers to a “quality” of life,
nearness to God, which according to Jesus comes from believing in Him and following in His way.
All souls are immortal since God created the soul to be immortal,
but only souls who are near to God have eternal life.
The other souls continue to exist in hell, far from God.