In Matthew 16:24-27 the Lord told His disciples they must take up their cross and be willing to lose their life, that is, their “soul,” in this age to gain it in the coming age. (See the previous Brief Note, “Suffering Loss to Gain Our Soul” • 3.) What happens next in Matthew’s gospel is very significant, because it shows us what it really means to “gain our soul”:

And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transformed before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became shining white, as the light.
— Matthew 17:1-2, SV; cf. Mark 9:2

The Greek word for “transformed” here and in the sister verse of Mark 9:2, metamorphoō (Strong’s #3339), occurs in only two other places in the New Testament.

The first is Romans 12:2:

And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that you may prove what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

The transformation Paul speaks of here is of course something inward, in our soul, because our mind is a major part of who we are, that is, of our soul.

Note, moreover, how Paul adds that this renewing and transformation happens as we refuse to be “fashioned according to this age.” This very much relates to the Lord’s warning that we must be willing to “lose our soul” today to gain it in the future.

The other verse is 2 Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Again, the transformation spoken of in this verse is something that takes place inwardly, not outwardly; and it happens as we behold the Lord and His glory, rather than focus on the things of this age, so that His very glory is wrought into our inner being (cf. 2 Cor 4:16-18).

Thus, when we connect these two passages with the Lord being “transformed” on the mountain, we can understand what it actually means to “gain our soul” in Matthew 16:24-27:  it is to be transformed inwardly, in our soul, with the very same glory the Lord experienced when He was transformed outwardly.

Will there be a reward for this in the future? Absolutely, according to the Lord’s word in Matthew 16:27. We also see it in 2 Corinthians 5:10:

For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he has practiced, whether good or evil.

In brief, if we allow the Lord to transform us in this age, we will receive that glory back from Him at His judgment seat.

The true reward, however, the greatest reward of all, is surely that we are being saved, by the working of the divine life within us, from our fallen, corrupt nature so that by this inward process of renewing and transformation we will eventually be conformed outwardly to the very image of the glorified Christ, to be His many brothers. And that is ultimately what it means to “gain our soul” in the coming age:

For those whom He foreknew, these He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.
— Romans 8:29-30

For more on this topic see Watchman Nee’s book,
The Salvation of the Soul.

You can also listen to the current series of
The Christian Faith Podcast,
“The Judgment Seat of Christ.”

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—  9 September 2025 —