For to Me to Live Is Christ, and to Die Is Gain
12Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News; 13so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ; 14and 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. 15Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will. 16The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains; 17but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News. 18What 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. 19For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20according 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. 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Everyone lives with some goal, whether the purpose behind it is evil or good. Because their attention is wholly turned toward the world, those who live without a good purpose spend their lives looking only at what happens on the surface, criticizing, complaining, and rejoicing by turns.
But people with a good goal and purpose watch the world closely without being swept along or shaken. Why? Because they have already risen above the world, set themselves the same good goal that God has, and fixed the direction of their lives. As believers, you must be strong, courageous, at peace, and wise, for you are called to serve as a bridge that leads many souls to heaven. Worldly power without a good purpose does nothing to help anyone toward salvation. Only when you keep a good purpose at the center of your walk with God can you understand Paul’s faith.
Paul was not ashamed, because the Philippians knew he had been imprisoned for the gospel. Far from it, he says he is glad, since this very event will become an occasion for their faith to grow. For Paul, Philippi was a place full of meaning, where he had received God’s grace through many events. There he met Lydia, who founded the church; there he healed the girl who told fortunes; and there, even as he suffered in prison, he found people who gave themselves to the gospel.
While he was locked in the dungeon singing praises, an earthquake struck and the prison doors were opened. The jailer knew that if a prisoner escaped, he would have to give his own life in that prisoner’s place, and assuming the prisoners must have fled, he was about to kill himself. Seeing this, Paul cried out with a loud voice, telling him not to harm himself, for they were all there. The jailer was so astonished to hear himself called by the very prisoners who should by rights have fled that he ran in to Paul and Silas.
Faced with something that defied all worldly sense, he asked Paul what he must do to be saved. Paul gave him the heart of the gospel: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Paul turned every circumstance into an opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ and to save people. The way of the cross he walked was a way on which he had already accepted death.
Because receiving the gospel means giving oneself up as Jesus did, the apostle Paul gladly rejoiced in the sufferings that Jesus had borne.
The world is utter darkness, and by instinct it rejects the bright light of truth. Those who preach know that proclaiming the gospel brings persecution; yet they cannot leave the souls they love in darkness; they proclaim the word, therefore, prepared to die. The sufferings of God’s people make the light of Christ shine brighter, and for souls in darkness they become an opportunity to find the way to heaven.
Through Paul’s suffering, the Philippians began proclaiming the gospel in many different ways and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Seeing this, Paul found that the pain he endured had become, on the contrary, a cause for thanks and joy.
Philippians 1:15
15Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.
Just as Job confessed that the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind are in God’s hand, all people, the wicked and the righteous alike, stand before God, since this is the authority of the God who created the world and the proof that he is the Creator.
People think that they chose Christ, or else chose not to. But the blood of the Lord works the same for everyone; whether a person is chosen or not is therefore God’s doing. Those who are chosen will proclaim the truth, and those who are not will persecute the ones who proclaim it. If you find that you believe the truth, then believe that you have been chosen, live out the life of a believer with all diligence, and preach the gospel. That is all you need to do.
In the church in Philippi there were also people who envied Paul’s power and stood in his way. As the church grew, many people gathered, and some among them had not been born again spiritually. When those who lead in the church do not rightly understand the word of Christ, human righteousness takes the center, and they may come to envy those who proclaim the truth, as Paul did, and treat them as enemies. Since such people are not walking with God for a right purpose, we must keep firmly in mind that they can preach Christ and still be rejected.
The world judges people by results, but God values the process, so you who believe must always take care in how you go about your work, because if you use worldly methods to reach a result, God will rebuke you.
Since God commends the apostle Paul for using his own suffering as an instrument of the gospel, it is not right to envy other believers’ commitment or to persecute them. To use one’s suffering as an instrument of the gospel means drawing on one’s own experience of being put through the fire, of being refined by trials, to lead another person to believe in Jesus Christ. Though the effort is made for the gospel, it can be painful, because each time they share it, they must think back over the years they have lived.
Yet because such refining has given them experience in faith, they can counsel those who doubt and work to keep others from going the way of evil. Having grown that much through their suffering, they are able to help someone else. When God sees a believer who has grown in this way use that season of pain as an instrument, he commends that wisdom.
When the apostle Paul once persecuted Christians, they were afraid of him. After he met the Lord on the road to Damascus he was converted, yet there was no one who would believe him. Then Barnabas believed that Paul had been converted and, knowing that the Holy Spirit was helping him, gladly became his fellow worker. At that time Barnabas was respected by the whole church. Even so, he always put Paul forward, affirmed the gospel Paul preached, and helped him to proclaim the truth. Because Barnabas had truly met Christ and knew why the gospel had to go to the ends of the earth, he did not put his own righteousness on display.
Barnabas held the good thought that, even if it were not he, it was enough for someone full of the Holy Spirit like Paul to preach the gospel. That is why this humility, which sought to make Jesus Christ alone seen, is the true posture of a believer and the mark of a mature character.
Philippians 1:17-18
17but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News. 18What 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.
It is simply astonishing how the apostle Paul could have such faith, for he says he is glad that, because of people working hard to cause him pain, others have come to hear the name of Jesus after all. Such character is proof that he had received Christ fully. Paul, who once persecuted Christians, now humbled himself and stayed faithful unto death; this was possible because he rightly understood the history of redemption.
Human beings by nature want to exalt themselves like God. They cannot bear to see others lifted up while they themselves are brought low. But when we receive Christ fully, we come to humble ourselves to accomplish God’s will rather than to establish our own righteousness. Paul said that even if he had to suffer the pain of imprisonment, he was thankful if through it others could hear the gospel. His bodily sufferings were severe, but he could endure them because the Philippians were praying earnestly for him and the Holy Spirit was helping him.
The Holy Spirit worked so that Paul, who was faithful with his whole life to exalt Christ, would triumph by faith. Paul’s love for God’s people, his faith that offered itself so as not to defile the name of Christ, his assurance that he would go to heaven once he left this body: all of these were given by the Holy Spirit. With such assurance, he preached Christ alone, whether he lived or died. If believers had this kind of faith, as the apostle Paul and the Philippians did, Christianity would not be corrupted.
As if to prove his words that to live is Christ and to die is gain, Paul came through countless brushes with death for the sake of the gospel. He knew he would be persecuted, and still he walked the road that Christ had walked.
Can you understand Paul, who chose a life of suffering and said he rejoiced? For the salvation of others, Paul laid down before God the worldly power and fine outer garments that the people of the world envy. He turned from the broad road that so many earnestly desire and took the narrow road, the one that Jesus Christ walked. Because he had set his heart not on the happiness of this world, which so many pursue, but on the everlasting kingdom, he could accept every situation with joy, though people mocked and persecuted him.
Let us have a faith that rightly understands the righteousness of Christ, for service with a merely human purpose is not faithfulness. Not everyone who attends church is committed, nor is everyone there a good person. Just as rice has bits of chaff mixed in with it, there are wicked people too; yet it is the commitment of good believers that leads the church to do God’s work.
To go to God is Paul’s earnest hope, yet he confesses that even if he must suffer on this earth, he will obey for the sake of the gospel. Whether he lives or dies, his life is for showing forth Christ alone, so he will obey wherever God leads. The apostle Paul’s faith is contained in this confession. He does not plead to be kept alive out of fear of death; rather, so many places are still waiting for the gospel that, if only he can do God’s work, he wants to live and preach, suffering or not. Dying would be a blessing, since he would enter heaven; living would be a blessing, since he could preach the gospel to more souls. That is how he thinks.
Paul confessed that, though he suffered to the point of death, he could preach the gospel because God had poured out his grace on him in full measure. At every moment he showed God the humility that gives God the glory.
2 Corinthians 12:2
2I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows), such a one caught up into the third heaven.
The apostle Paul was persecuted to the point of being stoned nearly to death, and at that time his soul was caught up into the third heaven, that is, heaven itself. His soul heard mysterious words that cannot be heard in this world, and he saw with his own eyes how beautiful heaven is before coming back. There God gave Paul a wondrous revelation. Having seen heaven for himself, he came to know how dark, confused, and worthless this world is, and so he did not fear death.
Had Paul boasted of what he saw in heaven and the revelation he heard, he might not have had to suffer like this. But boasting would have done nothing to help the pure gospel go forward, so he did not boast of his own righteousness. He knows that to leave this body and go to heaven is a great blessing. Yet he also knows that, for now, God’s will is for him to proclaim Christ rather than go to heaven to enjoy a rest of his own, and so he asked them to pray for his release.
Believers who hope in the kingdom of God do not compromise with the world out of fear of death. Those who have died with Jesus on the cross and been raised with Christ do not sin, murder, lie, or steal in order to live a false life in this filthy and ugly world, because all of these are the marks of people who have no hope of heaven.
Philippians 1:21
21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
This verse means that, because Paul’s whole life was for Christ, even dying while preaching Christ is gain, since it is a way of becoming one with Christ.
The world is where God’s people and the people of the world are told apart. The standard for distinguishing them is whether a person stands at the right hand of Jesus Christ or at his left. Only those who have died with Christ can rise again, so those who have lived spiritually are the people of God. In this world God’s people live with the help of the Holy Spirit, and when they leave this body they enjoy eternal rest with Christ; whether they live or die, they are blessed.
Only when you believe this can you live as a believer who does not covet the things of the world and does not fear a world ruled by Satan. Paul confessed that living and dying are both gain: if he left prison, he could do God’s work, and if he died, he could enjoy eternal rest. As you look back on your own life, can you confess that you, too, are living for Christ as Paul did? You should be able to say with confidence that even if you die now you will go to God, and that you rejoice because, as long as you live, you can preach the gospel to more souls.
If you live a life that makes the same confession of faith as Paul, the Holy Spirit will keep you from being swept away by the world’s fierce current. The world is a place through which sin flows like a river. For us, simply living in the world is itself a hardship. To live holy lives in so dark a world, we must build the fence of faith all the higher, and we must pray.
Because there are still many souls not yet saved, Paul prays to be kept alive so that he can evangelize. Two desires were pulling at him, but both of them were for Christ. Paul’s faith was full indeed, for not just anyone could think as he did: for himself it would honestly be better to die at once, but if he died and left behind believers whose faith was weak, they might stumble, which meant it would do them good if he stayed alive a little longer.
As Jesus said, whoever seeks to live for themselves will die, and whoever is willing to die for God will live. Living and dying here refer not to the life of the body but to eternal life. Knowing that his soul would live forever even if his body died, Paul had no wish to go on living in this passing world. Yet if he could fulfill the mission God had entrusted to him, he prayed that he might live longer and spend himself in saving souls.
If you have received Christ as the apostle Paul did, may you put off the old self you were before and become a mature new self. Otherwise you will end up playing the part of those who hindered Paul’s ministry. My desire is that we take on the bold faith of the apostle Paul, who said that his remaining alive was for their good.
Paul urged the Philippians to live as saints should. To live as saints means to persevere by the word, to sacrifice, to live humbly, and so to stay ready at all times for God to use. Only by living as saints can we, like the apostle Paul, pray boldly for what we desire and receive the answer to that prayer. If you commit sins that deserve the world’s ridicule, you will never be able to preach the gospel to the world or bring your requests to God.
But if you strive to live honestly, with the faith that you will preach the gospel above all, your life will become evidence that the world, having refused the word, cannot escape judgment. A life lived by faith will be evidence of salvation, and a life that does not break the laws of the world gives great strength to the proclaiming of the truth. The gospel is rest for the saints whom God has chosen, but for the world it is judgment, which is why the world will try by any means to stop it.
Yet there is something the world does not know: if it torments us to stop the gospel, that becomes grounds for a greater judgment. So even when you are persecuted, you must not flee in fear but, like the apostle Paul, stand boldly against it in faith and fight the spiritual battle.
Believers who are saved live under Christ’s complete protection, yet they also suffer with Christ. Why? Because they are citizens of the kingdom of God, and in this world, where they stay only a little while, they must seek out the brothers and sisters whom God has chosen.
Satan will never release our brothers and sisters whom he holds captive in darkness, so persecution may follow as we resist him with the word of Christ.
Knowing that the power of the pagans who sought to obstruct the gospel was growing, the apostle Paul sent his letter by Epaphroditus, urging the church in Philippi to overcome the obstruction and persecution of the pagans. Like Paul’s day, the world we live in now rejects the gospel. It persecutes the church, mocks the cross, and uses every means to keep God’s people from living by faith. Whether believers will choose faith or compromise is now left entirely to them.
Satan, wearing the mask of pastors and church officers, comes into the church, commits sexual crimes, and leads the church by worldly methods, doing his part to bring shame on the name of Christ. There are pastors who think nothing of doing things too shameful to speak of, defiling the name of Christ, and yet their congregations fail to discern it and follow them. Those who deceive and those who are deceived alike are Satan’s collaborators. Though they ought to show God the faith the apostle Paul showed, they side with Satan and water down the sacrifice of Christ.
The church and the world are never the same, nor even alike. Their methods differ, their judgments differ, their viewpoints differ, their purposes differ, and their laws differ; so even a method that works in the world must not be used in the church. Because worldly people like these hold office and work in the church, the kingdom of God and the world, God’s law and the world’s law, are no longer kept distinct. The knowledge God speaks of is unlike the knowledge of the world; his reasons for praise are different, and so are his reasons for rebuke; so if believers do not discern the spirits, the church cannot help but collapse. How could God, who tells us to forsake the world, be the same as Satan, who tells us to possess it? If we know the heart of Christ, who sacrificed himself to fulfill God’s plan, and of the Holy Spirit, who groans and prays for the salvation of souls, we must live by faith.
I hope you will be believers who live honestly for Christ, as the apostle Paul and the Philippians did, coming to know God’s will more and more. Then, just as God trusted Paul and filled him with the Holy Spirit, he will protect you as you give yourselves to saving souls.
If you serve by God’s grace and power, it will not be hard or frightening, nor will it make you proud, as it does when done by human effort. May you be faithful unto death, receive God’s blessing in overflowing measure, and become wise believers who help those who are weak in faith.