By persevering faithfully when persecuted they would preserve their lives (Gr. ktesesthe tas psychas hymon). That Isaiah , they would not die before it was God"s will for them to die ( Luke 21:18). Some interpreters believe that this verse simply restates in different terms the principle that those who endure to the end will experience salvation ( Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13). [1] Matthew and Mark recorded a principle for disciples living just before the Lord"s return. Those who remained faithful to the end of the Tribulation would enter the kingdom without dying ( Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13). However the differences in terminology in Luke argue for a different meaning here. This verse seems to be an additional promise. It cannot mean that martyrs can earn justification by remaining faithful rather than apostatizing since justification comes by faith, not works (cf. Romans 2:7). It may mean that perseverance will earn an eternal reward (cf. Luke 21:36; Revelation 2:10). [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Luke 21:5-19 - Days That Try Men's Souls
When we ask speculative questions, the Master bids us take heed to ourselves. His predictions in this passage were literally fulfilled in the events which culminated in the siege and fall of Jerusalem, forty years afterward. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," and through these throes and agonies mankind steps up to a new level of experience. The devil will not surrender his kingdom, any more than the bodies of men, without a grievous rending first: but there is a mightier than he.
The Church is called to follow her Lord. No easier path than His may she choose. Where there is no outward suffering there may be the inner cross and the death to all that the soul had once prized. Jesus has always stood beside His own wherever they have been called to witness for the truth; and the testimony given by His witnesses has reached the great ones of the earth and reverberated through courts and palaces. In suffering our souls become searched as by fire. We learn to know ourselves and to come into possession of an experience and a self-knowledge with which only suffering could have endowed us. [source]
Chapter Summary: Luke 21
1Jesus commends the poor widow 5He foretells the destruction of the temple, and of the city Jerusalem; 25the signs also which shall be before the last day 34He exhorts them to be watchful
Greek Commentary for Luke 21:19
Ye shall win [κτησεστε] Future middle of κταομαι ktaomai to acquire. They will win their souls even if death does come. [source]
Luke 9:25Cast away [ζημιωθείς] Another business term. The word means to fine, amerce, mulct; to punish by exacting forfeit. Hence Rev., correctly,forfeit his own self. See on win your souls, Luke 21:19. Also on Matthew 16:26. [source]
Luke 18:12Possess [κτῶμαι] Wrong. The Israelite did not pay tithes of his possessions, but only of his gains - his annual increase. See Genesis 28:22; Deuteronomy 14:22. Besides, the verb, in the present tense, does not mean to possess, but to acquire; the meaning possess being confined to the perfect and pluperfect. Rev., get. Compare Matthew 10:9 (Rev.); Acts 22:28; Luke 21:19 (on which see note); 1 Thessalonians 4:4 (Rev.). [source]
Greek Commentary for Luke 21:19
Future middle of κταομαι ktaomai to acquire. They will win their souls even if death does come. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 21:19
The word is often used in the New Testament in its original meaning of life. See Matthew 2:20; Matthew 20:28; Acts 20:10; Romans 11:3; John 10:11. Hence, as an emphatic designation of the man himself. See Matthew 12:18; Hebrews 10:38; Luke 21:19. So that the word denotes “life in the distinctness of individual existence” (Cremer). See further on ψυχικός , spiritual, 1 Corinthians 15:44. [source]
Another business term. The word means to fine, amerce, mulct; to punish by exacting forfeit. Hence Rev., correctly,forfeit his own self. See on win your souls, Luke 21:19. Also on Matthew 16:26. [source]
Wrong. The Israelite did not pay tithes of his possessions, but only of his gains - his annual increase. See Genesis 28:22; Deuteronomy 14:22. Besides, the verb, in the present tense, does not mean to possess, but to acquire; the meaning possess being confined to the perfect and pluperfect. Rev., get. Compare Matthew 10:9 (Rev.); Acts 22:28; Luke 21:19 (on which see note); 1 Thessalonians 4:4 (Rev.). [source]