Philippians 1:21

Paul wrote this letter from prison, most likely in Rome, around A.D. 60–62, and he speaks openly of his bonds (Philippians 1:7). The outcome was uncertain, and it could have been his death as a martyr. Yet his imprisonment had already turned out for the advance of the gospel (Philippians 1:12–14), and just before this passage he says that his earnest expectation is that “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:18–20). He can say that because Christ is in both: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

The verb for living, záō, means to live or be alive, and here it takes in the whole of Paul’s life on earth. That life is Christ. Christ is its source, its goal and its meaning, so that Paul’s motives, his work and his hopes all come from Christ and go back to him. The title Christós comes from the verb to anoint and means the Anointed One, the Messiah, the promised deliverer and Lord in whom all of Paul’s hopes meet. Setting “to live” and “Christ” side by side in this way shows how completely Paul belongs to him and how fully Christ lives in him.

Paul says the same thing in other words to the Galatians: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). He calls Christ “our life” in Colossians 3:4, and he tells the Romans that the life and death of every believer belong to the Lord: “whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:7–8).

The word for gain, kérdos, means profit or advantage, and it comes from the language of trade. Among the Greeks and Romans, gain meant money, standing or personal advantage, and death was feared as the end of everything, or at best as a shadowy existence in the underworld. Paul takes the word for profit and sets it on death, because for a believer death leads straight into the presence of Christ. He writes in another letter, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The gain is being with Christ, free of sin, sorrow and pain.

Paul reckons gain and loss in the same way later in this letter. In Philippians 3:7–8, where the KJV again uses the English word “gain”, he counts everything he once valued as loss for Christ. Death, the thing people fear most, becomes gain because Christ is there. Christ himself made it so. He took part in flesh and blood so that through death he might destroy the one who had the power of death, and free those who all their lives were held in bondage by the fear of it (Hebrews 2:14–15).

This was a word for the Philippians as well, since they too were suffering for Christ. Paul’s joy in chains, which runs through the letter to its call to “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), showed them how to face their own trials.

If Paul lives on “in the flesh”, in his mortal body here in this world, his life will bear fruit. The verb for living is záō again, the same verb as in verse 21. The word for fruit, karpós, probably comes from the root of harpázō, to pluck, so it is fruit as something picked. Used figuratively it means the natural result of what has been done. Here it is the result of Paul’s labour as an apostle, his preaching, teaching, discipling and suffering for the gospel, seen in believers who grow and a church that spreads. Jesus said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Then Paul adds, “yet what I shall choose I wot not.” Wot is old English for know. The Greek verb is gnōrízō, which means to make known, so Paul literally says, “what I shall choose I do not make known.” He understands both paths well. Each is good, one for himself and one for the church, and he leaves the choice in God’s hands. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9), and “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).

In verse 23 Paul describes the pressure he is under: “For I am in a strait betwixt two.” The verb synéchō means to hold together, to press in on, to constrain, and figuratively to be hard pressed. Paul is hemmed in from both sides by two strong pulls, because his heart is given both to Christ and to the church.

His own desire is “to depart, and to be with Christ.” The verb analýō means to unloose, and it was used for breaking up a camp or for a ship setting sail. As a word for death it speaks of release from earthly ties and a journey to a place made ready, as when a tent is struck or a ship leaves harbour. What Paul longs for is Christ himself, and departing is the way to him.

He calls it “far better”. The word kreîsson means better, of greater advantage, and Paul piles words on it, pollō mâllon kreîsson, “by much more better”, which the KJV gives as “far better”. Being with Christ is better beyond comparison than anything this life holds, even a life of fruitful ministry.

“Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” The connective dé marks addition, sequence or contrast, and here it is the contrast between what Paul desires and what the Philippians need. To abide, epiménō, is built from epí, upon, and ménō, to remain, and means to stay on. The flesh, sárx, is his human, bodily life on earth, with its frailty and mortality, and for Paul that life meant chains and labour. The word anankaîos means necessary, and its comparative here, anankaióteron, “more needful”, speaks of a pressing need. The ones who need him come last in the verse, hymâs, “you”, the believers at Philippi.

So Paul weighs “far better” for himself against “more needful” for them, and he puts them first. Death could have been a release from his imprisonment, and he gladly lets it wait. This is the love Paul asks of all believers: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves... For even Christ pleased not himself” (Romans 15:1–3). He said the same of himself to the Corinthians: “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you” (2 Corinthians 12:15).

“And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all.” The verb peíthō means to persuade or convince, and in the form Paul uses, to be convinced or to rely on something. “This confidence” points back to what he has just weighed, that his staying is more needful for them. Whether it came by a word from God or by a clear understanding of God’s will, it is a settled conviction. “I know” is eídō, to see and so to know.

He will “abide”, ménō, the simple verb to stay or remain from which the epiménō of verse 24 is built, and he will continue “with you all”, every one of them.

He gives the reason: “for your furtherance and joy of faith.” The word prokopḗ means progress or advancement, properly progress on a journey, and here it is the believers’ progress in the faith, as they grow in maturity, understanding and obedience. The joy is the gladness that faith brings. Paul is convinced that God’s plan for his life, suffering included, is for the good of God’s people, for “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:11–13), and the whole body grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16). Paul calls himself a helper of the churches’ joy: “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand” (2 Corinthians 1:24). Every believer shares in that work, as we “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:24–25).

“That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.” The word for rejoicing, kaúchēma, comes from kaucháomai and means a boast or a ground for glorying. Here it is glorying of the good kind, exultation and confidence whose ground is Jesus Christ. The verb behind “be more abundant”, perisseúō, means to abound, to overflow, to be more than enough. The Philippians already rejoice in Christ, and Paul expects that joy to grow and overflow.

The occasion will be Paul himself, “for me by my coming to you again”, that is, on his account, when he is among them once more. The word for coming, parousía, means a being near, a presence or an arrival. Elsewhere in the New Testament it is used for the coming of Christ, and here it is Paul’s own presence in Philippi again. His release and return would bring them his teaching and fellowship, encourage a church under pressure, and show them God’s faithfulness. Their joy would still be joy in Christ, and Paul’s arrival would be the occasion for it to grow.

Joy runs through the whole of this letter, which is often called the Epistle of Joy: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). Paul prays for the Romans, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13), and Peter writes of believers who love a Christ they have yet to see, and “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Everything Paul says here follows the pattern of Christ himself. Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34), and at the end he could say to the Father, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Paul’s fruitful labour grows from Christ’s own: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Paul leaves his choice with God, and Jesus in Gethsemane prayed, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Paul’s willingness to stay in the flesh for others follows the way of the Son of God, who “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant”, and “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and he came “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it”, so that he might present it to himself a glorious church (Ephesians 5:25–27). Because he lived, died and rose, the believer’s death is gain, and the joy Paul wants for the Philippians looks ahead to the day when God “shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death” (Revelation 21:4).

These verses let us look at life and death alike with Christ at the centre. Death, the thing people fear most, becomes gain for everyone who belongs to Christ, because it brings us to be with him, which is far better. That hope holds firm when a believer we love dies in the Lord. Life, for as long as God gives it, is for fruit, and Paul measures that fruit in the faith and joy of other people. His longing for heaven made him more ready to stay and serve, and his love for Christ showed itself in love for the church. Whether our days here are long or short, God orders them for his glory and the good of his people, and in either case we are his.