according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose. But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
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Philippians 1:20-23 sits inside this longer paragraph.
What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice. For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose. But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake. Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.
Parallel Translations
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according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose.
But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
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as I hertely loke for and hope that in nothinge I shalbe ashamed: but that with all confidence as all wayes in tymes past even so now Christ shalbe magnified in my body whether it be thorowe lyfe or els deeth.
For Christ is to me lyfe and deeth is to me a vauntage.
Yf it chaunce me to live in the flesshe that is to me frutefull forto worke and what to chose I wote not.
I am constrayned of two thinges: I desyre to be lowsed and to be with Christ which thinge is best of all.
Show all 3 translations
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As I feruently looke for, and hope, that in nothing I shalbe ashamed, but that with all confidence, as alwayes, so nowe Christ shalbe magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
For Christ is to me both in life, and in death aduantage.
And whether to liue in the flesh were profitable for me, and what to chuse I knowe not.
For I am distressed betweene both, desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ, which is best of all.
Cross-references (83)
- Galatians 2:20 (vv21–22) I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live…
- 2 Corinthians 5:8 (vv21, 23) We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1 (v21) For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the…
- Philippians 1:23 (v21) But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
- 2 Corinthians 5:6 (v21) Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
Show all 80 cross-references
- Philippians 1:20 (v21) according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will…
- Colossians 3:4 (v21) When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
- Revelation 14:13 (vv21, 23) I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they…
- Romans 8:35-39 (v21) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…
- 1 Peter 4:16 (v20) But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 (v21) But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have…
- Isaiah 57:1-2 (v21) The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from…
- 1 Corinthians 6:20 (v20) for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30 (v21) Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
- Galatians 6:14 (v21) But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to…
- 1 Peter 4:2 (v22) that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
- Psalms 17:15 (v23) As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.
- Philippians 2:21 (v21) For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
- Isaiah 54:4 (v20) “Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your…
- 1 Corinthians 3:22 (v21) whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (v20) May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our…
- Ephesians 6:19-20 (v20) on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, for which I…
- 1 John 2:28 (v20) Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
- Luke 23:43 (v23) Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
- John 17:24 (v23) Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you…
- Acts 7:59 (v23) They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- Romans 8:19 (v20) For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
- 2 Corinthians 4:10 (v20) always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
- Philippians 1:24 (v22) Yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.
- Philippians 2:17 (v20) Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
- 2 Timothy 4:6 (v23) For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.
- 2 Timothy 4:6-7 (v20) For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have…
- Revelation 7:14-17 (v23) I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering.They washed their robes, and made them…
- Psalms 49:15 (v23) But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.
- Psalms 119:116 (v20) Uphold me according to your word, that I may live. Let me not be ashamed of my hope.
- Isaiah 50:7 (v20) For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I won’t…
- John 12:26 (v23) If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
- Romans 14:7-9 (v20) For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If…
- 1 Corinthians 7:34 (v20) There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both…
- 2 Corinthians 10:8 (v20) For even if I boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down, I…
- Job 19:26-27 (v23) After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh, whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger.…
- Psalms 16:10-11 (v23) For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the path of life. In your…
- Isaiah 45:17 (v20) Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
- John 14:3 (v23) If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
- Romans 5:5 (v20) and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
- 2 Corinthians 10:3 (v22) For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (v23) then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with…
- Psalms 71:18 (v22) Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to…
- Luke 2:29-30 (v23) “Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation,
- Luke 12:50 (v23) But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
- Acts 3:17 (v22) “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
- Romans 12:1 (v20) Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your…
- Philippians 1:23-24 (v20) But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Yet to remain in the flesh is…
- Colossians 1:24 (v20) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his…
- 2 Peter 1:12-15 (v20) Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. I think it…
- Psalms 62:5 (v20) My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him.
- Psalms 73:24-26 (v23) You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire…
- Psalms 119:80 (v20) Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed.
- Proverbs 10:28 (v20) The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.
- Proverbs 23:18 (v20) Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
- Luke 8:38 (v23) But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
- John 12:27-28 (v20) “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause. Father, glorify your…
- John 13:1 (v23) Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having…
- John 21:19 (v20) Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
- Acts 20:24 (v20) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
- Acts 21:13 (v20) Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem…
- Romans 6:13 (v20) Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your…
- Romans 6:19 (v20) I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to…
- Romans 9:33 (v20) even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:31 (v20) I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (v20) Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For…
- 2 Corinthians 5:15 (v20) He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
- 2 Corinthians 6:12 (v23) You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
- 2 Corinthians 7:14 (v20) For if in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not disappointed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so our…
- Philippians 1:14 (v20) and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.
- Colossians 2:1 (v22) For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (v23) For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the…
- 2 Samuel 24:14 (v23) David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into Yahweh’s hand; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.”
- Psalms 25:2 (v20) My God, I have trusted in you. Don’t let me be shamed. Don’t let my enemies triumph over me.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:1 (v23) For you yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you wasn’t in vain,
80 distinct cross-references across this passage (83 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20 According to my expectation. Should any one object,…
20 According to my expectation. Should any one object, “From what do you derive that knowledge?” he answers, “From hope.” For as it is certain that God does not by any means design to frustrate our hope, hope itself ought not to be wavering. Let then the pious reader carefully observe this adverb secundum, (according to,) that he may be fully assured in his own mind, that it is impossible but that the Lord will fulfill our expectation, inasmuch as it is founded on his own word. Now, he has promised that he will never be wanting to us even in the midst of all tortures, if we are at any time called to make confession of his name. Let, therefore, all the pious entertain hope after Paul’s example, and they will not be put to shame.
With all confidence We see that, in cherishing hope, he does not give indulgence to carnal desires, but places his hope in subjection to the promise of God. “Christ,” says he, “will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death ” By making express mention, however, of the body, he intimates that, amongst the conflicts of the present life, he is in no degree doubtful as to the issue, for we are assured as to this by God. If, accordingly, giving ourselves up to the good pleasure of God, and having in our life the same object in view as Paul had, we expect, in whatever way it may be, a prosperous issue, we shall no longer have occasion to fear lest any adversity should befall us; for if we live and die to him, we are his in life and in death. (Romans 14:8.) He expresses the way in which Christ will be magnified — by full assurance. Hence it follows, that through our fault he is cast down and lowered, so far as it is in our power to do so, when we give way through fear. Do not those then feel ashamed who reckon it a light offense to tremble, when called to make confession of the truth? But how much ashamed ought those to feel, who are so shamelessly impudent as to have the hardihood even to excuse renunciation?
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He adds, as always, that they may confirm their faith from past experience of the grace of God. Thus, in Romans 5:4, he says, Experience begets hope.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20, 22 We must continue even to the end, with great…
We must continue even to the end, with great confidence, having nothing before our eyes but Christ’s glory only, whether we live or die.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope,…
20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Ver. 20. According to my earnest] αποκαραδοκια, St Paul stood as it were on tiptoes to see which way he might best glorify God by life or by death.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation and my hope; he…
According to my earnest expectation and my hope; he allegeth and explaineth the ground and certainty of his knowledge and persuasion of his enemies’ disappointment, and all succeeding well with him, trusting
in the living God, 1Ti 4:10, who in all death-threatening afflictions hath upon his word engaged himself to support all those that hope in his mercies, Psa 33:18,19; 37:7,9; Psa 147:11. Then be sure, when his sincere servants, assisted by his Spirit, wait for his deliverance with their necks stretched out, (as the word here notes), being raised from past experience, intensely and wistly looking for his appearance, shall be able each to say as the apostle intimates.
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That in nothing I shall be ashamed; negatively, he shall not be left to do any thing which may justly bring him under reproach. His well-grounded hope would not make him ashamed. Rom 5:5, with Rom 8:25; but upon this account he shall have wherewith to answer him that should reproach him, Psa 119:41,42,46; Lu 9:26; 2Ti 1:12.
But that with all boldness; positively, that he should continue constant in a courageous owning of the truth, and acknowledging of his Lord every way, whether he was delivered from or to death.
As always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death; as in the former years of his ministry he had been supported, yea, and victorious, in freely speaking for Christ, preaching and defending of his gospel, Act 9:27; Act 14:3, with as much courage as any other, Act 4:13,29,31, with 2Co 11:21; Gal 6:17; so now he was humbly confident, in his present sad circnmstances, Christ should be magnified, (not that himself can become greater), i.e. before men, his glory should be rendered greater and more illustrious, and acknowledged with praise, whether he lived or died, Rom 14:8; yea, in the earthen vessel of his body, 2Co 4:11, (about which he was not solicitous, having resigned it entirely to Christ), either in his enlargement and preaching of the doctrine of Christ, or in his being offered up and sealing it by his martyrdom.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv21–22 Our apostle had declared, in the foregoing verse, his…
Our apostle had declared, in the foregoing verse, his firm expectation that Christ would be magnified and glorified by him, both in life and death; in this verse he discovers what reason he had to think so; for, says he, To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain; that is, If I live, Christ shall be the scope of my life, and the end of my living; I resolve to live to his service; if I die, death will be a real gain and advantage to me; intimating, that both life and death are gain to a good man, and that it is Christ that makes both life and death gainful and advantgeous. To me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Words both short and sweet, few in expression, but large in extension: in them we are taught both how to live, and how to die.
Observe, 1. The scope and end of a Christian’s life, To me to live is Christ.
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2. The hope and fruit of a Christian’s death, To die is gain.
Learn, That Christ is the believer’s life, and death the believer’s gain. The life of a real Christian is resolved into Christ, and his death is resolved into gain.
Note, 1. Christ is the believer’s life; both his life of grace, and his life of glory, is resolved into Christ.
As to his life of grace, Christ is the life of this life; he is the efficient or principal cause of this life; he is the exemplar, cause, or pattern, of it; he is the final cause or scope of it; and he is the conserving cause, or preserver and maintainer of it.
So for the life of glory, which believers have in reversion, Christ is also the life of that life; thus he has purchased it for them, he has given it to them, he has taken and keeps possession of it in their names, he has prepared it for them,and them for it, and will put them into the full and actual possession of it, in his own time.
Note, 2. That death is the believer’s gain; death in general, violent as well as natural death; it is not only not injurious, but advantageous: no hurt, but profit; no loss, but benefit; not only to die for Christ, but to die in Christ is gain. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, as well as those that die for the Lord.
Death appears gain to the believer, if we consider the private evils it frees and delivers him from, namely, from sin, from all temptations to sin, from all inclinations to offend, from all temporal afflictions, from all sufferings for God, from all sufferings from man for God’s sake; especially if we consider the positive good that the believer gains by death, namely, perfection in grace, fulness of joy, the blessed vision, the society of glorified saints and angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. So then, if a state of perfect holiness and purity be better than a state of corruption and temptation, if a state of rest and peace be better than a state of labour and sorrow, if it be better to be triumphing above, than sighing and groaning below, then dead saints are better where they are, than where they were, and death to them is gain, and infinitely advantageous.
Note, 3. That the gain which comes by death to the believer, is procured by Christ, namely, by his meritorious satisfaction, by his glorious ascension and possession, by his prevailing intercession; To live is Christ, to die is gain:
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v21 We have here an account of the life and…
We have here an account of the life and death of blessed Paul: his life was Christ, and his death was gain. Observe, 1. It is the undoubted character of every good Christian that to him to live is Christ. The glory of Christ ought to be the end of our life, the grace of Christ the principle of our life, and the word of Christ the rule of it. The Christian life is derived from Christ, and directed to him. He is the principle, rule, and end of it. 2. All those to whom to live is Christ to them to die will be gain: it is great gain, a present gain, everlasting gain. Death is a great loss to a carnal worldly man; for he loses all his comforts and all his hopes: but to a good Christian it is gain, for it is the end of all his weakness and misery and the perfection of his comforts and accomplishment of his hopes; it delivers him from all the evils of life, and brings him to the possession of the chief good. Or, To me to die is gain; that is, "to the gospel as well as to myself, which will receive a further confirmation by the seal of my blood, as it had before by the labours of my life." So Christ would be magnified by his death, Phi 1:20. Some read the whole expression thus: To me, living and dying, Christ is gain; that is, "I desire no more, neither while I live nor when I die, but to win Christ and be found in him." It might be thought, if death were gain to him, he would be weary of life, and impatient for death. No, says he,
I. If I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour (Phi 1:22), that is, Christ is. He reckoned his labour well bestowed, if he could be instrumental to advance the honour and interest of the kingdom of Christ in the world. It is the fruit of my labour - karpos ergou - operae pretium. It is worth while for a good Christian and a good minister to live in the world as long as he can glorify God and do good to his church. Yet what I shall choose I wot not; for I am in a strait betwixt two. It was a blessed strait which Paul was in, not between two evil things, but between two good things. David was in a strait by three judgments - sword, famine, and pestilence: Paul was in a strait between two blessings - living to Christ, and being with him. Here we have him reasoning with himself upon the matter.
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1. His inclination was for death. See the power of faith and of divine grace; it can reconcile the mind to death, and make us willing to die, though death is the destruction of our present nature and the greatest natural evil. We have naturally an aversion to death, but he had an inclination to it (Phi 1:23); Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, Observe, (1.) It is being with Christ which makes a departure desirable to a good man. It is not simply dying, or putting off the body, it is not of itself and for its own sake a desirable thing; but it may be necessarily connected with something else which may make it truly so. If I cannot be with Christ without departing, I shall reckon it desirable on that account to depart. (2.) As soon as ever the soul departs, it is immediately with Christ. This day shalt thou be with me in paradise, Luk 23:43. Absent from the body and present with the Lord (Co2 5:8), without any interval between. Which is far better, pollō gar mallon kreisson - very much exceeding, or vastly preferable. Those who know the value of Christ and heaven will readily acknowledge it far better to be in heaven than to be in this world, to be with Christ than to be with any creature; for in this world we are compassed about with sin, born to trouble, born again to it; but, if we come to be with Christ, farewell sin and temptation, farewell sorrow and death, for ever.
2. His judgment was rather to live awhile longer in this world, for the service of the church (Phi 1:24): Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. It is needful for the church to have ministers; and faithful ministers can ill be spared when the harvest is plenteous and the labourers are few. Observe, Those who have most reason to desire to depart should be willing to continue in the world as long as God has any work for them to do. Paul's strait was not between living in this world and living in heaven; between these two there is no comparison: but his strait was between serving Christ in this world and enjoying him in another. Still it was Christ that his heart was upon: though, to advance the interest of Christ and his church, he chose rather to tarry here, where he met with oppositions and difficulties, and to deny himself for awhile the satisfaction of his reward.
II. And, having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith, Phi 1:25. Observe here, 1. What a great confidence Paul had in the divine Providence, that it would order all for the best to him. "Having this confidence that it will be needful for you that I should abide in the flesh, I know that I shall abide." 2. Whatsoever is best for the church, we may be sure God will do. If we know what is needful for building up the body of Christ, we may certainly know what will be; for he will take care of its interests, and do what is best, all things considered, in every condition it is in. 3. Observe what ministers are continued for: For our furtherance and joy of faith, our further advancement in holiness and comfort. 4. What promotes our faith and joy of faith is very much for our furtherance in the way to heaven. The more faith the more joy, and the more faith and joy the more we are furthered in our Christian course. 5. There is need of a settled ministry, not only for the conviction and conversion of sinners, but for the edification of saints, and their furtherance in spiritual attainments.
III. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me, by my coming to you again, Phi 1:26. They rejoiced in the hope of seeing him, and enjoying his further labours among them. Observe, 1. The continuance of ministers with the church ought to be the rejoicing of all who wish well to the church, and to its interests. 2. All our joys should terminate in Christ. Our joy in good ministers should be our joy in Christ Jesus for them; for they are but the friends of the bridegroom, and are to be received in his name, and for his sake.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation and my hope,.... These…
According to my earnest expectation and my hope,.... These words are so placed as that they may refer both to what goes before and what follows after; and the sense be either that the apostle had earnest expectation and hope, even a strong confidence of his salvation, or deliverance from his confinement; and also of his having an interest in the prayers of the saints, and that hereby a supply of the Spirit would be given him; for as he knew and was sure that his God would supply the wants of others, he had great reason to believe he would supply his own; and especially since he had been told by Christ that his grace was sufficient for him: or as in connection with what follows; he had a full persuasion that he should not be put to shame on any account,
that in nothing I shall be ashamed; not of his hope, neither the grace of hope, which makes not ashamed; nor the object of hope, Christ Jesus; nor the thing hoped for, eternal life and happiness, or any of the above things about which this grace was conversant; nor of his reproaches and sufferings for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, which he esteemed as an honour to him, as jewels in his crown, as chains of gold about his neck, and as great riches; nor of the Gospel which he preached, so as to retract and deny it, drop the whole, or conceal any part of it, lay down his profession of it, or cease to preach it: "but" his earnest desire and his firm hope and faith were,
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that with all boldness, as always; that as he had, so he should continue to use boldness in the exercise of faith at the throne of grace, come with freedom thither, and stand before God with intrepidity, through the blood and righteousness of his Son; and that as he had met with afflictions and sufferings for Christ's sake, with cheerfulness and an undaunted spirit, none of these things had moved him, so he believed he never should; and that as he had all along, throughout the whole course of his ministry, preached the Gospel with plainness, openness, and freedom, without any guise or reserve, and that with an holy courage and boldness in the face of all opposition,
so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body; for this being Christ's, his great concern was to glorify him in it; and though it was a poor, weak, and crazy body, yet rich treasure being put into this earthen vessel, Christ had been greatly magnified, extolled, and made very high in it; never was there, as the apostle, such a magnifier of Christ, by preaching him in the transcendent glories of his person as the Son of God, in the riches of his grace as Mediator, in all his offices of prophet, priest, and King; and particularly in the justification and salvation of men, where he made him to be all in all. Christ was also magnified by him, by his life and conversation, which influenced by his grace, was in obedience to his will, was directed to his glory, was as became his Gospel, and what adorned his doctrine in all things; and also by enduring such hardships and so great sufferings on his account; the power of Christ was greatly magnified in supporting him under them, and carrying him through them; and as this had been the case ever since he was in the ministry, it being the main thing he had in view, he had a well grounded hope and confidence, that it would ever be so:
whether it be by life or by death; that is, should he live longer, should he be delivered from his present confinement, and be spared a little longer among men, he comfortably assured Christ would be magnified by him in his body, and as long as he was in it; for his determination was to preach him and him only, to spend his life in his service, and to seek not his own things, but the things of Christ; or should he be put to death quickly by the order of Nero, he doubted not but Christ would have some glory thereby; he should die calling upon his name with fervency, professing his constant and unshaken faith in him, and sealing the Gospel by his blood, with the greatest cheerfulness.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20–23 As always - Since my call to the apostleship.…
As always - Since my call to the apostleship. In my body - however it may be disposed of. How that might be, he did not yet know. For the apostles did not know all things; particularly in things pertaining to themselves, they had room to exercise faith and patience.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20–23 Verse 20. Earnest expectation] He had the most confident…
Verse 20. Earnest expectation] He had the most confident expectation that God would stand by him, so that he should be enabled, with the utmost liberty of speech, εν πασῃ παρῥησια, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God; and, should he have the liberty of doing so, he was utterly regardless what the issue might be relative to himself. Whether life or death, was to him perfectly equal, and perfectly indifferent, providing Christ were magnified - his person, nature, doctrine, &c., shown to be, what they really are, most noble, most excellent, most necessary, and most glorious.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v21 Php 1:21-23. For to me to live is Christ…
Php 1:21-23. For to me to live is Christ — As my life, both natural and spiritual, is from Christ, so to serve and enjoy him is the supreme end of my life, and I value it only as it is capable of being employed in glorifying him, to know, love, and follow whom, is my glory and my joy. But if I live in the flesh, &c. — Here he begins to treat of the former clause of the preceding verse: of the latter he treats Php 2:17. This is the fruit of my labour — This is the fruit of my living longer, that I can labour more. Glorious labour, desirable fruit! In this view long life is indeed a blessing. Yet what I shall choose I know not — That is, if it were left to my own choice. For I am in a strait betwixt two — The two things mentioned immediately. The original expression, συνεχομαι εκ των δυο, is translated by Doddridge, I am borne two different ways, it being, he thinks, an allusion to a ship stationed at a particular place, and riding at anchor, and at the same time likely to be forced to sea by the violence of the winds; presenting us with a lively representation of the apostle’s attachment to his situation in the Christian Church, and the vehemence of his desire to be unbound, as αναλυσαι may be rendered, that is, to weigh anchor, and set sail for the heavenly country. Having a desire — Επιθυμιαν, a coveting, or strong desire, as Macknight renders the word; see on 2Co 5:4; 2Co 5:8: to depart — To have my soul separated from my body, and to escape from bonds, the flesh, and the world; and to be with Christ — In paradise, Luk 23:43; admitted to the immediate, full, and constant enjoyment of him, in comparison whereof the nearest access to him, and fullest enjoyment of him in this world, are but absence. Which is far better — Greek, πολλω μαλλον κρεισσον, by much far better. Or, as Dr. Doddridge renders the clause, is better beyond all expression. Indeed, as the doctor observes, the apostle seems to labour for expression, using the highest superlative which it is perhaps possible to form in any language. It is justly observed by the last-mentioned writer, that this text plainly proves the separate spirits of good men are with Christ immediately after the death of their bodies, in such a manner that their state is far better than while they continue in this world; which certainly a state of insensibility, or the sleep of the soul, which some maintain, cannot possibly be. Some indeed think the apostle might speak thus though the soul sinks into insenbility at death; because, say they, in that case, the time between death and judgment must be reckoned as nothing. But, as Dr. Whitby justly observes, “could St. Paul think a state of insensibility much better than a life tending so much as his did to the glory of God, to the propagation of the gospel, and the furtherance of the joy of Christians? Could he call such an insensate state a being with Christ, and a walking by sight, in opposition to the life of faith?” 2Co 5:7-8. Certainly it is at least evident from what the apostle here says, if there be any such middle state of insensibility between death and the resurrection, he had no knowledge or expectation of it; for if he had known of any such state, he undoubtedly would have thought it a thousand times better to live, and promote the cause of Christ and religion on earth, than by dying to fall into it. Besides, how could he say that he had a desire to be with Christ, if he knew he was not to be with him till after the resurrection? This, however, will not at all disprove the doctrine which maintains that pious men will receive a large accession of happiness after the resurrection: a truth declared in many other passages of Scripture. “The use of philosophy, it hath been said, is to teach men to die. But, as Fielding has observed, one page of the gospel is more effectual for that purpose than volumes of philosophy. The assurance which the gospel gives us of another life is, to a good mind, a support much stronger than the stoical consolation drawn from the necessity of nature, the order of things, the emptiness of our enjoyments, the satiety which they occasion, and many other such topics, which, though they may arm the mind with stubborn patience in bearing the thought of death, can never raise it to a fixed contempt thereof, much less can they make us consider it as a real good, and inspire us with the desire of dying, such as the apostle on this occasion strongly expressed.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation - The word used…
According to my earnest expectation - The word used here occurs but in one other place in the New Testament; see it explained in the notes at Rom 8:19. The earnest desire and hope which Paul had was not, primarily, that he might be released; but it was that, in all circumstances, he might be able to honor the gospel, living or dying. To that he looked as a much more important matter than to save his life. Life with him was the secondary consideration; the main thing was, to stand up everywhere as the advocate of the gospel, to maintain its truth, and to exhibit its spirit.
That in nothing I shall be ashamed - That I shall do nothing of which I shall have occasion to be ashamed. That in these heavy trials, I may not be left to deny the truth of the Christian religion; that, even before the emperor, I may maintain its principles; and that the dread of death may not lead me to do a dishonorable thing, or in any way so to shrink from an avowal of my belief, as to give me or my friends occasion of regret.
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But that with all boldness - By my speaking the truth, and maintaining my principles with all boldness; see the 2Co 7:4 note; Eph 6:19-20 notes.
Christ shall be magnified - Shall be held up to the view of man as the true and only Saviour, whatever becomes of me.
Whether it be by life - If I am permitted to live. He was not yet certain how the case would terminate with him. He had not been put on his trial, and, whether that trial would result in his acquittal or not, he could not certainly know. But he felt assured that, if he was acquitted, the effect would be to honor Christ. He would ascribe his deliverance to his gracious interposition; he would devote himself with new ardor to his service; and he felt assured, from his past efforts, that he would be able to do something that would “magnify” Christ in the estimation of mankind.
Or by death - If my trial shall result in my death. Then, he believed he would be able to show such a spirit as to do honor to Christ and his cause. He was not afraid to die, and he was persuaded that he would be enabled to bear the pains of death in such a manner as to show the sustaining power of religion, and the value of Christianity. Christ is magnified in the death of Christians, when his gospel is seen to sustain them; when, supported by its promises, they are enabled to go calmly into the dark valley; and when, in the departing moments, they confidently commit their eternal all into his hands. The effect of this state of feeling on the mind of Paul must have been most happy. In whatever way his trial terminated, he felt assured that the great object for which he lived would be promoted. Christ would be honored, perhaps, as much by his dying as a martyr, as by his living yet many years to proclaim his gospel. He was, therefore, reconciled to his lot. He had no anxiety. Come what might, the purpose which he had most at heart would be secured, and the name of the Saviour would be honored.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20–22 Whether it be by life, or by death. To…
Whether it be by life, or by death. To live longer, if God pleaseth, or to suffer death at this time, he shews himself resigned to either. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation--The Greek expresses, "expectation with…
According to my earnest expectation--The Greek expresses, "expectation with uplifted head (Luk 21:28) and outstretched neck." Rom 8:19 is the only other place in the New Testament that the word occurs. TITTMANN says, in both places it implies not mere expectation, but the anxious desire of an anticipated prosperous issue in afflictive circumstances. The subject of his earnest expectation which follows, answers to "my salvation" (Phi 1:19).
in nothing I shall be ashamed--in nothing have reason to be ashamed of "my work for God, or His work in me" [ALFORD]. Or, "in nothing be disappointed in my hope, but that I may fully obtain it" [ESTIUS]. So "ashamed" is used in Rom 9:33.
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all boldness--"all" is opposed to "in nothing," as "boldness" is the opposite to "ashamed."
so now also--when "my body" is "in bonds" (Phi 1:17).
Christ--not Paul, "shall be magnified."
life, or by death--Whatever be the issue, I cannot lose; I must be the gainer by the event. Paul was not omniscient; in the issue of things pertaining to themselves, the apostles underwent the same probation of faith and patience as we.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20. According—Confidently looking out upon the future, the apostle…
20. According—Confidently looking out upon the future, the apostle expects, just as he hopes, that in nothing—in no point or thing to which his life has been devoted—shall he be ashamed; brought to shame through any failure on his part. Its opposite is, Christ shall be magnified in my body, to which he will contribute by all boldness of speech and conduct. His opponents could not prevent that in his body, in one way or the other, either by his life or his death, would the kingdom of Christ among men be advanced, and so could not destroy his joy or defeat his salvation. To magnify Christ had always, hitherto, been the grand purpose of his life, and so now also, in the present crisis, in a closer imprisonment, under the detractions of brethren, and in the growing savageness of the emperor Nero, when perils are thickening around him, does he hope to magnify him in his body, whether by life, or by death: if by life, through preaching; if by death, through an impressive martyrdom.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20. According to] He describes this “supply of the…
20. According to] He describes this “supply of the Spirit” by its longed for and expected results, which would thus prove the test “according to” which it would be known as present.
earnest expectation] Lit., “waiting with outstretched head”; one forcible word in the Greek. It occurs here and Rom_8:19.
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ashamed] I.e. practically, disappointed; as often in Scripture language. See Psa_25:3; Zec_9:5; Rom_5:5; Rom_9:33; 2Ti_1:12.
boldness] More precisely, boldness of speech. See Eph_3:12; Eph_6:19, and notes in this Series. He looks to “the supply of the Spirit” to maintain in him an unwavering testimony to the Lord and His truth. Cp. Joe_2:28 with Act_2:17-18; 1Co_12:3.—Such testimony might or might not be literally verbal; but it would be utterance, whether in speech or act.
in my body] The body is the spirit’s vehicle and implement in action upon others. See Rom_12:1, and note in this Series; and cp. 2Co_4:10. The impression made on others, the “magnification” of Christ in the view of others, “whether by means of life or by means of death,” would have to be effected through bodily doing or suffering.
by life, or by death] We gather hence, and from Php_2:23, that the Epistle was written at a time of special suspense and uncertainty, humanly speaking, regarding the issue of the Apostle’s trial. See further just below.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv20–23 (20) My earnest expectation.—The word is only found here…
(20) My earnest expectation.—The word is only found here and in Rom_8:19 (where see Note). It implies an intense and almost painful longing for some crisis, a dulness of suspense lighted up with hope. The phrase is one of the many indications that the joyful and confident tone so often noticed in this Epistle came not from the absence of yearning for the freedom and activity of apostolic life, but from the victory over such longings through faith. Whatever the crisis might be, St. Paul looked eagerly for it.
In nothing I shall be ashamed.—The phrase is elsewhere used by St. Paul with especial reference to the shame which comes from hopes disappointed and professions unfulfilled. (See 2Co_7:14; 2Co_9:4; 2Co_10:8. Compare also the quotation from Isa_28:16 in Rom_9:33; 1Pe_2:6.) For (he says) “hope (fulfilled) maketh not ashamed” (Rom_5:5). So probably here; he trusts that in the hour of trial the confidence which he has felt and professed of being “able to do all things through Christ who strengthenth him” (see Php_4:13) may not come to shameful failure, but may “magnify Christ in all boldness of speech.” There is a subtle touch of true Christian feeling in the fact that, when he speaks of the chance of failure, he uses the first person: “I shall be ashamed;” but when of triumph, it is “Christ shall be magnified” in me. If he fails, it must be through his own fault; if he triumphs, it will be through his Master’s strength.
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In my body, whether it be by life, or by death.—“In my body:” The phrase is, no doubt, suggested mainly by the idea of death—the death of a martyr in bodily torture or shame. There is the same connection of idea in 2Co_4:10 : “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body.” But while the word “flesh” is used in the New Testament in a bad sense, the “body” is always regarded as that in which we may “glorify God” (1Co_6:20) by word and deed. It is not merely a vesture of the soul, but a part of the true man (1Th_5:23), having membership of Christ, and being the temple of the Holy Ghost (1Co_6:15-19). In this passage the whole idea is of Christ in him; hence his body is spoken of as simply the tabernacle of the indwelling presence of Christ, and devoted only to “magnify” Him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that…
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed. The Greek word for "earnest expectation," which occurs also in Rom_8:19, means literally, a watching with outstretched head, with the attention concentrated on one object, and turned away from all others. Neither his sufferings nor the opposition of the Judaizers will put him to shame. But that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. After boldness" (literally, boldness of speech) we should expect the active form, "I shall magnify." St. Paul, in his humility, prefers the pasture, "Christ shall be magnified." Boldness of speech was to be his part, the glory should be Christ"s. Whatever the issue might be, whether a life of Christian labor or a martyr"s death, it would be well. The apostles were not omniscient, says Bengel, in relation to their own future lot; they lived in faith and hope.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv20–23 According to my earnest expectation and my hope
Php_1:20
According to my earnest expectation and my hope
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Pauls expectation
I.
Paul had as expectation.
1. This seems natural if we regard his character and temper.
(1) He was a warm-hearted man, an intellectual man, a man, moreover, whose natural gifts had not been cramped but had a healthy development, and who had healthy cravings. While he did not think more highly of himself than he ought, neither did he think more meanly.
(2) He was a born leader, not fitted for service so much as for rule: finding few or none with dignity enough to compel his homage. A man of ambition, with a splendid secular career before him.
2. When Jesus spoke to him Paul found a Master, and at once a new object of expectation and hope was found.
II. The expectation was that Christ would be magnified in him.
1. Notice the change of self-estimate. Had Paul joined some secular cause he would have regarded himself as conferring a favour: but when he joined the Church he only congratulated himself on finding mercy. This self-abnegation was because he found Christ all in all.
2. He expected that Christ would be magnified in his body: it seems more natural for us to think his spirit. But the body is the manifestation of the spirit. In the spirit Christ is felt, in the body He is seen. If the life is degraded Christ is not in the spirit.
3. He expected that Christ would be magnified in his body irrespective of time or circumstance, life or death. Christs grace is sufficient for this.
III. Of this expectation he was not ashamed but entertained it boldly.
1. Some Christians feel ashamed of a bold, vigorous magnification of Christ. What will the world say?
2. Some Christians feel afraid to magnify Christ. What will the world do? (A. J. Bamford, B. A.)
Pauls Expectation
I. Expectation and hope are words which connect the heart with the future.
II. No power can so light up the future and throw over it the hues of immortal beauty as childlike trust in God.
III. The unexpectant and hopeless man is living only half a life; but he who is living on false hopes and expectations is wasting life.
IV. It is right that the body should be turned to moral account. Christ purchased the whole man. The passions are not to have their own wild way. The blood is not to be the master of the man.
V. The possibility of being ready for life or death. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Christ magnified
I. Every bad man is an injury to creation. God may, it is true, overrule this for the general good. If an unholy man has been of any service he has been made so in spite of himself; he never designed it or desired it. If he has, like a lighthouse, served as a warning to others, that is Gods work. Every good man is useful and aims to be. But how is a good man to be useful.
I. By magnifying Christ.
1. Christ is the most splendid object in existence.
(1) He is highly thought of in heaven. There He is seen as He is.
(2) He is highly thought of in hell. The destruction of the lost comes from His presence and glory.
(3) But while heaven and hell in different ways acknowledge the greatness of Christ there are men on earth who entertain the lowest thoughts of Him, although it was on earth that He displayed His love. But there is a rapidly increasing number who count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Him.
2. While speaking of magnifying Christ it is proper to be reminded that there are some who do all they can to diminish Him.
(1) Such are they who deny him.
(2) But there are some who injure Christ though they deny Him not. They lessen Him as to the Divine dignity of His person, the magnitude of His work, the merits of His sacrifice.
(3) There are those who magnify themselves under the pretence of magnifying Christ.
3. But while some dishonour Christ there are others who magnify Him. How?
(1) Not by making Christ appear greater than He is--that is impossible. The highest created mind has never set conceived that He is so great as He is.
(2) Not by a thoughtless chiming upon His name or by the use of a few phraseologies; but--
(3) By receiving in the letter the truths respecting His incarnation, teaching, death, etc., and the spirit of those truths which give brightness to the intellect, love of righteousness to the heart, vigour and grace to the character, and bind the soul to the Infinite.
4. It was thus that Paul magnified Christ. Not only was the Christian system as a whole confirmed in Him, but its distinguishing doctrines.
(1) That God is willing to pardon the chief of sinners.
(2) That the power of God can make the greatest sinner ask for mercy.
(3) That by the grace of God the greatest sinner may find mercy and be transformed into the greatest saint, apostle, missionary.
II. In order to magnify Christ all the circumstances of our life must be subservient to that end.
1. Our active services.
2. Our afflictions.
3. Our life and conduct.
4. Our death. (Caleb Morris.)
The Savior magnified in His people
I. How Christ is magnified in the Christians life. To magnify is to make great, or to celebrate existing greatness. In the second sense only can Christ be magnified. Christ is magnified--
1. In the conversion of His people.
2. In their sanctification.
3. In their devoted labours in His cause.
4. In their trials and sufferings.
5. In the abiding results which their services secure.
II. How Christ is magnified in the Christians death.
1. By raising his soul above the dread which it naturally inspires.
2. By abiding hopes and consolations in his death.
3. Through the influence which his death exerts on those who survive.
Conclusion: Our theme ought to lead us--
1. To see the power and glory of the Saviour.
2. The characters to whom only the text applies.
3. The grand aim of the Christian ministry.
4. That the Christian need not be painfully anxious about the events, of life. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Christ made great
I. How is this principle manifested. As God of course He cannot be made great; only in His mediatorial character. In this He is made great.
1. By God the Father (Php_2:10).
2. By the angels. They did so when He was on earth. They do so in heaven.
3. By every individual partaker of His great salvation; by Paul and us.
(1) In our firm belief of His vicarious sacrifice.
(2) In our self humility.
(3) In unshaken confidence.
4. In earnest evangelism.
5. In hopeful death.
II. In what does its excellency appear.
1. This is all mens moral obligation.
2. The God greatest moral excellence.
3. The only right principle of action.
4. Because always honours it. (N. M. Harry.)
Earnest expectation
Found only here and in Rom_8:19. It means the waiting with the head raised, and the eye fixed on that point of the horizon from which the expected object is to come. What a plastic representation! An artist might make a statue of hope out of this Greek term. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v21 Chapter 4
Chapter 4
THE CHOICE BETWEEN LIVING AND DYING.
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Php_1:21-26 (R.V.)
AT the close of the preceding section we see that the ruling principle of the Apostle-the earnest expectation and hope which inspired his life-came into special exercise at this time with reference to the possibility, and the likelihood, of an early and violent death. Dying for the name of the Lord Jesus, as well as enduring imprisonment for Him, might be near. He might not only be straitened in his labours, and secluded from the activities connected with his loved work on earth, but might be completely and finally withdrawn from it by Roman doom and execution. The Apostles faith looked steadily at this final possibility. As at all times, so now also, Christ should be magnified in him, whether by life or by death.
Now, when some great alternative of the future rises before a Christian, -some possibility which Gods providence may turn either way, -it is natural that he should look heedfully to it, that he may order aright his faith and patience as the day of decision draws near. And it is natural in particular that his thoughts should be occupied by the consideration how far the one way of it is in itself more attractive to him than the other. For in view of that he has to watch his heart, that as to what seems more attractive he may not desire it idolatrously, nor let his heart be "overcharged" with it if it is realised; and that as to what seems less attractive he may await Gods will with submission and faith, and welcome it, if so it come to pass, with sincerity. So also the Apostle fixes his eye, ponderingly, on this alternative of life or death, so strongly suggested by his circumstances. But, as it were, with a smile he recognises that to a man standing, as he did, in the light of Christ, it was hard to say which should attract him most. Life and Death-what had they once been to him? what were they still to many? To live, self-self pleased, provided for, contended for, perhaps fighting for itself a losing battle with a bitter heart; to die, a dark, dire necessity, full of fear and doubt. But now, to live is Christ. In all life as it came to him, in all its various providences, he found Christ; in all life, as it fell to him to be lived, he found the circumstances set for him and the opportunity given to follow Christ; in all the attraction and all the pressure, the force and strain of life, he found the privilege of receiving Christ and employing Christs grace, the opportunity for living by the faith of the Son of God. That was all very real to him; it was not only a fine ideal, owned indeed but only distantly and dimly descried; no, it was a reality daily fulfilled to him. To live was Christ, with a support, an elevation, and a love in it such as the world knows not. That was good, oh, how good! And then to die was better; to die was gain. For to die, also, was "Christ"; but with many a hindrance passed away, and many a conflict ended, and many a promise coming into fulfilment as here it could not do. For if, as to his own interest and portion, he lived by hope, then death was a long step forward into possession and realisation. By grace Paul was to show how he valued Christ; he was to show it in his life. And Christ was to show His care for Paul-in this life, no doubt, very lovingly; but more largely and fully at his death. To live is Christ-to die is gain; to be all for Christ while I live, to find at length He is all for me when I die!
Which should he prefer, which should he pray for (subject to Gods will), which should he hope for, life or death? The one would continue him in a labour for Christ, which Christ taught him to love. The other would bring him to a sinless and blessed fellowship with Christ, which Christ taught him to long for. Looking to the two, how should he order his desires?
It is because he speaks as one always does speak who is pondering something-the words rising, as it were, from what he sees before him-that he speaks so elliptically in Php_1:22. "But if to live in the flesh come to me, as its fruit and reward bringing What? The Apostle sees, but does not say; something that might well reconcile him" to prolonged toil and suffering. But why produce the considerations on either side, why balance them against one another? It is too long, too difficult a process. And how can even an Apostle confidently judge as to better or best here? "And what I shall choose, really I do not know." But this he knows, that so far as his own desires are concerned, so far as the possible futures draw his spirit, he is in a strait between two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better; and yet that he should continue in the flesh is of more imperative necessity for the sake of friends like the Philippians.
Not every Christian is in the state of mind which would naturally express itself as a desire forthwith to depart and be with Christ. The great hope claims its place in every Christian heart; but not in every case so as to inspire the longing-to overleap all intermediate stages. Rather must we not say that there are periods of Christian experience, as there are also casts of character, for which it is more usual and natural to desire, if it be Gods will, some further experience of life on earth? If this be immature Christianity, we will not, therefore, judge that it cannot be genuine.
Yet to be ready, and, subject to Gods will, desirous to depart, is an attainment to be aimed at and made good. Sooner or later it should come. It lies in the line of ripening Christian affection and growing Christian insight. For this is better. It is not that life in this world is. not good; it is good, when it is life in Christ. It has its trials, its conflicts, and its dangers; it has also its elements of defect and evil; yet it is good. It is good to be a child of God in training for a better country; it is good to be one who carries the life of faith through the experiences of time. And, for some especially, there is a strong and not an unworthy attraction in the forms of exercise which open to us just in such a life as this, under the guarantee and the consecration of Christ. Knowledge opens its career, in which many a generous mind is drawn to prove its powers. Love, in all the "variety of its calmer and its more ardent affections, sends a glow through life which gladdens it with promise. The tasks which call for practical effort and achievement stir vigorous natures with a high ambition. And when all these spheres are illuminated by the light, and dominated by the authority, and quickened for us by the love of Christ, is not life on those terms interesting and good? True, it is destined to disclose its imperfection. Our knowledge proves to be so partial; our love is so sorely grieved, so often bereaved, sometimes it is even killed; and active life must learn that what is crooked cannot wholly be made straight, and that what is wanting cannot be numbered. So that life itself shall teach a Christian that his longings must seek their rest further on. Yet life in Christ here upon the earth is good; let us say no unkind word of those who feel it so, -"whose hearts, with true loyalty to Christ, would yet, if it be His will, put life fully to the proof before they go. Still, this must be said and pressed-let it be joyfully believed-that to depart is better. It is far better. It is better to be done with sin. It is better to be-where all hopes are fulfilled. It is better to rise above a scene in which all is precarious, and in which a strange sadness thrills through our happiness even when we possess it. To be-where Christ most fully, eminently, experimentally is, that is best. Therefore it is better to depart. Let mortality be swallowed up of life.
It is not only better, so that we may own it so to be as a certainty of faith; but also so that we may and ought to feel it warming and drawing the heart with delight and with desire. It is not needful that we should judge more hardly of life on earth; but we might attain a far more gladdening appreciation of what it must be to be with Christ. With no rebellion against Gods appointment when it keeps us here, and no grudging spirit towards earths mercies and employments, we might yet have this thought of departing in Gods time as a real and bright hope; a great element of comfort and of strength; a support in trouble; an elevating influence in times of gladness; an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, entering into that which is within the veil.
The hope of the gospel implies it. If that hope is ours and is duly cherished, must it not assert itself and sway the heart, so as more and more to command the life?
The earnest of the Spirit implies it. Of the very substance of the life eternal a foretaste comes, in the presence and grace of the Spirit of love and comfort. Can that be with us, can that leaven work duly in our hearts, and not awaken longing for the full entrance into so great a good? It may be expected of us Christians that we should lift up our heads because redemption is drawing nigh.
As for the Apostle, however, if the choice were his, he felt that it must fall in favour of still cleaving to the present life; for this, though less attractive to himself, was more necessary for the Churches, and, in particular, for his friends at Philippi. This was so clear to him that he was persuaded his life would, in fact, be prolonged by Him who appoints to all their term of ministry. Probably we are not to take this as a prophecy, but only as the expression of a strong persuasion. Work still lay before him in the line of training and cheering these believing friends, furthering and gladdening their faith. He hoped to see them yet, and to renew the old glad "fellowship." {Php_1:5} So there should be for the Philippians fresh matter of exultation, -exultation primarily in the great salvation of Christ, but yet receiving impulse and increase from the presence and ministry of Paul. Mainly, they would be exceeding glad of Christ; but yet, subordinately, exceeding glad of Paul also.
It is a striking thing to see how confident the Apostle was of the resources given to him to wield. He knew how profitable and how gladdening his coming would be to the Philippian believers. He admits no doubt of it. God has set him in the world for this, that he may make many rich. Having nothing, he yet goes about, as one possessing all things, to impart his treasures to all kinds of people. To disguise this would be for him mock humility; it would be a denying of his Masters grace. When ministers of Christ come aright to this impression of their own calling, then they are also powerful. But they must come to it aright. For it was not the Apostles consciousness of himself, but his consciousness of his Master, that bred this superb confidence, this unabated expectation. In subordination to that faith the Apostle no doubt had specific reason to know that his own personal mission was of the highest importance, and was designed to accomplish great results. Ordinary ministers of Christ do not share this peculiar ground of confidence. But no one who has any kind of mission from Christ can discharge it aright if he is destitute of the expectancy which looks forward to results, and, indeed, to momentous results; for the reapers in Christs harvest are to "gather fruit unto life eternal." To cherish this mood, not in the manner of a vain presumption, but in the manner of faith in a great Saviour, is the practical question for gospel ministers.
Alike in the utterance of his mind about his Philippian friends, and in his explanations about himself, it is remarkable how thoroughly the Apostle carries his faith through the whole detail of persons and things. The elements and forces of the Kingdom of God are not for him remote splendours, to be venerated from afar. To his faith they are embodied, they are vitally and divinely present, in the history of the Churches and in his own history. He sees Christ working in the Philippian believers; he sees in their Christian profession and service a fire of love caught from the love of Christ-the increase and triumph of which he anticipates with affectionate solicitude. The tender mercies of Christ are the element in which he and they are alike moving, and this blessedness it is their privilege assiduously to improve. So he was minded in regard to all the Churches. If in any of them the indications are feeble and dubious, only so much the more intently does he scrutinise them, to recognise, in spite of difficulty, that which comes and only could come from his Masters Spirit. If indications too significant of a wholly different influence have broken out, and demand the severest rebukes, he still casts about for tokens of the better kind. For surely Christs Spirit is in His Churches, and surely the seed is growing in Christ s field towards a blessed harvest. If men have to be warned that naming the name of Christ they may be reprobates, that without the Spirit of Christ they are none of His, this comes as something sad and startling to be spoken to men in Christian Churches. So also in his own case-Christ is speaking and working by him, and all providences that befall him are penetrated by the love, the wisdom, and the might of Christ. In nothing is the Apostle more enviable than in this victoriousness of his faith over the earthly shows of things, and over the unlikelihoods which in this refractory world always mask and misrepresent the good work. We, for our part, find our faith continually abashed by those same unlikelihoods. We recognise the course of this world, which speaks for itself; but we are uncertain and discouraged as to what the Saviour is doing. The mere commonplaceness of Christians, and of visible Christianity, and of ourselves, is allowed to baffle us. Nothing in the life of the Church, we are ready to say, is very interesting, very vivid, very hopeful. The great fire burning in the world ever since Pentecost is for us scarcely recognisable. We even take credit for being so hard to please. But if the quick faith and love of Paul the prisoner were ours, we should be sensitive to echoes and pulsations and movements everywhere, -we should be aware that the voice and the power of Christ are everywhere stirring in His Churches.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20. That in nothing shall I be ashamed. Whatever…
20. That in nothing shall I be ashamed. Whatever may come, whether his bonds lead to death or life, his trust is that the Spirit will give him such boldness that Christ shall be magnified. There is no anxiety about himself, only that he may glorify Christ.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v21 Php 1:21-25.
Philippians
A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO
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Php 1:21-25.
A preacher may well shrink from such a text. Its elevation of feeling and music of expression make all sermons on it sound feeble and harsh, like some poor shepherd’s pipe after an organ. But, though this be true, it may not be useless to attempt, at least, to point out the course of thought in these grand words. They flow like a great river, which springs at first with a strong jet from some deep cave, then is torn and chafed among dividing rocks, and after a troubled middle course, moves at last with stately and equable current to the sea. The Apostle’s thoughts and feelings have here, as it were, a threefold bent in their flow. First, we have the clear, unhesitating statement of the comparative advantages of life and death to a Christian man, when thought of as affecting himself alone. The one is Christ, the other gain. But we neither live nor die to ourselves; and no man has a right to think of life or death only from the point of view of his own advantage. So the problem is not so simple as it looked. Life here is the condition of fruitful labour here. There are his brethren and his work to think of. These bring him to a stand, and check the rising wish. He knows not which state to prefer. The stream is dammed back between rocks, and it chafes and foams and seems to lose its way among them. Then comes a third bend in the flow of thought and feeling, and he gladly apprehends it as his present duty to remain at his work. If his own joy is thereby less, his brethren’s will be more. If he is not to depart and be with Christ, he will remain and be with Christ’s friends, which is, in some sort, being with Him too. If he may not have the gain of death, he will have the fruit of work in life.
Let us try to fill up, somewhat, this meagre outline of the warm stream that pours through these great words.
I. The simplicity of the comparison between life and death to a Christian thinking of himself alone.
‘To me’ is plainly emphatic. It means more than ‘in my judgment’ or even ‘in my case.’ It is equal to ‘To me personally, if I stood alone, and had no one to consider but myself.’ ‘To live’ refers mainly here to outward practical life of service, and ‘to die’ should, perhaps, rather be ‘to be dead,’ referring, not to the act of dissolution, but to the state after; not to the entrance chamber, but to the palace to which it admits.
So we have here grandly set forth the simplicity and unity of the Christian life. While the words probably refer mainly to outward life, they presuppose an inward, of which that outward is the expression. In every possible phase of the word ‘life,’ Christ is the life of the Christian. To live is Christ, for He is the mystical source from whom all ours flows. ‘With Thee is the fountain of life,’ and all life, both of body and spirit, is from Him, by Him, and in Him. ‘To live is Christ,’ for He is the aim and object, as well as the Lord, of it all, and no other is worth calling life, but that which is for Him by willing consecration, as well as from Him by constant derivation. ‘To live is Christ,’ for He is the model of all our life, and the one all-sufficient law for us is to follow Him.
Life is to be as Christ, for Christ, by , in , and from Christ. So shall there be strength, peace, and freedom in our days. The unity brought into life thereby will issue in calm blessedness, contrasted wondrously with the divided hearts and aims which fritter our days into fragments, and make our lives heaps of broken links instead of chains.
Surely this is the charm which brings rest into the most troubled history, and nobleness into the lowliest duties. There is nothing so grand as the unity breathed into our else distracted days by the all-pervading reference to and presence of Christ. Without that, we are like the mariners of the old world, who crept timidly from headland to headland, making each their aim for a while, and leaving each inevitably behind, never losing sight of shore, nor ever knowing the wonders of the deep and all the majesty of mid-ocean, nor ever touching the happy shores beyond, which they reach who carry in their hearts a compass that ever points to the unseen pole.
Then comes the other great thought, that where life is simply Christ, death will be simply gain.
Paul, no doubt, shrank from the act of death, as we all do. It was not the narrow passage which attracted him, but the broad land beyond. Every other aspect of that was swallowed up in one great thought, which will occupy us more at length presently. But that word ‘gain’ suggests that to Paul’s confident faith death was but an increase and progression in all that was good here. To him it was no loss to lose flesh and sense and all the fleeting joys with which they link us. To him death was no destruction of his being, and not even an interruption of its continuity. Everything that was of any real advantage to him was to be his after as before. The change was clear gain. Everything good was to be just as it had been, only better. Nothing was to be dropped but what it was progress to lose, and whatever was kept was to be heightened.
How strongly does that view express the two thoughts of the continuity and intensifying of the Christian life beyond the grave! And what a contrast does that simple, sublime confidence present to many another thought of death! To how many men its blackness seems to be the sudden swallowing up of the light of their very being! To how many more does it seem to put an end to all their occupations, and to shear their lives in twain, as remorselessly as the fall of the guillotine severs the head from the body. How are the light butterfly wings of the trivialities in which many men and women spend their days to carry them across the awful gulf? What are the people to do on the other side whose lives have all been given to purposes and tasks that stop on this side? Are there shops and mills, or warehouses and drawing-rooms, or studies and lecture-halls, over there? Will the lives which have not struck their roots down through all the surface soil to the rock, bear transplanting? Alas! for the thousands landed in that new country, as unfit for it by the tenor of their past occupations, as some pale artisan, with delicate fingers and feeble muscles, set down as a colonist to clear the forest!
This Paul had a work here which he could carry on hereafter. There would be no reversal of view, no change in the fundamental character of his occupations. True, the special forms of work which he had pursued here would be left behind, but the principle underlying them would continue. It matters very little to the servant whether he is out in the cold and wet ‘ploughing and tending cattle,’ or whether he is waiting on his master at table. It is service all the same, only it is warmer and lighter in the house than in the field, and it is promotion to be made an indoor servant.
So the direction of the life, and the source of the life, and the fundamentals of the life continue unchanged. Everything is as it was, only in the superlative degree. To other men the narrow plain on which their low-lying lives are placed is rimmed by the jagged, forbidding white peaks. It is cold and dreary on these icy summits where no creature can live. Perhaps there is land on the other side; who knows? The pale barrier separates all here from all there; we know not what may be on the other side. Only we feel that the journey is long and chill, that the ice and the barren stone appal, and that we never can carry our household goods, our tools, or our wealth with us up to the black jaws of the pass.
But for this man the Alps were tunnelled. There was no interruption in his progress. He would go, he believed, without ‘break of gauge,’ and would pass through the darkness, scarcely knowing when it came, and certainly unchecked for even a moment, right on to the other side where he would come out, as travellers to Italy do, to fairer plains and bluer skies, to richer harvests and a warmer sun. No jolt, no pause, no momentary suspension of consciousness, no reversal, nor even interruption in his activity, did Paul expect death to bring him, but only continuance and increase of all that was essential to his life.
He has calmness in his confidence. There is nothing hysterical or overwrought or morbid in these brief words, so peaceful in their trust, so moderate and restrained in their rapture. Are our anticipations of the future moulded on such a pattern? Do we think of it as quietly as this man did? Are we as tranquilly sure about it? Is there as little mist of uncertainty about the clearly defined image to our eye as there was to his? Is our confidence so profound that these brief monosyllables are enough to state it? Above all, do we know that to die will be gain, because we can honestly say that to live is Christ? If so, our hope is valid, and will not yield when we lean heavily upon it for support in the ford over the black stream. If our hope is built on anything besides, it will snap then like a rotten pole, and leave us to stumble helpless among the slippery stones and the icy torrent.
II. The second movement of thought here, which troubles and complicates this simple decision, as to what is the best for Paul himself, is the hesitation springing from the wish to help his brethren.
As we said, no man has a right to forget others in settling the question whether he would live or die. We see the Apostle here brought to a stand by two conflicting currents of feelings. For himself he would gladly go, for his friends’ sake he is drawn to the opposite choice. He has ‘fallen into a place where two seas meet,’ and for a minute or two his will is buffeted from side to side by the ‘violence of the waves.’ The obscurity of his language, arising from its broken construction, corresponds to the struggle of his feelings. As the Revised Version has it, ‘If to live in the flesh--if this is the fruit of my work, then what I shall choose, I wot not.’ By which fragmentary sentence, rightly representing as it does the roughness of the Greek, we understand him to mean that if living on in this life is the condition of his gaining fruit from his toil, then he has to check the rising wish, and is hindered from decisive preference either way. Both motives act upon him, one drawing him deathward, the other holding him firmly here. He is in a dilemma, pinned in, as it were, between the two opposing pressures. On the one hand he has the desire {not ‘a desire,’ as the English Bible has it, as if it were but one among many} turned towards departing to be with Christ; but on the other, he knows that his remaining here is for the present all but indispensable for the immature faith of the churches which he has founded. So he stands in doubt for a moment, and the picture of his hesitation may well be studied by us.
Such a reason for wishing to die in conflict with such a reason for wishing to live, is as noble as it is rare, and, thank God, as imitable as it is noble.
Notice the aspect which death wore to his faith. He speaks of it as ‘departing,’ a metaphor which does not, like many of the flattering appellations which men give that last enemy, reveal a quaking dread which cannot bear to look him in his ashen, pale face. Paul calls him gentle names, because he fears him not at all. To him all the dreadfulness, the mystery, the pain and the solitude have melted away, and death has become a mere change of place. The word literally means to unloose , and is employed to express pulling up the tent-pegs of a shifting encampment, or drawing up the anchor of a ship. In either case the image is simply that of removal. It is but striking the earthly house of this tent; it is but one more day’s march, of which we have had many already, though this is over Jordan. It is but the last day’s journey, and to-morrow there will be no packing up in the morning and resuming our weary tramp, but we shall be at home, and go no more out. So has the awful thing at the end dwindled, and the brighter and greater the land behind it shines, the smaller does it appear.
The Apostle thinks little of dying because he thinks so much of what comes after. Who is afraid of a brief journey if a meeting with dear friends long lost is at the end of it? The narrow avenue seems short, and its roughness and darkness are nothing, because Jesus Christ stands with outstretched arms at the other end, beckoning us to Himself, as mothers teach their children to walk. Whosoever is sure that he will be with Christ can afford to smile at death, and call it but a shifting of place. And whosoever feels the desire to be with Christ will not shrink from the means by which that desire is fulfilled, with the agony of revulsion that it excites in many an imagination. It will always be solemn, and its physical accompaniments of pain and struggle will always be more or less of a terror, and the parting, even for a time, from our dear ones, will always be loss, but nevertheless if we see Christ across the gulf, and know that one struggle more and we shall clasp Him with ‘inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over measure for ever,’ we shall not dread the leap.
One thought about the future should fill our minds, as it did Paul’s, that it is to be with Christ. How different that nobly simple expectation, resolving all bliss into the one element, is from the morbid curiosity as to details, which vulgarises and weakens so much of even devout anticipation of the future. To us as to him Heaven should be Christ, and Christ should be Heaven. All the rest is but accident. Golden harps and crowns, and hidden manna and white robes and thrones, and all the other representations, are but symbols of the blessedness of union with Him, or consequences of it. Immortal life and growth in perfection, both of mind and heart, and the cessation of all that disturbs, and our investiture with glory and honour, flung around our poor natures like a royal robe over a naked body, are all but the many-sided brightnesses that pour out from Him, and bathe in their rainbowed light those who are with Him.
To be with Christ is all we need. For the loving heart to be near Him is enough.
‘I shall clasp thee again, O soul of my soul, And with God be the rest.’
Let us not fritter away our imaginations and our hopes on the subordinate and non-essential accompaniments, but concentrate all their energy on the one central thought. Let us not lose this gracious image in a maze of symbols, that, though precious, are secondary. Let us not inquire, with curiosity that will find no answer, about the unrevealed wonders and staggering mysteries of that transcendent thought, life everlasting. Let us not acquire the habit of thinking of the future as the perfecting of our humanity, without connecting all our speculations with Him, whose presence will be all of heaven to us all. But let us keep His serene figure ever clear before our imaginations in all the blaze of the light, and try to feed our hopes and stay our hearts on this aspect of heavenly blessedness as the all-embracing one, that all, each for himself, shall be for ever conscious of Christ’s loving presence, and of the closest union with Him, a union in comparison with which the dearest and sacredest blendings of heart with heart and life with life are cold and distant. For the clearness of our hope the fewer the details the better: for the willingness with which we turn from life and face the inevitable end, it is very important that we should have that one thought disengaged from all others. The one full moon, which dims all the stars, draws the tides after it. These lesser lights may gem the darkness, and dart down white shafts of brilliance in quivering reflections on the waves, but they have no power to move their mass. It is Christ and Christ only who draws us across the gulf to be with Him, and reduces death to a mere shifting of our encampment.
This is a noble and worthy reason for wishing to die; not because Paul is disappointed and sick of life, not because he is weighed down with sorrow, or pain, or loss, or toil, but because he would like to be with his Master. He is no morbid sentimentalist, he is cherishing no unwholesome longing, he is not weary of work, he indulges in no hysterical raptures of desire. What an eloquent simplicity is in that quiet ‘very far better!’ It goes straight to one’s heart, and says more than paragraphs of falsetto yearnings. There is nothing in such a wish to die, based on such a reason, that the most manly and wholesome piety need be ashamed of. It is a pattern for us all.
The attraction of life contends with the attraction of heaven in these verses. That is a conflict which many good men know something of, but which does not take the shape with many of us which it assumed with Paul. Drawn, as he is, by the supreme desire of close union with his Master, for the sake of which he is ready to depart, he is tugged back even more strongly by the thought that, if he stays here, he can go on working and gaining results from his labour. It does not follow that he did not expect service if he were with Christ. We may be very sure that Paul’s heaven was no idle heaven, but one of happy activity and larger service. But he will not be able to help these dear friends at Philippi and elsewhere who need him, as he knows. So love to them drags at his skirts, and ties him here.
One can scarcely miss the remarkable contrast between Paul’s ‘To abide in the flesh is more needful for you,’ and the saying of Paul’s Master to people who assuredly needed His presence more than Philippi needed Paul’s, ‘It is expedient for you that I go away.’ This is not the place to work out the profound significance of the contrast, and the questions which it raises as to whether Christ expected His work to be finished and His helpfulness ended by His death, as Paul did by his. It must suffice to have suggested the comparison.
Returning to our text, such a reason for wishing to die, held in check and overcome by such a reason for wishing to live, is great and noble. There are few of us who would not own to the mightier attraction of life; but how few of us who feel that, for ourselves personally, if we were free to think only of ourselves, we should be glad to go, because we should be closer to Christ, but that we hesitate for the sake of others whom we think we can help! Many of us cling to life with a desperate clutch, like some poor wretch pushed over a precipice and trying to dig his nails into the rock as he falls. Some of us cling to it because we dread what is beyond, and our longing to live is the measure of our dread to die. But Paul did not look forward to a thick darkness of judgment, or to nothingness. He saw in the darkness a great light, the light in the windows of his Father’s house, and yet he turned willingly away to his toil in the field, and was more than content to drudge on as long as he could do anything by his work. Blessed are they who share his desire to depart, and his victorious willingness to stay here and labour! They shall find that such a life in the flesh, too, is being with Christ.
III. Thus the stream of thought passes the rapids and flows on smoothly to its final phase of peaceful acquiescence.
That is expressed very beautifully in the closing verse, ‘Having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy in faith.’ Self is so entirely overcome that he puts away his own desire to enter into their joy, and rejoices with them. He cannot yet have for himself the blessedness which his spirit seeks. Well, be it so; he will stop here and find a blessedness in seeing them growing in confidence and knowledge of Christ and in the gladness that comes from it. He gives up the hope of that higher companionship with Jesus which drew him so mightily. Well, be it so; he will have companionship with his brethren, and ‘abiding with you all’ may haply find, even before the day of final account, that to ‘visit’ Christ’s little ones is to visit Christ. Therefore he fuses his opposing wishes into one. He is no more in a strait betwixt two, or unwitting what he shall choose. He chooses nothing, but accepts the appointment of a higher wisdom. There is rest for him, as for us, in ceasing from our own wishes, and laying our wills silent and passive at His feet.
The true attitude for us in which to face the unknown future, with its dim possibilities, and especially the supreme alternative of life or death, is neither desire nor reluctance, nor a hesitation compounded of both, but trustful acquiescence. Such a temper is far from indifference, and as far from agitation. In all things, and most of all in regard to these matters, it is best to hold desire in equilibrium till God shall speak. Torture not yourself with hopes or fears. They make us their slaves. Put your hand in God’s hand, and let Him guide you as He will. Wishes are bad steersmen. We are only at peace when desires and dreads are, if not extinct, at all events held tightly in. Rest, and wisdom, and strength come with acquiescence. Let us say with Richard Baxter, in his simple, noble words:
‘Lord, it belongs not to my care Whether I die or live; To love and serve Thee is my share, And that Thy grace must give.’
We may learn, too, that we may be quite sure that we shall be left here as long as we are needed. Paul knew that his stay was needful, so he could say, ‘I know that I shall abide with you.’ We do not, but we may be sure that if our stay is needful we shall abide. We are always tempted to think ourselves indispensable, but, thank God, nobody is necessary. There are no irreparable losses, hard as it is to believe it. We look at our work, at our families, our business, our congregations, our subjects of study, and we say to ourselves, ‘What will become of them when I am gone? Everything would fall to pieces if I were withdrawn.’ Do not be afraid. Depend on it, you will be left here as long as you are wanted. There are no incomplete lives and no premature removals. To the eye of faith the broken column in our cemeteries is a sentimental falsehood. No Christian life is broken short off so, but rises in a symmetrical shaft, and its capital is garlanded with amaranthine flowers in heaven. In one sense all our lives are incomplete, for they and their issues are above, out of our sight here. In another none are, for we are ‘immortal till our work is done.’
The true attitude, then, for us is patient service till He withdraws us from the field. We do not count him a diligent servant who is always wearying for the hour of leaving off to strike. Be it ours to labour where He puts us, patiently waiting till ‘death’s mild curfew’ sets us free from the long day’s work, and sends us home.
Brethren! there are but two theories of life; two corresponding aspects of death. The one says, ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die gain’; the other, ‘To me to live is self, and to die is loss and despair.’ One or other must be your choice. Which?
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v22 Paul’s complete trust in his Savior’s gracious will:
Paul’s complete trust in his Savior’s gracious will:
v. 22. but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose I wot not.
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v. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better;
v. 24. nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
v. 25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith,
v. 26. that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
Here is a wonderful example of childlike trust and faith, the entire passage being an exposition of the words: He knoweth best! The apostle’s words are convincing and inspiring: But if the living in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, then also what I shall choose I know not. No matter what may happen to him, Paul has become a partaker of the true life in and with Christ. It is merely a question of degree between the two. And the lower degree, the physical, earthly life, gives opportunity for service in the kingdom of Christ. This service will tend to yield fruit of his labor to the apostle. If God gives the increase as in the past, his hard work will not be in vain, but will redound to the glory of God and the welfare of many souls, thus yielding the most splendid fruit. For that reason the apostle does not know, he is in a dilemma, he is undecided which to choose. It is an unselfish weighing of advantages, and the apostle wishes to be impartial and remain where his presence will do the most good at this time: For I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire toward departing and being with Christ; for by much more this would be useful, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Both sides of the question offered great advantages and therefore pressed heavily upon him. On the one side he had the earnest desire to depart, to leave this earthly life behind, since all difficulties would then be overcome forever, so far as he was concerned. He would be with Christ, he would awake with His likeness, Psa 17:15, and there was no doubt in his mind that this would be by far, beyond all comparison, the better for him. It was evidently the side which most appealed to him, since he emphasizes it in such an extraordinary way. But there was also the other side, that of his congregations, to be considered. For himself, for his own person, the apostle expected nothing in the world; he had found out abundantly what this world has to offer; but their interests, their welfare weighs heavily upon his mind. Desire lies on the side of death; obligation lies on the side of life. For their sake, in. their interest, the greater necessity is his staying in the flesh, his remaining in this world, to continue his work among them and in their behalf
The latter consideration, that of service, finally decided the matter: And having this confidence, I know that I shall stay and remain with you all for your progress and joy of the faith, that your glorying may exceed in Christ Jesus in me through my advent again to you. This conviction, that his life was still needful to them, decided the question in favor of living. A careful weighing of all facts has effected in him the full persuasion and conviction: he knows that he will remain. His present imprisonment will not culminate in his death. His life will be spared: a conviction based also upon prophetical knowledge. He knew that he would live, that he would continue and remain in this physical, earthly life with them all, side by side with them in Christian life and labor. Thus his remaining has a definite purpose, a specific object, namely, their progress and the joy of their faith. By his teaching and preaching they were to be furthered in the knowledge of Christ so as to make constant progress in their faith, to grow in the knowledge of their Savior. This would incidentally result in the joy of their faith. Their true rejoicing would be in Christ. The greater and surer the faith, the firmer the joy of this faith. They would thus have ample reason for praise and thanks giving, but always in Christ Jesus, from whom and in whom all good gifts and blessings are possible. But their glorifying would also be over Paul, on his account, because of his coming again to them. Theirs was not a mere outward joy of loving friends and acquaintances, but the love of pupils for their teacher who had brought them the words of eternal life, the love of converted souls for the agent of their conversion. Had they received so much spiritual food, so many spiritual blessings in the past, they might expect a further abundance after his return to them. Thus would that communion, that most intimate fellowship, again be established, followed by the most glorious blessings, for which all glory must ever be given to the great Giver of all blessings.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22 It is my eager expectation and certain hope
It is my eager expectation and certain hope
Here the word "expectation" and the phrase "certain hope" mean basically the same thing. Paul uses them together to emphasize how strong his expectation is. AT: "I eagerly and confidently hope" (See: Doublet)
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but that I will have complete boldness
This is part of Paul's expectation and hope. AT: "but that I will be very bold"
Christ will be exalted in my body
The phrase "my body" is a metonym for what Paul does with his body. This can be stated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) "I will honor Christ by what I do" or 2) "people will praise Christ because of what I do" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
whether by life or by death
"whether I live or die" or "if I go on living or if I die"
For to me
These words are emphatic. They indicate that this is Paul's personal experience.
to live is Christ
Here pleasing and serving Christ is spoken of as Paul's only purpose for living. AT: "to go on living is an opportunity to please Christ" (See: Metaphor)
to die is gain
Here death is spoken of as "gain." Possible meanings for "gain" are 1) Paul's death will help spread the message of the gospel or 2) Paul will be in a better situation. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Christ
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv21, 23 1:21 dying is even better: For believers, death holds…
1:21 dying is even better: For believers, death holds no fear, as death leads directly into the presence of Christ (see 1:23; cp. John 5:24; 11:25-26; Rom 8:38-39).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.