How do you personally interpret John 12:25

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert_Sock
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Robert_Sock

Guest
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
 
“The inner life of man is greatly hindered in this life by the needs of the body. Thus, the Prophet devoutly prays that he may be set free from them, saying, “Lord, deliver me from my necessities!” Woe to those who refuse to recognize their own wretchedness, and doubly woe to those who love this miserable and corruptible life! For some cling so closely to it, that although by working or begging they can hardly win the bare necessities, they would yet be willing to live here for ever if it were possible, caring nothing for the Kingdom of God.”
-The Imitation of Christ

I do believe that a lot of Christians try and extract as much pleasure as they can in this life, and think little of the Heavenly Kingdom. They too would live eternity in this world if they only could, indulging in worldly pleasures as much they can. I think it’s good that we sometimes experience adversity in this life as a reminder that we are living in a miserable and corrupt world.
 
I can’t articulate an interpretation of John 12:25, and personally I find the natural beauty of this world that God created stunning and seductive. I don’t believe that God wants us to be miserable but does want us to rejoice in family and friendship; and to enjoy all the beauty that He created around us. At the same time, dying is purposeful and should be appreciated on another level - for it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Maybe some context will help.

usccb.org/bible/john/12
  • Jesus answered them,q “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
    24
  • Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;r but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
    25
    Whoever loves his life* loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.s
    26
    Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.t
    27
    “I am troubled* now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.u
    28
    Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”v
    29
    The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”w
    30
    Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.x
    31
    Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world* will be driven out.y
    32
    And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”z
    33
    He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
    34
    So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.* Then how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”a
    35
    Jesus said to them, “The light will be among you only a little while. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overcome you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.b
    36
    While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”
 
Robert_Sock said:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
Click to expand...
May it is something like what Paul said:

Php 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Php 1:22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
Php 1:23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
Php 1:24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
 
Robert_Sock said:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
Click to expand...
This is speaking of those who love their earthly lives, their secular lives, having material things, money, all the good things of the physical world, etc.

The priority is supposed to be the afterlife, our real life so to speak, this world and our earthly existence was never meant to be the priority.
 
DaddyGirl said:
It doesn’t make much sense.

.
Click to expand...
I wrote this while in a state of rather deep depression and John 12:25 made a lot of sense to me. If you can’t read it while in such a state, try reading it while empathizing with those experiencing deep hardship, like the many millions of people living in extreme poverty where they have to dig in garbage cans just to get a little to eat.
 
Robert_Sock said:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
Click to expand...
Hi, Robert!
…this ties in with the first Commandment: place nothing above God–not even your own life; this is difficult to do since self-preservation is innate to our human experience… hence, it is God’s Command that we supersede even our most elemental instinct of self-love…

Embracing God, which to the world means the opposite of “eat, drink and be merry,” means dying to self–placing ourselves in God’s Will allows the fruition of Faith–without which it is impossible to please God.

It is the reason why Christ stated that it is insufficient to just call Him Lord… less we do the Will of the Father; the Will of the Father is that we Listen to the Son… the Son asks that we Emulate Him… as He Emptied Himself of His Divinity to embrace us, we, in turn, must empty ourselves of our own beings in order to embrace Him.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
jcrichton said:
Hi, Robert!
…this ties in with the first Commandment: place nothing above God–not even your own life; this is difficult to do since self-preservation is innate to our human experience… hence, it is God’s Command that we supersede even our most elemental instinct of self-love…

Embracing God, which to the world means the opposite of “eat, drink and be merry,” means dying to self–placing ourselves in God’s Will allows the fruition of Faith–without which it is impossible to please God.

It is the reason why Christ stated that it is insufficient to just call Him Lord… less we do the Will of the Father; the Will of the Father is that we Listen to the Son… the Son asks that we Emulate Him… as He Emptied Himself of His Divinity to embrace us, we, in turn, must empty ourselves of our own beings in order to embrace Him.

Maran atha!

Angel
Click to expand...
Yes, and I wish everyone could ponder it while in a temporary state of depression which gives it a rich, new meaning. Christ says that we are all sinners and I think our love for this world is one area we sin.
 
What do “denying oneself” and “hating one’s life” mean? These words, wrongly understood, have sometimes portrayed Christianity as a religion that humiliates man, whereas Jesus came so that man might have life and have it abundantly (cf. Jn 10: 10). The fact is that Christ, unlike the false teachers of the past and present, does not deceive. He knows the human creature in his depths and knows that, in order to attain life, he must go through a “passage”, a “passover”, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of God’s children by renouncing the “old man” to make way for the new man, redeemed by Christ.

“He who loves his life loses it”. These words do not express contempt for life but, on the contrary, authentic love for it: a love that does not want this fundamental good instantly and only for itself, but for all people and for all time, in sharp contrast with the mentality of the “world”. In fact, it is by following Christ on the “narrow way” that we find life; those who choose the “broad” and comfortable way instead, exchange life for fleeting pleasures, disregarding their own dignity and that of others.

~ St Pope John Paul II

w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/angelus/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20010304.html
 
“Dear brothers and sisters, this is the demanding way of the Cross that Jesus points out to all his disciples. On several occasions he said, “If anyone wants to serve me, let him follow me”. There is no alternative for the Christian who wishes to fulfil his vocation. It is the “law” of the Cross, described with the image of the grain of wheat that dies in order that new life may germinate; it is the “logic” of the Cross, recalled also in today’s Gospel: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life”. “To hate” one’s life is a strong and paradoxical Semitic expression that clearly emphasizes the radical totality which must distinguish those who follow Christ and, out of love for him, put themselves at the service of their brethren. They lose their life and thus find it. There is no other way to experience the joy and the true fruitfulness of Love: the way of giving oneself, of self-giving, of losing oneself in order to find oneself.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI:

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090329_magliana_en.html
 
Robert_Sock said:
Yes, and I wish everyone could ponder it while in a temporary state of depression which gives it a rich, new meaning. Christ says that we are all sinners and I think our love for this world is one area we sin.
Click to expand...
Hi, Robert!

I concur!

…we become enamored with the things that are pleasing and comforting… most of which are temporary and many times lead us to that wide path of which Jesus warned us about… Satan uses our “drug” of choice to derail our best intentions (that’s the reason why St. Paul acknowledged that in us we have the desire for good but we end up engaging that which we do not want: death); this is why Jesus warned (St. John 15:1-10) that we must remain in Him because without Him we are nothing.

We also have St. Paul’s understanding that it is in our weakness when Christ can abound… for in our weakness we become as dependent of God as infants are dependent upon their parents–as we yield our will to God’s, He is able to bring us out of confusion and disorder.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Robert_Sock said:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
Click to expand...
Here’s what it means;

The Universe with its BILLIONS of God Created “things” has only one; only humanity that is able to Know, Love, s\Serve, and Obey God.

In order for humanity to be able to do this; requires that we emulate God, who John 4:23-24 tells us is a “SPIRIT”… this poses the question then just how does MORTAL man emulate our God?

The answer is that similar to GOD, we too have a mind, intellect and a FREEWILL. These are gifted to each of us so that we MIGHT freely choose to:

Isaiah 43:7 & 21

[7]" every one who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."

[21] the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise".

"THAT THEY MIGHT" answers your question:

We are to freely choose [if we ARE to meet God’s expectations for each of us] to RETURN to God our freewill, so that He then can conform it to HIS Divine Will.

We exist BY God
FOR God
and we are to choose to do this THROUGH God.👍

Thanks for asking
 
The utube of Howard storm near death experience is an example of the meaning and understanding of this scripture. 1. How do u lose every thing u worked for in this life. 2 Or how do u gain eternal life that is good.
 
Robert_Sock said:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25

What are its ramifications?
Click to expand...
Give up your old life for the new and eternal life of Jesus Christ.
 
Bookcat said:
" Jesus said, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12: 25). Thus, if we can die to our selfishness, if we refuse to withdraw into ourselves and make our life a gift to God and to our brethren, we too will be able to know the rich fruitfulness of love. And love does not die."

–Pope Benedict XVI

from vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080423_card-trujillo_en.html
Click to expand...
 
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.”
-1 John 2:15

I believe that John 12:25 and the above passage are to be taken at face value.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top