John 12:25

Loveth his life. See on Matt. 10:39; cf. Mark 8:35; 10:39. The word for “life,” here, is psuche (see on Matt. 10:28), frequently translated “soul” (Mark 8:36, 37; etc.).

He who is bent on saving and preserving his physical life here will lose his “soul,” or eternal life. He who is willing to sacrifice himself in service for God in this world will preserve his “soul” and enjoy life everlasting in the world to come. Thus “the law of self-sacrifice is the law of self-preservation”; “the law of self-serving is the law of self-destruction” (DA 623, 624). He who is ready to cast away everything most dear in this life that stands in the way of his spiritual growth will find at length that he has lost nothing worth while and that he has gained the true riches (see Phil. 3:8-10). The world looks upon the way of self-denial and self-sacrifice as foolishness and waste, even as a small child might regard the casting of good grain into the ground a senseless waste. But the future world will reveal that the devotee of this present world was indeed foolish and that the child of God was truly wise. The final loss and destruction of the “soul” is described in Matt. 10:28.

Hateth. Here used in the sense of “love less” (see on Luke 14:26).