Philippians 1:21

For to me to live is Christ - My sole aim in living is to glorify Christ. He is the supreme End of my life, and I value it only as being devoted to his honor - Doddridge. His aim was not honor, learning, gold, pleasure; it was, to glorify the Lord Jesus. This was the single purpose of his soul - a purpose to which he devoted himself with as much singleness and ardor as ever did a miser to the pursuit of gold, or a devotee of pleasure to amusement, or an aspirant for fame to ambition. This implied the following things:

(1) A purpose to know as much of Christ as it was possible to know - to become as fully acquainted as he could with his rank, his character, his plans, with the relations which he sustained to the Father, and with the claims and influences of his religion; see Phi 3:10; Eph 3:19; compare Joh 17:3.

(2) A purpose to imitate Christ - to make him the model of his life. It was a design that his Spirit should reign in his heart, that the same temper should actuate him, and that the same great end should be constantly had in view.

(3) A purpose to make his religion known, as far as possible, among mankind. To this, Paul seriously gave his life, and devoted his great talents. His aim was to see on bow many minds he could impress the sentiments of the Christian religion; to see to how many of the human family he could make Christ known, to whom he was unknown before. Never was there a man who gave himself with more ardor to any enterprise, than Paul did to this; and never was one more successful, in any undertaking, than he was in this.

(4) It was a purpose to enjoy Christ. He drew his comforts from him. His happiness he found in communion with him. It was not in the works of art; not in the pursuits of elegant literature; not in the frivolous and fashionable world; but it was in communion with the Saviour, and in endeavoring to please him.

Remarks On Philippians 1:21

Paul never had occasion to regret this course. It produced no sadness when he looked over his life. He never felt that he had had an unworthy aim of living; he did not wish that his purpose had been different when he came to die.

(2)If it was Paul’s duty thus to live, it is no less that of every Christian. What was there in his case that made it his duty to “live unto Christ,” which does not exist in the case of every sincere Christian on earth? No believer, when he comes to die, will regret that he has lived unto Christ; but how many, alas, regret that this has not been the aim and purpose of their souls!

And to die is gain - Compare Rev 14:13. A sentiment similar to this occurs frequently in the Greek and Latin classic writers. See Wetstein, in loc., who has collected numerous such passages. With them, the sentiment had its origin in the belief that they would be freed from suffering, and admitted to some happy world beyond the grave. To them, however, all this was conjecture and uncertainty. The word “gain,” here, means profit, advantage; and the meaning is, there would be an advantage in dying above that of living. Important benefits would result to him personally, should he die; and the only reason why he should wish at all to live was, that he might be the means of benefiting others; Phi 1:24-25. But how would it be gain to die? What advantage would there be in Paul’s circumstances? What in ours? It may be answered, that it will be gain for a Christian to die in the following respects:

(1) He will be then freed from sin. Here it is the source of perpetual humiliation and sorrow; in heaven be will sin no more.

(2) He will be freed from doubts about his condition. Here the best are liable to doubts about their personal piety, and often experience many an anxious hour in reference to this point; in heaven, doubt will be known no more.

(3) He will be freed from temptation. Here, no one knows when he may be tempted, nor how powerful the temptation may be; in heaven, there will be no allurement to lead him astray; no artful, cunning, and skillful votaries of pleasure to place inducements before him to sin; and no heart to yield to them, if there were.

(4) He will be delivered from all his enemies - from the slanderer, the calumniator, the persecutor. Here the Christian is constantly liable to have his motives called in question, or to be met with detraction and slander; there, there will be none to do him injustice; all will rejoice in the belief that he is pure,

(5) He will be delivered from suffering. Here he is constantly liable to it. His health fails, his friends die, his mind is sad. There, there shall be no separation of friends, no sickness, and no tears.

(6) He will be delivered from death. Here, death is always near - dreadful, alarming, terrible to our nature. There, death will be known no more. No face will ever turn pale, and no knees tremble, at his approach; in all heaven there will never be seen a funeral procession, nor will the soil there ever open its bosom to furnish a grave.

(7) To all this may be added the fact, that the Christian will be surrounded by his best friends; that he will be reunited with those whom he loved on earth; that he will be associated with the angels of light; and that he will be admitted to the immediate presence of his Saviour and his God! Why, then, should a Christian be afraid to die? And why should he not hail that hour, when it comes, as the hour of his deliverance, and rejoice that he is going home? Does the prisoner, long confined in a dungeon, dread the hour which is to open his prison, and permit him to return to his family and friends? Does the man in a foreign land, long an exile, dread the hour when he shall embark on the ocean to be conveyed where he may embrace the friends of his youth? Does the sick man dread the hour which restores him to health; the afflicted, the hour of comfort? the wanderer at night, the cheering light of returning day? And why then should the Christian dread the hour which will restore him to immortal rigor; which shall remove all his sorrows; which shall introduce him to everlasting day?

Death is the crown of life:

Were death denied, poor man would live in vain:

Were death denied, to live would not be life.

Were death denied, even fools would wish to die.

Death wounds to cure; we fall; we rise; we reign!

Spring from our fetters; fasten in the skies;

Where blooming Eden withers in our sight.

Death gives us more than was in Eden lost,

The king of terrors is the prince of peace.

Night Thoughts, iii.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Php_1:21

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain

The apostles alternative

The language is like a great river which, flowing through some country, bends first from the one side and then from the other, and then comes back into its straight course.

There is a triple movement of thought and feeling.

1. There is the absorbing devotion which this man has to Christ.

2. Then comes in the bend of the stream; a rock on the margin sends the waters away in another direction. He thinks about others.

3. Then comes the third feeling when he apprehends it to be his duty to stop and work.

I. The first attitude of the apostles mind. Here we get the grand, noble simplicity and unity or continuity of life and death to a devout man thinking about himself.

1. Look at the noble theory of life. In all senses in which you can use the words, Christ is this mans life.

(1) The secret of its origin, its source, and basis.

(2) Its goal and aim.

(3) Its law and pattern. My life, if it be in Christ, rosy become a chain of golden deeds; if I be out of Christ, it is but a heap of unconnected links.

2. Wheresoever life is thus simple and of a piece, death will be gain, continuous and increasing.

(1) The direction is the same; he passes the points and gets on to the other line without a shock.

(2) The life is simply lifted out of the common atmosphere and plunged, as it were, into an oxygen jar, and it blazes out the more brightly for the change.

II. The second bend or reach. The hesitation which arises from the contemplation of life as a field for work. The broken language of the original expresses the broken waters of the river as it takes the turn. I am in a strait, like a man hedged up between two walls, not knowing how to turn. Paul was the subject of two counter attractions, that of death and that of life.

1. Notice how be talks about the former. I desire to depart, weigh an anchor or lift the pegs of a tent. To be with Christ that is the attraction. He draws us, and we run after Him. This is no morbid, sentimental desire for death arising out of hatred with life.

2. Then think of that reason for living which overbears the wish for death. There is work to be done, and so I feel that life tugs at me. How different to many mens clinging to life, because of the judgment after death.

III. Notice the beautiful calm solution of the question--not an equipoise of hesitation, something pulling two different ways, and so the rest of equal forces acting. I know that I shall abide and continue with you all--a calm taking what God wills about the matter. Stick to your tasks, and in Gods time you will have rest and reward. Conclusion: Here are two theories of life for you. To live is Christ, and to die is gain. To live is self, and to die is loss and despair. Which? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Christian life and death

I. The proper scope and character of all truly Christian life.

1. Such life is never aimless; but how many people could give no rational answer to the question, What are you living for?

2. Its aim, however, does not lie within the circle of the seen and temporary. While not indifferent to the claims of the present world, its ambition pitches higher.

3. Its end and substance is Christ.

4. A life is possible which, while in a sense Christ, Shall not be such in the full and proper sense of the term. St. Paul has just spoken of Christians who were insincere and contentious. So now there are men whose life is Christ, predominately, it may be, but not wholly.

II. What Christian death is, and how it ought to be regarded.

1. It is Christian death of which he speaks, yet we cannot but be struck with an assumption he makes concerning death in general--living, only not in the flesh. All live unto God.

2. The life out of the flesh which Christians live is a higher and more advanced life than that of the present. Not that there is anything essentially evil or degrading in the flesh; but death will, to those who love Christ, obviously be so far gain that it will clear away a throng of hindrances to the free consecration of the soul to God.

3. The pre eminence is defined as being with Christ.

(1) Believers are already with Him, joined to Him, etc., but in important respects we are at present not with Him. He is beyond the reach of our sense.

(2) Death raises the saint to be with Him immediately, although we shall be nearer after the resurrection.

4. St. Paul does not measure this preeminence of Christian death over Christian life. He is content with a general statement of its exceeding superiority; it is much more than much better.

III. Christian life and death regarded as an alternative.

1. Ordinarily, even Christians recoil from death, partly for want of an adequate faith, partly from physical shrinking.

2. Within limits this desire for life is not blameworthy. Such a sense of future blessedness as should spoil earth for us is nowhere encouraged in Scripture; it would be incompatible with our duty to God and man, and in many eases it is desirable for others that we should stay.

3. But whether life be more or less desirable, it should be spent under the assurance that death is gain, i.e., if life be Christ, otherwise we have no reason to expect that death would bring any advantage.

4. Granting this, however, if the will of God ordains life, it is an unspeakable grace to live and not die. It is service for the blessed Master, the fruit of which is so ample that we can afford to wait for everlasting life. Be death ever so desirable, it is our own fault if the happiness of life does not more than counterbalance the trial of it. Other things being equal, the more life, the more heaven.

Conclusion:

1. How startling a contrast the current life of man forms with this lofty ideal.

2. When this august profession is more than a profession, how rare is the type of character which answers to the apostolic model.

3. Yet this same life is the only secure, rational, and happy life to live. (J. D. Geden, D. D.)

The Christians estimate of life and death

I. The Christians life a description of it. The Christian lives--

1. From Christ. Christ is the source of his existence.

2. On Christ. Christ is the support of the life He has given, nourishing it with communications from Him self.

3. To Christ. Coming from Him, He is its aim and end.

II. The desire he has while living this life (Php_1:23).

1. To set loose a second time, as vessels, not outward bound, but from a foreign port on a return voyage. He is not looking back on the country behind him, he is looking on the sea which he has to cross before he can get home.

2. Why? Because Christ is there. Whom have I in heaven but Thee?

3. This is the result of the new life which tends towards Christ, its source.

4. Thus to be with Christ is beyond all comparison better. There is a fruition of Christ above, compared with which the highest enjoyment we can get out of Him here is as nothing.

III. A feeling in the Christians mind counteracting this desire, viz., a desire to remain, springing from--

1. Love to Christ. To me to live is Christ--it is for Christs honour and glory to live a fruitful life.

2. Love for his fellow men. Love for self would say Go; love for perishing sinners is stronger, and says Stay. The hesitation only lasted as long as he was speaking of it. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

A comparative view of life and death

I. By those who look at life on its bright side.

1. To me to live is gaiety, delightful society; and to die is the quenching of all joy, to plunge into I know not what, and to go where I do not wish to go.

2. To me to live is the indulgence of the luxury of my senses; to die is the destruction of all that gratifies them.

3. To me to live is affluence in what all are coveting; to die would be to have all this seized by others.

4. To me to live is successful enterprise, competition overcome, prosperity, power, fame; to die that would be to lose the field of my career.

II. By those who look on the dark side. To me to live is a hard thing; it is to endure privation, poverty, pain. Well then, would you die in preference? Oh, no, that would be worse. Why so? Sometimes the person can hardly tell--there is an undefined horror of death, but sometimes there is the power of conscience in the case.

III. By whose who look on life irreligiously.

1. To me to live is a course in which my pleasures are poisoned with vexation; but at any rate it is for so long an exemption from what I have to expect hereafter. Besides, while I live I may repent and reform; but to me to die is perdition.

2. To me to live, says the atheist, is to have the play of all my senses, to take all I dare or can of immediate good, to exult in defiance of what superstition has feigned an almighty power, perhaps to command great attention by my genius. On the contrary, to die is to have all this broken up, and to become a clod of earth.

IV. By the Christian. To live is Christ and to die is to be with Him, therefore gain--far better. (John Foster.)

To live is Christ and to die is gain

That which a man loves supremely is that for which he lives--money, fame, pleasure, etc. The lofty altitude of moral nature to which we have to aspire is to find in Christ our only reason for living. Apart from this, the yearning aspirations and voids of humanity can never be satisfied.

I. Life in Christ comprehends all true life--science, air, beauty, music, all that adorns the saint, strengthens the worker, sustains the sufferer. All life rooted in Christ will bear all manner of fruits and be beautiful with all the hues of heaven. Into what base are our life roots struck?

II. Life in Christ can see the ulterior phase of what men call death. The eye of true life can see clear through the dispensation of dying, and behold the gain; can see straight through the troubled night of the final act of man upon earth, and gladden itself with the sight of the morning glory that falls forever on the hills of heaven. To die is mystery; speculation; lifes most desperate venture; annihilation-this is the creed of those whose life is not centred in Christ. Compare this creed with the gain which Christianity discloses. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Christian life and death

There are only two questions that a truly wise man would think it of any essential consequence to ask in regard to himself, What is the proper object of life? What is beyond life? Here, then, only they are completely answered. Let us--

I. Inquire into the meaning of the words, to me to live is Christ. True experimental Christianity is--

1. A life of dependence on Christ, as of children on the head of a family. This dependence is

(1) constant;

(2) humble;

(3) trustful;

(4) invisible, but real.

2. A life of communion with Christ; as between two dearest friends. This is

(1) habitual;

(2) cordial;

(3) private and public.

3. A life of conformity and devotedness to Christ, as servants to an illustrious and beloved master. This is entire, and embraces

(1) all the occupations of life whatever they may be, secular or sacred;

(2) all the thoughts and affections.

II. The ground we have to infer that when to live is Christ, to die will be gain. Because--

1. To whatever world death shall introduce us, Christ will be Lord of it. I have the keys of Hades, etc. I go to prepare a place for you.

2. The graces and tempers of such a life as the Christians must be the root and commencement of the happiness of that world, whatever it be as to particulars. Whatsoever a man soweth. Blessed are the poor in Spirit, etc.

3. We are assured that there will be an illustrious manifestation of Christ for the very purpose of making death gain. Our conversation is in heaven, etc. (1Co_15:42).

Improvement:

1. What an unspeakable advantage has the Christian over every other character.

2. Let the Christian be satisfied that death is gain, without prying into particulars.

3. Learn the importance of keeping together what God has made inseparable. Life Christ, and death gain. (T. N. Toller.)

Christian life and death

I. Christian life.

1. Separation for Christ, from the world, self, sin.

2. Dedication to Christ. All are dedicating their life to something--fashion, money, pleasure, science, fame.

3. Use by Christ. Religion is not a mans transformation into something different, but his acceptance by Christ for the accomplishment of his purpose.

4. Likeness to Christ, in love and knowledge.

5. Concealment in Christ.

II. Christian death. Gain, because heaven.

1. No more trial and sickness, but eternal health and peace.

2. No more bereavement, but eternal union.

3. No more superstition, but eternal light.

4. No more sorrow over the dissensions of Christs Church, but eternal harmony.

5. No more spiritual ignorance, but perfect knowledge.

6. No more temptation and sin, but perfect safety and holiness.

7. No more death, but the fadeless life. (H. G. Guinness.)

Christly life and gainful death

I. The Christians life is Christ.

1. Obedience to Christs precepts. These preferred

(1) to the dictates of man,

(2) and to personal inclinations.

2. Admiration of Christs character. Jesus is regarded as--

(1) The ideal of perfection.

(2) The model of imitation.

3. Devotion to Christs interests. True Christians seek--

(1) The extension of Christs dominion.

(2) The exaltation of Christs name.

4. Inspiration by Christs Spirit.

(1) In us there is no inherent holiness.

(2) Our good desires are derived from Christ.

5. Sustentation by Christs power.

(1) We are naturally impotent.

(2) Christ works in His people, and they can do all things through Him strengthening them.

II. The Christians death is gain.

1. Physically. The resurrection body will be characterized by--

(1) Perfect health.

(2) Perfect beauty.

(3) Capability of increased power and activity.

2. Mentally.

(1) All hindrances to intellectual pursuits will be removed.

(2) Mental facilities will be increased.

3. Socially. Death introduces the Christian to--

(1) A more respectable circle of acquaintance. (a) The great and good of all ages. (b) The holy angels. (c) Christ Himself.

(2) A better place of residence.

(3) Unprecedented possessions.

4. Spiritually. After his decease the Christian has--

(1) A freedom from external temptations.

(2) A deliverance from inherent depravity.

(3) A constant manifestation of the glory of God. (W. Sidebottom.)

The good mans life and death

1. How ominously the words live and die follow each other. There is but a comma between them. Life is but deaths vestibule.

2. If you would get a fair estimate of the happiness of a man, you must judge him in these two closely connected things, his life and his death. Solon said, Call no man happy till he is dead; for you know not what changes may pass upon him in life. We add, because if the life to come be miserable that shall far outweigh the highest happiness he has enjoyed in this.

I. The good mans life.

1. It derives its parentage from Christ. The righteous man has two lives, that which he has inherited from his parents, and a spiritual life, which is as much above mental life as that is above the animal or the plant.

2. Christ is its sustenance. Without Christ the newborn spirit must become vague emptiness.

3. The fashion of his life is Christ. Every man has a model by which he endeavours to shape his life. Men do not always do a thing because it is right, but because some one does it whom we take as a standard of propriety. What an outcry there is against a man who dares to be singular, and says, I will not follow your model, I will follow Christ.

4. The end of his life is Christ; not wealth, respectability.

5. Its happiness and glory is all in Christ.

II. The good mans death. Why does not death spare the good and take the bad. Gain! is it not loss in every sense? No; in every sense in which it is loss it is immeasurable gain.

1. He loses friends, wife, children; but only for a time; he gains them forever.

2. He loses his wealth; but, he gains eternal riches, and those who have no money to lose are made rich forevermore.

3. He loses the means of grace, but gains heaven.

4. He loses his partial knowledge; but sees face to face. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Life and death in Christ

I. Life in Christ. Life for this man is--

1. Negatively. Not

(1) the life of the beasts that perish. Meat, drink, clothing, are the means of preserving life; but not the objects for which we live. A disciple of Christ lives on them, but not for them.

(2) To acquire a great property. Property is useful in fulfilling some of the ends of life, but when it comes to be an end in itself it is no longer a blessing.

(3) Pleasure. He will not occupy the day in chasing thistle down.

(4) Honour. He has gotten the favour of God.

(5) In refusing and avoiding these things. Strip them all off, and you are no nearer a true life in the Lord. Life consists neither in having them nor wanting them.

2. Positively. His life is not a life with Christ, nor even in Christ. His very life was Christ. His former self was lost. Henceforth he lives Christ. His common life, when he lies down and rises up, when he labours and rests, in private and public.

II. Death in Christ. The substance of the inheritance beyond we know from Php_1:23 is the same Christ. What are the gains?

1. Peace instead of war. Here Christ and conflict; there Christ and peace.

2. Here Christ and ignorance; seeing in part, through a glass darkly; there Christ and light.

3. Here Christ and sins; there Christ and purity.

4. Here Christ and pain; there Christ and perfect joy. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The significance of the apostles sentiment

When did he utter this? It was not as he rose from earth dazzled into blindness by the Redeemers glory, and the words of the first commission were ringing in his ears. It was not in Damascus, while as the scales fell from his eyes he recognized the Lords goodness and power. Nor was it in Arabia where supernatural wisdom so fully unfolded to him the facts and truths which he was so uniformly to proclaim. It sprang not from some momentary elation as at Cyprus where he confounded the sorcerer and converted the Roman proconsul. No, it was written at Rome, in bonds, and after years of unparalleled toil and suffering. His past career had been signalized by stripes, imprisonment, shipwrecks, and unnumbered perils, but he did not regret them. He had been in weariness and painfulness, etc., but his ardour was unchilled; and let him only be freed, and his life prolonged, and his motto would still be, For me to live is Christ. It did not repent the venerable confessor now, when he was old, infirm, and a prisoner, with a terrible doom suspended over him, that he had done, travelled, spoken, and suffered so much for Christ. Nor was the statement like a suspicious vow in a scene of danger, which is too often wrung from cowardice, and held up as a bribe to the Great Preserver, but forgotten when the crisis passes, and he who made it laughs at his own timidity. No. It was no new course that the apostle proposed, it was only a continuation of those previous habits which his bondage had for a season interrupted. Could there be increase to a zeal that had never flagged, or could those labours be multiplied which had filled every moment and called out every energy? In fine, the saying was no idle boast, like that of Peter at the last supper--the flash of a sudden enthusiasm so soon to be drowned in tears. For the apostle had the warrant of a long career to justify his assertion, and who can doubt that he would have verified it, and nobly shown, as hitherto, for him to live was Christ? He sighed not under the burden, as if age needed repose; or sank into self-complacency, as if he had done enough, for the Lords commission was still upon him, and the wants of the world were as numerous and pressing as to claim his last word and urge his last step. (Professor Eadie.)

The reason why some men cling to life

I remember when I used to live in the south of England, there was a story abroad about some man that was thrown over the face of the Isle of Wight chalk cliffs. They found him in the morning lying down there among the white boulders and black seaweed, and below the finger nails there was powdered chalk that he had scraped in his desperate clutch as he fell to save himself. My friends, there are some of you that grasp at life like that, and for something of the same reason, because you are afraid of the smash when you get down to the bottom. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

To me to live is Christ--

1. The rendering is literally, To me life is Christ, life altogether, everywhere, always is neither more nor less than this.

2. The word has wide application. The blade of grass, the tree, the worm, bird, behest, man, God, live. But there is life proper to each. In the lower forms it is simple, but as we ascend life becomes more complex, difficult, and, therefore, more noble. That is the noblest thing which surmounts disaster or suffering which retrieves itself or is retrieved. The life of man has so suffered, and has been so retrieved.

3. The text expresses an infinite indebtedness. No man could confer a benefit on fellow man so great as to put him under this law. Not to benefactor, defender, deliverer, could you say this.

I. This canon rules the thought. The intellectual life is Christs. This is not, however, to impair mental freedom. Man may expatiate on any field, making fresh discoveries at every step. But from the vantage ground of the Christ life all acquired knowledge can he put in right relations and error detected. Christ does not reveal all truth, but places man on the mountaintop of truth, where he is never out of the view of some truths.

II. Take life as sentiment--thought with aroma in it, and beauty in it, without which no life is complete. How shall we keep the poetry in our life? Only by having the beauty of Christs life.

III. Take life as force--active moral force. A life without much force may be pure and good, but it can never be beneficent. A life with force may be destructive. To constitute good human force we need more than energy and self-will. We need right motives and wise means. If you leave Jesus Christ out of your life you cannot have any of them perfectly, Be strong in the Lord, etc.

IV. Take life as hope, aspiration, destiny. What is life if it be not this much. Without an assured future, no present of any kind can be worth a hearty interest. Have we an assured future without Jesus Christ? Because He lives we shall live also. Conclusion: Is it Christ for you to live, or money, sentient pleasure, ambition, indifference, emptiness? (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

Christ our life

We can see what this did for Paul.

1. It gave steady perseverance to his endeavours.

2. It put a tone of charity on all his intercourse.

3. It gave him calmness under trial and persecution.

I. So far as our life is feeling we may say the text. Take--

1. Our thinking. The unity, peace, freedom, safe guidance of our thoughts, follow and are assured if to us to think is Christ.

2. Our trusting. No fear comes to us out of the uncertainty and insecurity of our earthly trusts if our great trust rests on Christ.

3. Our loving. There will be an ever-enlarging love to men if our first love be set on Christ.

4. Our hoping--that hope is full of immortality which can build on this sure foundation, Jesus is mine.

II. So far as our life is association, we may say the text.

1. In friendship His presence can make our hearts burn within us.

2. In the family He can be the all-hallowing thought sanctifying the home life.

3. In society He can make by His unseen presence our social fellowships purer and more truly happy. If this is not so it is because we have permitted the un-Christly stamp to get printed on our associations.

III. So far as life is activity we may say the text.

1. In business, Let every man wherein he is called, etc.

2. In the Church.

3. In the world of morals, politics, science: all these are spheres of Christs rule. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

Christ the saints life

1. There is no other name but Christs which has life in it. There is no life in the worlds wealth, learning, honour, love. If they do not destroy, they afford no protection or sustenance. To be Christless is to be lifeless.

2. Is it possible that St. Paul can he speaking of a mere man? This is not an accidental expression of temporary excitement. It is a sentiment that pervades his writings (Php_3:7-9; Gal_2:20; Gal_6:14). On the Socinian hypothesis all this is extravagant and idolatrous. Where do we find succeeding prophets speaking thus of Moses?

3. Paul means that Christ constituted his life. In what sense?

I. Christ was the bestower and sustainer of it. He was this naturally (Heb_1:2; Joh_1:3; Heb_1:3). On this ground Adam in his state of innocence would have said that the Son of God was his life. But Paul was thinking of Christ as--

1. The life of pardon. Distinguish the gaining of pardon and the persuasion that it has been gained. A rebel may be pardoned without knowing it, but before he can be happy he must know it. Paul knew fully that Christ had forgiven him.

2. The life of love. Pardon properly is only the capacity for living; but love is the souls life. How this love burned in Paul towards God and towards man.

3. The life of hope. Hope is life; despair is death. The unbeliever is hopeless and therefore lifeless.

II. Christ was the object of the energies of that life he had bestowed. Paul had three reasons for his engrossing consecration to Christ.

1. A reason of justice. Christ had surrendered His life for him, and equity demanded that he should consecrate his life to Christ (2Co_5:14-15). Life for life: Christ gave all He could give: Paul returns all he can. Gratitude facilitates the justice, and makes the duty a delight.

2. A reason of self-interest.

(1) Unless he rendered the service, he would renounce the discipleship and be a castaway (1Co_9:27).

(2) He had respect unto the recompense of the reward of all duty well discharged (Luk_19:17-19).

3. A reason of taste. He liked the work for its own sake. (W. Anderson, LL. D.)

To serve Christ must be our one aim

It is said of Thomas Pett, the miser, that his pulse rose and fell with the funds. He never lay down or rose that he did not bless the inventor of compound interest. His one gloomy apartment was never brightened with coal, candle, or the countenance of a visitor, and he never ate a morsel at his own expense. Of course he made money, for he gave himself wholly to it; and we ought not to forget that the same single-mindedness and self-denial would make Christians rich towards God. What is wanted in the service of Christ is the same unity of purpose which has ruled all men who have won the object for which they lived. He who makes Gods glory the one only aim before which all other things bow themselves, is the man to bring honour to his Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The ideal of Christian life

For me to live is--

I. Faith in Christ.

1. Without faith life is dwarfed and desolate.

2. The grander faiths object, and the firmer faiths trust, the nobler the life.

3. Christ is the grandest object, and faith in Him the strongest trust.

II. Meditation on Christ.

1. We can come very near Him.

2. This meditation is sweet. The thought of Christ the antidote to lifes sorrows.

III. Action for Christ.

1. Inspired by the loftiest motive: Christ.

2. Of the most diverse character.

3. With the best result.

IV. Hope in Christ.

1. He is the hope of this life and consequently glorifies it.

2. He is our hope for eternity--Because I live ye shall live also. (Paxton Hood.)

The great end and business of a Christians life is to glorify Christ

I. I argue it thus:--

1. We have life from Him; life, therefore, should be to Him. A supernatural influence causeth a supernatural tendency. As rivers run into the sea from whence their channels are filled, so doth grace cause all the issues and outgoings of the spiritual life to return to Christ from whence they came.

2. The right Christ has to our service. We are His by every right and title (Rom_14:7-9).

II. To make this clear let us examine the several titles Christ hath to a believer.

1. By creation (Heb_1:2). Note--

(1) The absolute right that accrueth to Him from hence. We were made out of nothing by Him; all we have, therefore, is His--mind, eyes, tongue, hands, etc. His is a right both of jurisdiction as a king, and of propriety as a creator.

(2) The intention of the Creator (Pro_16:4; Rom_11:36). All things were made for man, but man himself for God. Our end was not to eat, drink, sleep, etc., but to live and use all things for God.

(3) The obligation left upon the creature to love and serve Him that created us.

2. Preservation, by which the title of creation is daily renewed and reinforced (Act_17:28; Heb_1:3).

3. Redemption (1Co_6:20). Consider--

(1) The right.

(2) The price (Peter 1:18-19).

4. Conquest (Col_1:13).

5. Actual possession (1Co_6:15).

6. Resignation and voluntary consent (Son_2:16; 2Co_8:5; 2Ch_30:8).

III. The use. To persuade us to make it our business to honour Christ and advance Him.

1. Directions.

(1) You must close with Him by faith, and use Him to the end which God hath appointed Him (2Th_1:11-12).

(2) Consecrate and dedicate yourselves to Christs use (Rom_12:1).

(3) Use yourselves as those that are Christs, improving your time, estates, strength, relations, talents, for His glory (Zec_14:20).

(4) Honour Him by the holiness of your conversation (1Pe_2:11-12).

(5) Let Christ be endeared to you by all your enjoyments. Temporal and spiritual (1Co_3:21).

(6) Count it an honour to suffer for Christs sake (Act_5:41; Php_1:29).

2. Motives.

(1) You are not your own, but are under another Lord.

(2) We have owned Christs right in baptism (1Pe_3:21).

(3) There will be a day of accounts when the great God of recompenses will reckon with you.

(4) The utility and profit of it.

(a) For the present an interest in Christs intercession (Joh_17:9-10).

(b) Heaven in the eternity to come. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Diverse views and aims of life

To some men to live is a man, for a man; they are content to merge their individuality in his; they do not care to be known if he is known; they always wish to be regarded as his friends; they live on his words; they immortalize themselves by recording them; to please him is their highest honour and felicity, and they leave a beautiful biography behind them in which they entomb and lose themselves, and rear a monument to the memory of their idol. Such was Boswells Life of Johnson--To me to live is Johnson! Such was Lockharts Life of Scott--To me to live is Scott! Such is the elegant tribute of Tacitus to Julius Agricola! To me to live is Agricola Such is the, to me, sad and shocking life of Cicero, by Dr. Middleton--To me to live is Cicero! But Paul said, To me to live is Christ! To some men to live is a science. They are absorbed by it; the pursuit of it is the unconscious charm of their existence. All things and all bodies are regarded as through the lens supplied by it. To Lyell and Murchison--To me to live is Geology! To Rosse or Nicholl--To me to live is Astronomy! To Liebig or Davy, to Faraday or Matueccei--To me to live is Chemistry or Electricity? To Owen or Cuvier--To me to live is Comparative Anatomy! To Young--To me to live is a Rosetta stone! But Paul said, To me to live is Christ! And some men live for an idea. They live for it; in it; become martyrs to it. Bravely, but sometimes very foolishly, they identify the whole world with their one idea. If it expires all perishes. Hence Vane and Sidney would say, To me to live is a Republic! Hence Leibnitz and Kant and Descartes concentrated their life on an idea. But Paul said, To me to live is Christ! And to some men to live is self. What shall I eat, and what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed? (Paxton Hood.)

Life in Christ

Behold yonder flower; it lives by means of the plant on which it grows; does it not? Did not the plant give it birth? and does not the plant supply it nourishment? and if you separate it from the plant will it not die? Now, consider it once more--it lives for the plant on which it grows; does it not? Does it not blossom into beauty that it may adorn it as a lovely ornament, and ripen into maturity that it may serve it by forming precious seed? Just so Paul grew as a flower upon Christ. He felt that he lived by Christ; and so he determined to live for Christ; and the sweet meaning contained in this fragrant saying that he breathes out an offering to Jesus in the thought of life for Christ. (H. G. Guinness.)

Christ the grandest life

If life is to be measured by the dignity of its affections, by their purity and power, then what affection is so lofty, so inspiring, so ennobling, as the love of Christ? If life is to be estimated by its raptures of exalted hope, its frequent glimpses of unfathomed being, its cadencies of harmony borne upon the ear from distant spheres of praise, then what raptures are so glowing as those kindled by the life of Christ? If life is to be estimated by what it performs, and by its motives to performance, then what life can hold so lengthened a series of unselfish exploits, as his who lives for Christ? What motive can occupy so high a ground or purpose, so glorious an aim? For me to live is Christ. (Paxton Hood.)

Love the true life

Our love is our life. What is your life? It is even that which is your strongest love. We do not live indeed until we love in real earnest; and the greater, the nobler our love, the greater and the nobler will be the life born from it. And hence there are many persons who have lived long in the world, but they have never begun to live indeed. No one has begun to live whose whole existence has been consumed upon the life of self. We do not know what we are capable of till something crosses our path, and says, Live for me. Look at that gay girl, merry and thoughtless, careless and quite unprophetic of the future, simply living on from day to day, from wave to wave of laughter and pleasure--the privileged and licensed plague of the family. Let a year or two roll round, and look at her again. She is not less interesting--nay, but how much more interesting? Young as she is--almost venerable--the merry gaiety is gone, and in its place the sweet seriousness of wifehood; and all the powers of her being have been aroused, for a little helpless being has fallen at her feet, and said to her, through its blue eyes, Take care of me. If she could put her thoughts into speech she would say, For me to live is my darling. It has revolutionized her--it has robbed her of her selfish coquetry, and given to her a selfishness almost divine. It is so with the husband and the father. He is most capable of noble exertions as the love of his life takes noble shapes to him, and rouses to noble energies. Nor can I conceive how the heavy and monotonous wheels of business could roll on at all, if God had not made our nature so, that the social love becomes a sacred incentive to action, and in spite of himself man is made to live for beings outside of himself--to find his happiness in their happiness--and thus to find that Life is indeed more than meat, and the body than raiment. But this principle of our existence is intensified when we become the subjects of a holy, divine affection--when we become so related to divine persons and realities as to say, To me to live is Christ. Then a great affection enthrones itself, so that it takes possession of all our powers, body, soul, and spirit; it sways a sceptre over all, and unites all to itself; it commands the resources of the mind and the heart, and makes them all its own. (Paxton Hood.)

Christ the end of life

As the rivers flowing, even away amid inland hills, is all advance towards the distant sea: as the blossoms beauty, even in early April days, is all progress towards the autumn fruit; so all St. Pauls life, even those acts and thoughts that seemed remotest, was a means to an end--Christ. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

Various degrees in living Christ

Suppose you have three students sitting with their canvas on easels before the work of some great painter. They have looked on that work until all have caught inspiration from it, and, with painstaking earnestness, they all try to reproduce what they see in the picture before them. Each will do his very best; each will have some palpable resemblance to the work, but each will differ from the others according to his ability, And with ourselves there is not the slightest reason for discouragement, though we are not able to reach the same degree of excellence that is obtained by some fellow disciple. Let every one try, as near as possible, to reproduce the original. (W. G. Pascoe.)

The means of living Christ

A vine is growing; it grows in good ground; it grows strong. It draws the sap of the ground, and bears much fruit; but the fruit is bad. It is bitter to the taste, and poisonous. Another vine grows near it--a good vine--all good. They take a branch of the good vine, and bend it gently towards the wild vine, and they lay a strong hand on the wild vine, and bend it towards the good vine. They touch. They are fastened--the branch of the good vine to the stem of the evil. As yet this produces no change on the wild vine; but it is some needful preparatory work. They now make an opening in the stem of the wild vine, and another in the branch of the good vine. They place them into each other at the wound, and bind them up. The wounds heat, and the two have grown into each other. The next step in the process is to cut off the head of the wild vine, and leave instead the now engrafted branch of the good. Then the branch of the good is severed from its parent stem. The root of the evil tree remains; but its head now is the new and the good tree. I live, murmurs the root and stem of the old evil tree far below. I live--you live; you have no leaf, no flower, no fruit: all the life is in the new tree. I live, still humbly murmurs the old root out of the ground; nevertheless not I, but the new good tree liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the ground, I live through the new and good tree, which loved me, and gave itself for me. This cutting, and bleeding, and binding, and grafting process took place while the patient was prostrate and blind outside the gate of Damascus. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The constancy of Pauls purpose to live Christ

Changed and varied the scenes around might be, but the heart was always the same: true to its one grand object far more steadily than the magnetic needle which does not always point to the north. The pinched miser might for a minute forget his wealth: a spring of something better might gush unawares in the ambitious mans heart, and make him forget the aim of his ambition: the watching mother might for a brief instant be startled into a forgetfulness that would take away the heavy burden of the seldom ceasing remembrance of her little dying babe: but the moment never came and the place never was, in which the great Apostle of the Gentiles forgot his Saviour. Was it too much, then, when looking over a life thus leavened and pervaded, he said, with a truthfulness of which words were but poor expression, To me to live is Christ! (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

Why Christianity does not prevail

The chief reason why Christianity does not yet pervade the world, is that Christ does not pervade the life of Christians. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

To die is gain

I. What kind of an event death is.

1. It is the most dreadful of events.

(1) Its personifications show this: Tyrant, monster, usurper, king of terrors, last enemy.

(2) Every circumstance connected with it is appalling.

(a) Its cause and sin.

(b) Its forerunners--spiritual and bodily.

(c) Its accompaniments, forced separation, burial.

(d) After death the judgment.

2. It is the most decisive event. It places the righteous beyond the possibility of fear, and the ungodly beyond the possibility of hope.

3. It is that event in which the excellency of religion pre eminently appears. Religion does not prevent the hissing of the serpent, but it extracts his sting; it does not show another entrance into Canaan than through the Jordan, but it divides the flood.

II. In what sense dying is a gain. It exchanges earth for heaven. Think of--

1. Its beauty.

2. Its purity.

3. Its pleasures.

4. Its friendship. (A. Pope.)

Death a gain

I. Physically: freedom from bodily restrictions, pain, and temptation.

II. Mentally. The liberation of the mind; multiplication of subject of thought; heavenly inspiration.

III. Socially. Reunion of friends; indefinite enlargement of the circle of acquaintance; society under the happiest, healthiest, and permanent conditions.

IV. Spiritually. Forever with the Lord. (W. H. H. Murray.)

The gain of dying

I. In regard to death itself it is not a gain. It is part of the curse, the effect of sin. We may look further and consider these things as they bear upon eternity. The irrevocable step is taken. Every other step may be recovered, but not this. If death be not gain, what is it? Infinite, eternal loss. It is no small thing--

(1) To lose ones lamp of profession; it has cost years of hypocrisy to keep it;

(2) to lose ones hope;

(3) to lose ones body;

(4) but to lose ones soul, what is there not in that loss.

He that hath not death for his gain, what has he for his gain?

(1) Is his money his gain? he had better not have acquired it.

(2) His talent? he had better not have used it:

(3) His soul? he had better not have had it.

(4) The gospel? he had better never have heard it.

II. In what sense can the child of God say that death is gain.

1. Negatively.

(1) Not because he has more pardon. He is as much forgiven on earth as in heaven.

(2) Not because he is more a child of God.

(3) Not because he is more the object of Gods sovereign love.

2. Positively. Because--

(1) He enjoys perfect freedom from sin and temptation.

(2) He enters the land of perfect rest, full enjoyment, and unbroken peace.

(3) He mingles with the society of perfected beings.

(4) He is forever with Christ. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

The saints death gain

I. The conviction of the apostle.

1. It did not rest on observation or speculation. These would lead a man to regard death as the very reverse. We naturally shrink from death, and that because death is unnatural, yet we know it to be the destiny of every one of us. An element of uncertainty mingles with every other expectation, but with this none. Think, too, of its irrevocableness. Many of our efforts may be repeated, but there is no repetition of death. Mere human speculation, even in the wisest, never approached a conviction that death could bring gain. Strong desire and sublime guessing, this is all we find in Socrates or Cicero.

2. Pauls conviction rested on faith in Christ as the conqueror of death. The causes of aversion to death include the dread of some thing after death. The only adequate explanation of death is that it is the wages of sin. The glorious tidings of the gospel are that Christ hath borne the curse and overthrown the power of death. Death is abolished, only the form remains. The saint shrinks from dying but has no fear of death.

3. The conviction stood in the very closest relation with the clause, To live is Christ. Only those who are alive unto God will find death to be gain.

II. The fact that to the Christian death is gain.

1. It is wider, deeper, clearer, more accurate knowledge of God and truth.

2. It is perfect holiness. We shall be like Him.

3. We shall enter a glorious society.

4. We shall engage in joyful tireless work. (R. Johnstone, LL. B.)

The benefit of death

I. Immediately on death man is capable of gain. The text is altogether against the notion of the souls sleep between death and the resurrection.

1. The soul is distinct from the body and is not merely the vigour of the blood (Gen_2:7; Ecc_11:7). It is distinct

(1) in its supports;

(2) in its operations;

(3) as to weakness and perfection;

(4) as to pleasure and pain;

(5) in the commands God hath given about it (Mat_6:25; cf., Deu_4:9).

2. The soul can exercise its operations apart from the body (2Co_12:2).

3. That the souls of the saints do exist apart from the body appeareth from Scripture (Php_1:3; 2Co_5:1-2; Luk_23:43).

II. What this gain is.

1. Its nature.

(1) Privatively.

(a) A freedom from all misery (Rev_14:13; Rev_21:21; Mat_25:21). There is to be no serpent in the upper Paradise.

(b) Freedom from sin (1Co_15:26; Eph_5:27; Jud_1:24).

(2) Positively.

(a) The vision of God (1Co_22:12); 1Jn_3:2).

(b) The full fruition of God (2Co_3:18; 1Jn_3:2) in holiness and happiness.

2. Its comfortable adjuncts.

(1) The place which is very glorious.

(2) The company (Heb_12:22-23; Mat_8:11). As the loops of the tabernacle did couple the curtains, so dear love unites the glorified saints.

III. We shall lose nothing that shall not be made up.

1. Do we lose friends? They are better in heaven, and we shall rejoin them.

2. Is it ordinances that we lose? There the Lamb shall be the light of the New Temple. We shall study Divinity in the light of Christs face; and drink of the fruit of the vine new with Christ (Mat_26:29).

3. Communion with God (1Th_4:17). There will be no cloud on that day.

4. Service and opportunities for glorifying God. We shall be more active in his praise. The instrument will be perfectly in tune. Here we often jar, There will be no spot or blemish (Eph_5:27).

5. Comforts of this world. They are of use in our passage, and we must possess as if we possessed not (1Co_7:31); but there we are free from all needs. No man complains when he is recovered out of a disease, that he needs no more physic.

IV. Use.

1. To commend Christs service to you. If you have dedicated your life to Him, then death will be better (Gal_6:8).

2. A meditation for the dying. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The benefits which believers receive at death

In what respect death is gain to believers.

I. In respect of them souls. It separates souls from bodies, not to their loss but to their gain. It is with the souls of believers as with Paul and his company in Act_27:1-44. The ship broke in pieces, but the passengers came all safe to land. The benefit is two-fold.

1. Perfection in holiness (Heb_12:23), which up to this consisted only in gradual advances. This perfection consists in--

(1) Complete freedom from sin (Eph_5:27); from its commission (Rev_21:27); its very inbeing, the possibility of sinning (Rev_3:12).

(2) The arrival of their holiness at the highest pitch they are capable of (Eph_4:13).

(a) Their understandings shall be perfectly illuminated (1Co_13:12).

(b) Their wills shall be perfectly upright, so that they shall will nothing but good, without the least bias to the other side (Rev_21:27). A perfect conformity betwixt Gods will and theirs, without the least possible jarring (1Jn_3:2).

(c) The executive faculty shall then perfectly answer the will with ease and delight (Mat_6:10).

2. Immediate entering into glory (Luk_23:43). Here consider--

(1) The glory they enter into.

(a) A glorious place (2Co_5:1; Joh_14:2; Rev_21:23).

(b) A glorious society (Heb_12:23-24; Joh_17:24).

(c) A glorious state. What eye hath not seen. Rest and perfect blessedness.

II. In respect of their bodies. Death cannot harm them.

1. It cannot separate them from Christ (1Th_4:14).

2. It is a stage in their progress towards the resurrection. The saints dust is precious, locked up in the grave as in a cabinet, till the Lord have further use for it. (T. Boston, D. D.)

The antidote of death

I. To whom the startling expression applies. To Christians and no others. The text is limited in its application by the previous clause. Character and privilege are unseparably connected. To all but Christians death is everlasting ruin.

II. The meaning of thy expression.

1. There are few words that have a more powerful influence over human affairs than gain. It is the folly and the sin of men that they do not extend the application of it to moral subjects. Blessed the man who in reckoning up his gains can enter death as one of the items.

2. How wonderful does this appear when we consider what death is--the most fearful thing in the universe next to hell and sin. Yet it is gain to the believer. True, he loses all that is most precious to him in life upon earth; but all that he loses here compared with what he gains in heaven is as the surrender of a little homestead and a contracted farm to gain a kingdom and a crown, or parting with a single farthing for the acquisition of a princely revenue. Death is gain.

(1) By delivering the Christian from all evils; labour and weariness, pain and weakness, care and fear, danger and disappointment. There will be no mortification of sin, for there will be no sin to mortify. No ignorance will becloud the judgment; no rebellion enslave the will, no depravity taint the heart, no disorder misguide the passions. And as there will be no evil in ourselves so there will be none in our companions. Hence there will be no envies nor strifes.

(2) Because it brings us to the possession and enjoyment of all desirable, great, and glorious things.

(a) In heaven there will be all things really desirable. Here many of our desires are unreasonable and their objects unattainable, or if attained injurious, but in heaven there is no improper desire. We shall wish only for what is right and shall never be disappointed.

(b) All things great and glorious. Here the things we desire are not great, and there is a disproportion between the object we covet and the intensity of our longings. There we shall have put away childish things.

Two words are descriptive of the heavenly state.

(a) Life--Eternal life. We know now only imperfectly what it is to live. There our intellectual, spiritual, and social being will be in full and everlasting development.

(b) Glory. We shall not merely behold its infinite glories, but shall say, All these are mine. Here possession and enjoyment are often separated; but in heaven the objective source of happiness and the subjective condition of the soul will be in harmony.

III. Leaving these general remarks we may notice the residence of the righteous. Consider--

1. The agreeable and happy associates of all who reach that blessed world.

2. Their employments. True, we shall rest from our labours, but activity and glory will not be labour.

3. Their condition. They have the light of perfect knowledge irradiating their understanding, the glow of perfect love warming their hearts, the purity of perfect holiness diffused through their character forever. This gain accrues to all who live to Christ. We may advance a step further, and say that the death of a believer is, in a sense, gain to Christ. He is magnified by the death of His saints, in the support He administers, the consolation He imparts, the triumphant joys He inspires.

Conclusion:

1. What a proof we have in this subject of the truth, excellence, and sustaining power of Christianity.

2. What a powerful means to overcome the undue love of life and fear of death.

3. How this subject should reconcile us to the death of our pious friends. (J. A. James.)

Socrates and Paul on death

Socrates in prison in Athens, as Paul was in Rome, unjustly accused, too, as he was, a good teacher further, according to his light, though a despised and rejected one, was sustained by the consciousness that no crime had been his, by the thought, also, that his suffering and death were of Gods will. But among his last words, before the hemlock bowl had done its work, was this saddest saying to his friends: It is now time to depart:--for me to die--for you to live--but which of us is going to a better thing, is uncertain to every one except only to the Deity. These words are not unlike those of Paul, but nothing of Pauls hope and assurance glows within them. All is gloomy uncertainty, if not even despair. There is nothing said of gain, and where it is to be found. (J. Hutchinson, D. D.)

The testimony of nature and of Christ concerning death

This is indeed a strange sound in the ears of nature, a sound of which nature knows nothing, and which sorely puzzles her. Death gain Why, in natures account book death is sheer loss, the loss of everything, the loss of life, and of all that makes life pleasant and happy, the loss of the green fields and of the blue sky, of the sun and the moon and the stars, of the fresh air, of our homes and our gardens, of health, and strength, and mirth, and thought, and friendship, and love. It is the loss of all these bright and precious joys: and what does it give us in exchange? Darkness, and coldness, and numbness--a house of clay, with worms for our bedfellows--rottenness and nothingness. And can this be gain? Yes, brethren, if you are in Christ, as sure as Christ liveth, as sure as God liveth, it is gain. It is the passing from impurity to purity, from imperfection to perfection, from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, from broken glimpses of joy glancing through clouds of sorrow, to the full ever-beaming sunshine of the presence of God. (Archdeacon Hare.)

Christ and death

As a father wades out into a stream to encourage his timid child to cross, so Christ went down into the river men had dreaded, but whose waters are full of cleansing, and whose farther waves beat on a golden shore. I regret to say that Christians are slow to improve the privilege of knowledge and faith. (W. H. H. Murray.)

What makes death gain

A leafless wood may preach you an awful sermon. Not only may you look upon it as a host of skeletons; it may also cry to you to bethink yourselves that even as these trees stand naked from head to foot before the eye of heaven, so will your souls ere long stand utterly bare and naked before the eye of God. Every cloak and mask you may have clad them in will be torn off. Every fading leaf and perishing flower--whatever is bred by the sun of this world, or put forth to win the eyes of this world--all the dress and drapery of our minds and hearts--our cleverness, our skill, our learning, our knowledge, our prudence, our industry, our gaiety, our good fellowship--all those qualities of fair seeming which have no higher aim than to look well in the sight of our neighbours--will be swept away; and nothing will remain but the skeletons of our souls, shivering in the sight of men and of angels, in the day of that last and terrible winter, when the glory of this world will have waned, and death will have spread out his hand over all the generations of mankind. Nothing will remain but the naked trunk and leafless branches of our souls, except those seeds of Christian faith and love, which may have remained secretly wrapt up in the bosom of the flowers. The leaf dies; for the leaf has no life in it. The flower dies; for the flower has no life in it. But the seed, if it be the seed of Christian faith and love, has life in it, and cannot die. When it falls to the ground, Christ sends His angels to gather it up, and bids them lay it by in the storehouses of heaven. By the world, indeed, it is unseen. The world perceives no difference between the flower that has seed in it, and the flower that has no seed. To the outward eye they look the same; for the outward eye sees only what is outward. But Christ knows His own: He beholds the seed within the heart of the flower: and He will not suffer it to die or to be lost. In the last day He will bring it forth, and will crown the branches again with the undying flowers of heaven. (Archdeacon Hare.)

The death of saints magnifies Christ

Rev. J. Hervey: Oh, welcome death! thou mayst well be reckoned among the treasures of the Christian. The great conflict is over; all is done. To live is Christ, but to die is gain--Dr. Payson: The battles fought--the battles fought; and the victory is won; the victory is won forever! I am going to bathe in an ocean of purity, and benevolence, and happiness to all eternity. Faith and patience, hold out--Rev. G. Roberts: Be quiet, my son? Be quiet, my son? No, no! If I had the voice of an angel I would rouse the inhabitants of Baltimore, for the purpose of telling them of the joys of redeeming love, Victory! Victory! Victory through the blood of the Lamb!--Rev. P. Hardcastle: On the second day before his death his pulse was feeble, and he was evidently sinking. When asked, Can you say that the precious Word which you have been preaching is now your individual salvation? Yes, said he, and my strength. And your comfort? Yes, and my peace. And your refuge? Yes, said the dying man, and my life, my life, my life! He passed away in the sixtieth year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his ministry--Rev. J. Dickens: My dear brother, do you not already see the towers of the New Jerusalem? said a Christian brother. I do, was his reply. When asked by the same person if they should engage in prayer, he said--I would rather engage in praise. In that exercise he spent his last breath. The last words uttered were--Glory! Glory! Come, Lord Jesus! (J. Bate.)

Two prospects in death

Before some of us there rise the high, cold, great snow mountains, on the summits of which nothing can live, and when we come to the base of them we look up and feel the trackless impassable wastes, and know not what lies beyond; but before others of us this man and those who hold with him, there has been a tunnel cut through the Alps, and it goes straight on, and comes out, keeping on in the same direction, beneath a bluer sky, and with a brighter land, with summer plains and a happier life spread before us in the warm south. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Contrasted views of death

To die is gain, said Paul. Out upon thee, thou ugly, foul phantom, said Charles Lamb, the mere man of letters, I detest, abhor, and execrate thee, to be shunned as a universal viper, to be branded, proscribed, and evil spoken of. I care not to be carried with the tide that smoothly bears human life to eternity. I am in love with this green earth, the face of town and country, the unspeakable rural solitudes and the sweet security of streets. I would set up my tabernacle here--a new state of being staggers me. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

Death differently viewed by different characters

You have been in a ship when it entered the harbour, and you have noticed the different looks of the passengers as they turned their eyes ashore. There was one who, that he might not lose a moments time, had got everything ready for landing long ago; and now he smiles and beckons to yonder party on the pier, who in their turn, are so eager to meet him, that they almost press over the margin of the quay; and no sooner is the gangway thrown across, than he has hold of the arm of one, and another is triumphant on his shoulder, and all the rest are leaping before and after him on their homeward way. But there is another, who showed no alacrity. He gazed with pensive eye on the nearer coast and seemed to grudge that the trip was over. He was a stranger going amongst strangers, and though sometimes during the voyage he had a momentary hope that something unexpected might occur, and that some friendly face might recognize him in regions where he was going an alien and an adventurer--no such welcoming face is there, and with reluctant steps he quits the vessel, and commits himself to the unknown country. And now that every one else has disembarked, who is this unhappy man whom they have brought on deck, and whom, groaning in his heavy chains, they are conducting to the dreaded shore? Alas! he is a felon and a runaway, whom they are bringing back to take his trial there; and no wonder he is loath to land. Now, dear brethren, our ship is sailing fast. We shall soon hear the rasping of the shallows, and the commotion overhead, which bespeak the port in view. When it comes to that, how shall you feel? Are you a stranger, or a convict, or are you going home? Can you say, I know whom I have believed? Have you a Friend within the veil? And however much you may enjoy the voyage, and however much you may like your fellow passengers, does your heart sometimes leap up at the prospect of seeing Jesus as he is, and so being ever with the Lord? (James Hamilton, D. D.)

Happy to live or die in Christ

Just before Calvin died he wrote to a friend these words: My respiration is difficult, and I am about to breathe the last gasp, happy to live and die in Jesus Christ, who is gain to all His children in life and death. He felt what Paul felt.

Ready for life or death

A lady once said to John Wesley, Suppose you knew you were to die at 12 oclock tomorrow night, how would you employ the intervening time? Why, just as I intend to spend it now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at 5 oclock tomorrow morning. After that I should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, meet the Societies in the evening. Then repair to friend Martins, who expects to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at 10 oclock, commend myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory!

A believers privilege at death

1. Believers at death shall gain the glorious sight of God. They shall see Him intellectually with the eyes of their mind, which divines call the beatifical vision; if there were not such an intellectual sight of God, how do the spirits of just men, made perfect, see Him? They shall behold the glorified body of Jesus Christ; and if it be pleasant to behold the sun, then how blessed a sight will it be to see Christ the Sun of Righteousness clothed with our human nature, shining in glory above the angels? Through Christs flesh, as through a transparent glass, some bright rays and beams of the Godhead shall display themselves to glorified eyes; the sight of God through Christ will be very complacential and delightful; the terror of Gods essence will be taken away; Gods majesty will be mixed with beauty, and sweetened with clemency; it will be infinitely delightful to the saints to see the amiable aspects and smiles of Gods face.

2. The saints at death shall not only have a sight of God, but shall enjoy the love of God; there shall be no more a vail on Gods face, nor His smiles chequered with frowns, but His love shall discover itself in all its orient beauty and fragrant sweetness. Here the saints pray for Gods love, and they have a few drops, but there they shall have as much as their vessel can receive. To know this love that passeth knowledge, this will cause jubilation of spirit, and create such holy raptures of joy in the saints as are superlative, and would soon overwhelm them if God did not make them able to bear it.

3. Believers at death shall gain a celestial palace, an house not made with hands. Here the saints are straitened for room, they have but mean cottages to live in, but they shall have a royal palace to live in; here is but their sojourning house, there in heaven is their mansion house, an house built high above all the visible orbs, an house bespangled with light, enriched with pearls and precious stones. And this is not their landlords house, but their Fathers house; and this house stands all upon consecrated ground; it is set out by transparent glass to show the holiness of it.

4. Believers at death shall gain perfection of holiness. Here grace was but in its cradle, very imperfect; we cannot write a copy of holiness without blotting; believers are said to receive but the first fruits of the Spirit. But at death the saints shall arrive at perfection, their knowledge clear, their sanctity perfect, their sun shall be in its full meridian splendour. How come the saints to have all this gain? Believers have a right to all this gain at death upon divers accounts: by virtue of the Fathers donation, the Sons purchase, the Holy Ghosts earnest--and faiths acceptance. Therefore the state of future glory is called the saints proper inheritance. They are heirs of God, and have a right to inherit. See the great difference between the death of the godly and the wicked; the godly are gainers at death, the wicked are great losers at death. They lose four things:

1. They lose the world.

2. They lose their souls.

3. They lose heaven.

4. They lose their hopes; for though they lived wickedly, yet they hoped God was merciful, and they hoped that they should go to heaven.

Some plants thrive best when they are transplanted: believers, when they are by death transplanted, cannot choose but thrive, because they have Christs sweet sunbeams shining upon them. And what though the passage through the valley of the shadow of death be troublesome? who would not be willing to pass a tempestuous sea if he were sure to be crowned so soon as he came to shore? What benefits do believers receive at death?

I. The saints at death have great immunities and freedoms. An apprentice when out of his time is made free: when the saints are out of their time of living, then they are made free, not made free till death.

1. At death they are freed from a body of sin.

(1) It weighs us down; sin hinders us from doing good. A Christian is like a bird that would be flying up, but hath a string tied to its legs to hinder it; so he would be flying up to heaven with the wings of desire, but sin hinders him: for what I would, that I do not. A Christian is like a ship that is under sail, and at anchor; grace would sail forward, but sin is the anchor that holds it back.

(2) Sin is more active in its sphere than grace. How stirring was lust in David when his grace lay dormant!

(3) Sin defiles the soul, it is like a stain to beauty, it turns the souls azure brightness into sable.

(4) Sin debilitates us, it disarms us of our strength: I am this day weak, though anointed king: so, though a saint be crowned with grace, yet he is weak, though anointed a spiritual king.

(5) Sin is ever restless: the flesh lusts against the Spirit.

(6) Sin adheres to us, we cannot get rid of it.

(7) Sin mingles with our duties and graces; we cannot write a copy of holiness without blotting. Death smites a believer as the angel did Peter, he made his chains fall off, so death makes all the chains of sin fall off. This makes a believer so desirous to have his pass to be gone; he would fain live in that pure air where no black vapours of sin arise.

II. At death the saints shall be freed from all the troubles and incumbrances to which this life is subject. There are many things to embitter life and cause trouble, and death frees us from all.

1. Care. Care is a spiritual canker which eats out the comfort of life; death is the cure of care.

2. Fear. Fear is the ague of the soul which sets it a shaking; there is torment in fear. Fear is like Prometheuss vulture, it gnaws upon the heart.

3. Labour. All things are full of labour. They rest from their labours.

4. Suffering. Believers are as a lily among thorns; as the dove among the birds of prey.

5. Temptation. Though Satan be a conquered enemy, yet he is a restless enemy. After death hath shot its darts at us, the devil shall have done shooting his; though grace puts a believer out of the devils possession, only death frees him from the devils temptation.

6. Sorrow. Believers are here in a strange country, why then should they not be willing to go out of it? Death beats off their fetters of sin, and sets them free. Who goes weeping from a jail? Besides our own sins, the sins of others. O then be willing to depart out of the tents of Kedar! (T. Watson.)

Victory after death

Caesar, after his victories, in token of honour, had a chair of ivory set for him in the senate, and a throne in the theatre; the saints, having obtained their victories over sin and Satan, shall be enthroned with Christ in the empyrean heaven. To sit with Christ denotes safety: to sit on the throne, dignity: this honour have all the saints. In glory is a blessed rest--there remaineth therefore a rest. A happy transit from labour to rest. Here we can have no rest, tossed and turned as a ball on a racket, we are troubled on every side. How can a ship rest in a storm? But after death the saints get into their haven. Everything is quiet in the centre; God is the centre where the soul doth sweetly acquiesce. A Christian, after his weary marches and battles, shall put off his bloody armour, and rest himself upon the bosom of Jesus, that bed of perfume; when death hath given the saints the wings of a dove, then they shall fly away to paradise and be at rest. (T. Watson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Philippians

A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO

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.

Chapter 4

THE CHOICE BETWEEN LIVING AND DYING.

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.

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.

Php 1:21. Ἐμοὶ) to me, at the beginning of a section, means, so far as I am concerned; for he treated in the preceding verse of what regarded Christ.—τὸ ζῇν, Χριστός, to live is Christ) The article denotes the subject, as again in the next clause. Whatever may be the life I live (in the natural life), its principle and end is Christ.[10] [While I live in the world I consider the cause of Christ to be my own.—V. g.]—τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος, to die is gain) Although in dying I seem to suffer the loss of all things.

[10] Literally, I live Christ. “Christum vivo.”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_1:21. Justification not of the joy, Php_1:18 (Weiss), which has already been justified in Php_1:19 f., but of the εἴτε διὰ ζωῆς εἴτε διὰ θανάτου just expressed: For to me the living is Christ, that is, if I remain alive, my prolonged life will be nothing but a life of which the whole essential element and real tenor is Christ (quicquid vivo, vita naturali, Christum vivo, Bengel), as the One to whom the whole destination and activity of my life bear reference (comp. on Gal_2:20); and the dying[71] is gain, inasmuch as by death I attain to Christ; see Php_1:23. Whichever, therefore, of the two may come to pass, will tend to the free glorification of Christ; the former, inasmuch as I continue to labour freely for Christs glory; the latter, inasmuch as in the certainty of that gain I shall suffer death with joyful courage. Comp. Corn. Müller, who, however, assumes that in the second clause Paul had the thought: et si mihi moriendum est, moriar Christo, ita etiam morte mea Christus celebratur, but that in the emotion of the discourse he has not expressed this, allowing himself to be carried away by the conception of the gain involved in the matter. This assumption is altogether superfluous; for, to the consciousness of the Christian reader, the reference of the κέρδος to Christ must of itself have been clear and certain. But the idea of ΚΈΡΔΟς, which connects itself in the apostles mind with the thought of death, prevents us from assuming that he meant to say that it was a matter of no moment to him personally whether he lived or died (Wiesinger); for on account of the κέρδος in death, his own personal wish must have given the preference to the dying (see Php_1:23). Others (Calvin, Beza, Musculus, Er. Schmid, Raphel, Knatchbull, et al.) have, moreover, by the non-mention of Christ in the second clause, been led to the still more erroneous assumption, in opposition both to the words and linguistic usage, that in both clauses Christ is the subject and κέρδος the predicate, and that the infinitives with the article are to be explained by ΠΡΌς or ΚΑΤΆ, so that Christ tam in vita quam in morte lucrum esse praedicatur. Lastly, in opposition to the context, Rheinwald and Rilliet take τὸ ζῆν as meaning life in the higher, spiritual sense, and καί as: and consequently, which latter interpretation does not harmonize with the preceding alternative εἴτε … εἴτε. This explanation is refuted by the very ΤῸ ΖῆΝ ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚΊ which follows in Php_1:22, since ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚΊ contains not an antithesis to the absolute ΤῸ ΖῆΝ, but on the contrary a more precise definition of it. Although the ΔΙᾺ ΘΑΝΆΤΟΥ and ΤῸ ἈΠΟΘΑΝΕῖΝ contrasted with the ΖῆΝ, as also Php_1:20 generally, afford decisive evidence against the view that takes ΤῸ ΖῆΝ in the higher ethical sense, that view has still been adopted by Hofmann, who, notwithstanding the correlation and parallelism of τὸ ζῆν and ΤῸ ἈΠΟΘΑΝΕῖΝ, oddly supposes that, while ΤῸ ἈΠΟΘΑΝΕῖΝ, is the subject in the second clause, ΤῸ ΖῆΝ is yet predicate in the first. Like τὸ ἀποθανεῖν τὸ ζῆν must be subject also.

ἐμοί] is emphatically placed first: to me, as regards my own person, though it may be different with others. Comp. the emphatic ἡμῶν, Php_3:20.

For profane parallels to the idea, though of course not to the Christian import, of ΤῸ ἈΠΟΘΑΝΕῖΝ ΚΈΡΔΟς,[72] see Wetstein. Comp. Aelian. V. H. iv. 7; Soph. Ant. 464 f.; Eur. Med. 145.

[71] Not the being dead (Huther, Schenkel). On the combination of the Inf. pres. (continuing) and aor. (momentary), comp. Xen. Mem. iv. 4. 4 : προείλετο μᾶλλον τοῖς νόμοις ἐμμένων ἀποθανεῖν ἢ παρανομῶν ζῆν, Eur. Or. 308: σὺν σοὶ κατθανεῖν αἱρήσομαι καὶ ζῆν, Epictet. Enchir. 12; 2Co_7:3. See generally Mätzn. ad Antiph. p. 153 f.; Kühner, II. 1, p. 159. The being dead would have been expressed, as in Herod. 1:31, by τεθνάναι.

[72] Compare also Spiess, Logos Spermaticos, 1871, p. 330 f.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Phi 1:21-23 . DEATH OR LIFE MEANS CHRIST FOR HIM.

Phi 1:21 . ἐμοί . Why this emphasis? He knew that, after the expression of his joyful confidence and hope, the word θάνατος would come as a shock to their minds. There could be no question as to how men in general felt concerning life and death. But he , the Apostle, occupies a different standpoint. This standpoint he must explain. In spite of Haupt’s strong arguments for taking τὸ ζῇν , not as bodily life, but as life in its general conception (including the future existence), we cannot help feeling that the antithesis of ζωῆς and θανάτου (Phi 1:20 ) necessitates the same contrast between τὸ ζῇν and τὸ ἀποθανεῖν . [Kabisch, Eschatologie d. Paulus , p. 134, goes the length of saying that Paul does not know the conception of life as an ethical quality; that it always means for him simply existence . Probably there may be more truth in this than we are at first sight, from our different modes of thought, inclined to admit. To the Jewish mind non-existence was certainly one of the most terrible ideas conceivable.] If life meant for Paul wealth, power, self-gratification and the like, then death would loom in front of him with terror. But life for him means Christ. He is one with his Lord. And he knows that death itself cannot break that union, it can only make it more complete (because death is σὺν Χ . εἶναι , Phi 1:23 ). Thus it must be actual gain, a definite addition to his joy. Contrast the thought of Apoc. of Bar. , xiv., 12, in some degree similar: “the righteous justly hope for the end, and without fear depart from this habitation, because they have with thee a store of works preserved in treasuries”. κέρδος . Cf. Wis 3:2 , ἔδοξαν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀφρόνων τεθνάναι , καὶ ἐλογίσθη κάκωσις ἡ ἔξοδος αὐτῶν , καὶ ἡ ἀφʼ ἡμῶν πορεία σύντριμμα · οἱ δέ εἰσιν ἐν εἰρήνῃ . In sharp contrast to Paul’s Statement, Cf. Libanius, Orat. , xxvi., p. 595 A (quoted by Wetstein): πάντως οἷς βαρὺ τὸ ζῇν κέρδος ὁ θάνατος . See numerous apt illustrations in Wetstein.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

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.

For--in either event (Phi 1:20) I must be the gainer, "For to me," &c.

to live is Christ--whatever life, time, and strength, I have, is Christ's; Christ is the sole object for which I live (Gal 2:20).

to die is gain--not the act of dying, but as the Greek ("to have died") expresses, the state after death. Besides the glorification of Christ by my death, which is my primary object (Phi 1:20), the change of state caused by death, so far from being a matter of shame (Phi 1:20) or loss, as my enemies suppose, will be a positive "gain" to me.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. For to me to live is Christ] Whether I live or die, Christ is gain to me. While I live I am Christ's property and servant, and Christ is my portion; if I die-if I be called to witness the truth at the expense of my life, this will be gain; I shall be saved from the remaining troubles and difficulties in life, and be put immediately in possession of my heavenly inheritance. As, therefore, it respects myself, it is a matter of perfect indifference to me whether I be taken off by a violent death, or whether I be permitted to continue here longer; in either case I can lose nothing.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21 For to me to live. Interpreters have hitherto, in my opinion, given a wrong rendering and exposition to this passage; for they make this distinction, that Christ was life to Paul, and death was gain. I, on the other hand, make Christ the subject of discourse in both clauses, so that he is declared to be gain in him both in life and in death; for it is customary with the Greeks to leave the word πρός to be understood. Besides that this meaning is less forced, it also corresponds better with the foregoing statement, and contains more complete doctrine. He declares that it is indifferent to him, and is all one, whether he lives or dies, because, having Christ, he reckons both to be gain. And assuredly it is Christ alone that makes us happy both in death and in life; otherwise, if death is miserable, life is in no degree happier; so that it is difficult to determine whether it is more advantageous to live or to die out of Christ. On the other hand, let Christ be with us, and he will bless our life as well as our death, so that both will be happy and desirable for us.

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.

(21) To live is Christ.—This, of course, means “Christ is my life,” yet not in the sense that He is the source and principle of life in us, but that the whole concrete state of life is so lived in Him that it becomes a simple manifestation of His presence. The opposition in the passage is between the states of living and dying (or being dead), not between the principles of life and death. It is, therefore, in some sense distinct from the cognate passages—Col_3:3-4, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. . . . Christ is our life;” and Gal_2:20, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Those passages set forth the cause; this the result. If Christ be the principle of life in us, then whatever we think and say and do, exhibiting visibly that inner life, must be the manifestation of Christ.

To die is gain.—This follows from the other. Death is a new stage in the progress of union with Christ. So we read in 2Co_5:6-7, “Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord . . . we are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” “To depart” (see Php_1:23) is, in a higher sense than can be realised here, “to be with Christ.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21–26. The same subject: the Alternative of Life or Death: Expectation of Life

21. For, &c.] He takes up and expands the thought of the alternative just uttered, and the holy “indifference” with which he was able to meet it.

to me] Strongly emphatic in the Greek. It is not self-assertion, however, but assertion of personal experience of the truth and power of God.

to live is Christ] Luther renders this clause Christus ist mein Leben; and so Tyndale, “Christ is to me lyfe”; so also Cranmer, and the Genevan version. The Vulgate has vivere Christus; and this, the rendering of A.V. and R.V., is undoubtedly right. For the Apostle, undoubtedly, Christ was life, in the sense of source and secret; see Gal_2:20; Col_3:4. But what he is thinking of here is not the source of life, but the experiences and interests of living. Living is for him so full of Christ, so preoccupied with Him and for Him, that “Christ” sums it up. Hence the “eager expectation” just expressed; eager, because it has to do with the supreme interest of life.

What the Apostle experienced in his own case is intended to be the experience of every believer, as to its essence. See Col_3:17; and cp. Eph_3:14-21.

to die is gain] This wonderful saying, uttered without an effort, yet a triumph over man’s awful and seemingly always triumphant enemy, is explained 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.

For to me to live is Christ,.... Christ was his life "efficiently", the efficient cause and author of his spiritual life; he spoke it into him, produced it in him, and disciplined him with it: and he was his life, objectively, the matter and object of his life, that on which he lived; yea, it was not so much he that lived, as Christ that lived in him; he lived by faith on Christ, and his spiritual life was maintained and supported by feeding on him as the bread of life: and he was his life, "finally", the end of his life; what he aimed at throughout the whole course of his life was the glory of Christ, the good of his church and people, the spread of his Gospel, the honour of his name, and the increase of his interest; and this last seems to be the true sense of the phrase here,

and to die is gain; to himself, for death is gain to believers: it is not easy to say what a believer gains by dying; he is released thereby, and delivered from all the troubles and distresses of this life, arising from diseases of body, losses and disappointments in worldly things; from the oppressions and persecutions of wicked men; from indwelling sin, unbelief, doubts, and fears, and the temptations of Satan; he as soon as dies enters into the presence of God, where is fulness of joy, and is immediately with Christ, which is far better than being here, beholding his glory and enjoying communion with him; he is at once in the company of angels and glorified saints; is possessed of perfect holiness and knowledge; inherits a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, and wears a crown of life, righteousness, and glory; enters upon an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled; is received into everlasting habitations, into mansions of light, life, love, joy, peace, and comfort; is at perfect rest, and surrounded with endless pleasures. This is the common interpretation, and is countenanced by the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, which read, "to die", or "if I die, it is gain to me": but instead of reading the words as consisting of two propositions, they may he considered as one, and the sense be either this; Christ is gain to me living or dying in life or in death; for Christ is the believer's gain in life; he is all in all, his righteousness, his wisdom, his sanctification, his redemption, his life, his light, his food, his raiment, his riches, his joy, peace, and comfort; he is everything to him he wants, can wish for, or desire: and he is his gain in death; the hope he then has is founded on him, and the triumphs of his faith over death and the grave arise from redemption by him; his expectation is to be immediately with him; and the glory he will then enter into will lie in communion with him, in conformity to him, and in an everlasting vision of him: or thus, for me to live and to die is Christ's gain; his life being spent in his service, in living according to his will, in preaching his Gospel, serving his churches, and suffering for his sake, was for his glory; and his death being for his sake, in the faith of him, and the steady profession of it, would be what would glorify him, and so be his gain likewise; and this seems to be the genuine sense of the words, which contain a reason of the apostle's faith, why he was persuaded Christ would be magnified or glorified in his body, whether by life or by death.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Ver. 21. And to die is gain] Because death to a good man is the daybreak of eternal brightness, ianua vitae, porta caeli, the door to life, the gate to heaven, as Bernard hath it, a valley of Achor, a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise, to bring them malorum omnium ademptionem, bonorum omnium adeptionem. freedom from all evils and the reception of all that is good.

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.

To live is Christ. If it be his will that I live, my life shall be spent in his service. --- To die, and suffer martyrdom, will be my gain, by coming to the enjoyment of Christ sooner. (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).

Some read it: For Christ is my gain in life and in death; or: For Christ is to me both in life and in death advantage. Both acknowledge it to be brought in as a reason of Paul’s hope in life and death; and of his indifferency, in submission to God’s pleasure, in life and death, intimating it was all one to him, so Christ was magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death. They who follow our translation, do expound the proposition disjunctively; the former referring to the honour of Christ, and the latter to the salvation of Paul, which is understood by the name of gain. Some understand the former branch efficiently, q.d. I derive myself from Christ, unto whom I am united, he being the principle of it, as Gal 2:20; but others rather objectively and finally, q.d. As I have hitherto made it the business of life to serve Christ in preaching his gospel, so, if he continues my life, I purpose that in my living body, by preaching his gospel, and suffering for his name, as he requireth, he shall be glorified. Then, for the latter branch, if I die, in bearing testimony to Christ, it will be gain to myself, in that I shall be with Christ, which is better for me, Phi 1:23, being present with the Lord, 2Co 5:8, in whom my life is hid, Col 3:3. So that death would not impoverish, but enrich him. They who choose the latter reading, take the proposition conjunctively, to the sense that he accounted gain to him, to have the honour of Christ magnified in his body, whether it happened to him to live or die, since he faithfully served him living or dying, and owned himself to be his both ways, Rom 14:8. He was not (as he saith elsewhere, Act 20:24) moved with accidentals; neither counted he his life dear to him to testify the gospel of the grace of God; reckoning he had no life, but from Christ, whom he made it his business to serve and enjoy; so that if he continued in the body, Christ would gain, in that he designed to spend his life for the edification of his church; and if he died in that cause, Christ would gain by his death, in that his truth would, by the blood of him, who was a martyr, be further sealed, and his interest promoted, and his glory advanced; and he himself would gain, since upon his departure he should be advanced to be with Christ, Phi 1:23, who alone makes his faithful servants happy in life and death.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. For to me—So far as he is personally concerned, it is a matter of indifference whether he shall magnify Christ by living or by dying. To him personally, to live is Christ: his whole life, whether in prison or in freedom, with all his energy of body and soul, is consecrated to making Christ known as the only Saviour.

To die is gain—That is, the paradisaic life is an immeasurable gain over this earthly life. And if, instead of speedy release, he shall die a martyr’s death, it will be known that he died for Christ; and so, in either issue, Christ will be magnified in his body. Yet as to himself, persecuted, suffering, imprisoned, death is more desirable than life. To die is aorist, to have died; pointing to, not the dying, but the state after death, the being with the Lord.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Others, as Calvin, render (not so well), "For to me Christ is gain both in life and in death." The alternative suggested in Ver. 20 leads St. Paul to a short digression on the comparative advantages of life and death; he is content with either. Life is blessed, for it is Christ; comp. Col_2:4, "Christ, who is our Life," and Galatians it. 20, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me;" "Quit-quid rive, Christum vivo" (Bengel). The life of Christ lives, breathes, energizes, in the life of his saints. His flesh, his incarnate life is their meat; his blood, the mystery of his atonement, is the drink of their souls. He abideth in them, and they in him. And yet death is gain; the slate of death, not the act of dying, is meant (the infinitive is aorist, to apoyanein), for the dead in Christ are at home with the Lord (endhmountev prorion) in a far more blessed sense than the saints on earth.

Vers. 21-26. The great alternative, life or death.

I ST. PAUL IS PREPARED FOR EITHER; "for," he says, "to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

1. Christ was his life. Christ was magnified, not in his body only, in his labors and suffering, but in his spirit. The presence of Christ filled his whole conscious existence; communion with Christ was to him the very breath of life. Life was worth having only so far as the life of Christ was realized in the apostle"s life. The outward life, with its comforts or its hardships, was as nothing in comparison with this inner life of the spirit. "Dost thou not, O blessed Paul, live the common life of men?" exclaims St. Chrysostom; "dost thou not see the sun, dost thou not breathe the air, dost thou not need sleep, food, clothing, like ourselves?" Yes, he needed these things; he sent for his cloak and books. But he lived in the spirit of the Savior"s words, "Take no thought no anxious thought for your life;" "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." His real life was hidden hidden with Christ whose presence filled his soul. He was dead unto the world, but alive unto God. He was conscious of high thoughts burning within him; there was a power there and an energy that lifted him up and strengthened him and filled him with calm and holy joy in all his many trials. But that new life was not his life: "Not I, but Christ." Christ was there; that sacred presence influenced the whole conscious life of the apostle, keeping up a current of pure, high, heavenly thought within his heart. Where that blessed presence dwelleth the outward life sinks into comparative insignificance. St. Paul scarcely counted that outward life as belonging to himself; it was full of change, shadowy, unreal His true, real life was the Life that lived within him. "To me to live is Christ.

2. Death would be gain to St. Paul. Life in Christ is blessed; still more blessed are the holy dead. They rest from their labors; death removes them from the temptations, conflicts, cares of life. And to depart is to be with Christ, in his immediate presence. To see him thus, without the intervention of the veil of flesh, is gain, unutterable gain. But we must know by our own experience the power of Christ"s life indwelling in our souls before we can feel with the apostle that death is truly gain.

II ST. PAUL KNOWS NOT WHICH TO CHOOSE, LIFE OR DEATH. Who can tell the blessedness of such advanced holiness? Who would not gladly accept St. Paul"s sufferings to share his calm faith? Life is blessed, for it is life in Christ. Death is blessed, "by much very far better," for it is to be with Christ. The apostle hesitates; he is in a strait between two alternatives work for Christ here, and the life with Christ in Paradise.

1. For himself his desire is set towards departing. Death is to him but the weighing anchor, or the taking down of his tent, the last stage in his journey to the heavenly country. The blessedness awaiting him there is beyond the power of language to express; it needs the tongue of angels.

2. But he fears there may be something of selfishness in this lowing to depart. His continued life on earth may be necessary for the progress of the gospel. For his converts" sake he is willing to remain, for their furtherance and joy. A high example of most entire unselfishness.

3. He leaves his will submissive to the higher will of God. God knows better than he what is best for the Church and for himself. One thing he knows: if his presence is needful, he shall continue with his converts; for his life and death are in the hands of God, and God doeth all things well.

Lessons.

1. Death is no strange thing to the advanced Christian; he lives in habitual preparation for it.

2. He knows that he is in the hands of God; knowing this, he is content tolive, and content to die; "Thy will be done.

3. More than this, he hath a desire to depart, for to depart is to be withChrist.

4. But this holy resignation, this calm and blessed hope, implies a life of fellowship with Christ. "To me to live is Christ." Be it our most eager desire, our most earnest effort, thus to live.

The grand alternatives.

"To me to live is Christ, to die is gain." This elucidates as well as confirms his previous statement.

I HIS NATURAL LIFE FINDS ITS SUPREME OBJECT IN CHRIST. The apostle does not here assert that Christ is his spiritual life, for the reference is strictly limited to his "life in the flesh." That life is supremely devoted to Christ.

1. In all its thoughts. There never was a man whose intellectual life was so wrapped up in his Savior; his plans, his anxieties, his hopes, centred in him; every thought was brought into subjection to him; therefore his thoughts were not vain, or selfish, or earthly.

2. In all its deeds. The apostle abounded in labors more than the other apostles. Yet Christ was the object of such holy activity. His ceaseless, exhausting works of love found their spring in the love of Christ as they marked his supreme devotion. Thus Christ was his life. It ought so to be with us all. "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord.

II HIS DEATH WOULD BE GAIN. "To die is gain.

1. This assertion seems hard to reconcile with human feeling. Death always involves loss of some sort. To the saint it involves the loss of many pure enjoyments of life, of happy domestic ties, of the means and opportunities of working for Christ; while to the sinner it is utter, irreparable loss.

2. The assertion is not that of a mere pessimist, who asks, "Is life worth living?" nor of a worn-out roue, who has outlived the very sensation of enjoyment; nor of a holy man wearied out with exhausting labors and anxious to get quit of trials and persecutions. There is nothing in the apostle"s writings to justify the conclusion that he was sour, or morose, or cynical, or merely attached to the scene of human existence at the point of duty; for he possessed hearty human sympathies and entered with spirit into all the schemes of true Christian life.

3. His assertion marks the true connection that exists between death and the believers gain. Death is pure gain; for it puts an end to all the losses which so largely shake human comfort in this life, to all the evils of sin, and to all temptations to sin; and it puts the believer in possession of his full inheritance with the perfection of grace, the blessed vision of God, the society of the just made perfect. It is gain:

(1) Immediate; for "absence from the body" is "presence with the Lord.

(2) Incalculable; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, what God hath prepared for them that love him". (1Co_2:9)

(3) Everlasting; for God himself is the eternal Portion of his people. T.C.

Vers. 21-26. Life here and hereafter.

The brave apostle, awaiting the slow issue of his case at Rome, has been speaking of the good effect of his imprisonment upon the promulgation of the gospel. He can see the good beneath the apparent evil. And now he speaks of the life he lives on earth and of the other life beyond the shadow of death. Let us notice the lessons as they are set before us here.

I PAUL"S SELF-ABANDONMENT TO CHRIST. (Ver. 21) He surrendered himself in a spirit of entire consecration to Jesus, that he might do as he pleased with him. As in the parallel passage, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me", (Gal_2:20) Paul"s life was one of inspiration. Christ"s Spirit entered into him and took possession of it, and moulded it according to his own gracious purposes. Of course, Paul"s life was not a perfect realization of this inspiration, but it was an approximate realization. To zhn signifies here," says Rilliet, in loco, "the life par excellence the life alone worthy of this name, in opposition to to zhn en sarki this life; it is Christ, O Cristo hmwn . (Col_2:4) But the Christian, so long as he is here below, so long as he lives in the flesh, possesses Christ only incompletely, and has, consequently, only an imperfect life." (cf. 2Co_5:6-8) Yet there is nothing that helps this approximation more than to face honestly the ideal that our lives ought to be lives abandoned to Christ and inspired by his Holy Spirit.

II PAUL"S GAIN AFTER DEATH (Ver. 21) For it is the aorist which is here used, to apoyanein and so the apostle"s meaning manifestly is, to use Alford"s words, that "the state after death, not the act of dying," is the gain. Death in itself is no gain, but it leads to gain beyond it. The imperfect conditions of the present state being removed, the inspiration will have freer play, and all the gain which it necessarily entails. We can only feebly image the glorious condition beyond death; but to escape sin and be filled with the Spirit of Christ must be gain incalculable.

III PAUL"S PAUSE UPON THE BRINK. (Ver. 22) He now speaks about the probability of his abiding some time longer in the flesh, and he shows that, if the fruit of his work depended upon this continuance in life, he dare not complainingly, desire to be released. He consequently pauses and leaves the issue in the higher hands of God. So that, as one writer sententiously puts it, he was "willing to wait, but ready to go." Bengel"s remark is also most beautiful: "Alius ex opore fructum quaerit; Paulus ipsum opus pro fructu habet." Let it be ours not to seek our reward out of our work, but always in it!

IV PAUL"S EQUILIBRIUM. (Ver. 28) The two desires which were so nicely balanced were to depart and he with Christ which is very far better, and to abide in the flesh. The one would be a personal experience altogether blissful; the other would be a patience still fruitful in the welfare of others. Between the two he maintains a holy equilibrium. In either alternative he can be happy with his Lord.

V PAUL"S ASSURANCE OF MORE WORK IN THE PRESENT WORLD. (Vers. 24-26) Paul did not hesitate to affirm that his life was a valuable one to the Philippian Church. There was no false modesty about the man. Moreover, his work for them would be with a view to their progress and joy in believing. Especially would this be promoted if he were allowed to visit the Macedonian Church again. If, then, this be the first Epistle of the captivity, as Lightfoot seems to think, the present assurance of Paul would correspond to these premonitions about recovery, which the Lord"s servants often have in times of sickness. Is there not often an impression that a sick person will recover because of his own confident assurance of it? And when this is allied to such a holy and wholesome desire for the fulfillment of the Lord"s work among men as Paul here manifests, it becomes intensely beautiful. We thus see that the life here and the life hereafter only tally when they are consecrated to Christ. It can consequently be left to the all-wise Lord whether meanwhile he would have our service there or here. Those who by his grace are willing to serve him with their whole hearts have nothing to fear, but everything to hope for, in the unending future with all its opportunities. R.M.E.

An ideal life blooming into a happy death.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Paul, having expressed in the close of the preceding verse his supreme resolve that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it be by life or by death, here describes the life he was determined to live, and the death which he was certain to realize. The subject of these words is An ideal life blooming into a happy death. Here is

I AN IDEAL LIFE. "For to me to live is Christ." An utterance this terse and pithy, carrying the divinest idea of life. The meaning may be thus expressed: living, I shall live Christ. I shall live as he lived, with the same master purpose and inspiration. In relation to this life two remarks may be made.

1. It is sadly rare. Indeed, it is rare to live at all; living and existing are widely different conditions of being. All who breathe, sleep, eat, drink, follow out their animal instincts, exist; but none but those who have some dominant purpose that fires their passions and concentrates their faculties, live. To live means earnestness in some pursuit or other; the pursuit may be political, martial, mercantile, literary, artistic, or religious, and all who are earnest in their quest may be said to live. But this kind of life is rare. Millions exist on this earth for seventy years, and do not in this sense live one day; whereas those who have lived earnestly have become grey and old in a single night. The martyr, the night previous to his execution, lives years in a few hours. The thoughtless thousands who bowed to the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, existed; the three Hebrew youths lived an age the night before they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Saul of Tarsus lived the three days and three nights after he was divinely smitten with the conviction of sin, while he lay still and sightless. Indeed, to be earnest in anything is to live. If you take a census of those who exist on the earth, you have only to count the numbers that breathe, and they are legion; but if you take the census of those who live, you must count the souls that are really in earnest, and they are in a terrible minority. But whilst it is rare for men to live at all, it is far rarer for men to live to Christ, to live the ideal life, the life in which all bodily impulses are governed by the intellect, and all the intellectual faculties governed by the conscience, and all the powers of the conscience ruled by the will of God. To live as Christ lived is to become incarnations of him. This was the life that Paul determined to live, and with this deter-ruination he brought all the rivulets issuing from the heart-ocean of his being into the majestic stream of a Christly philanthropy and devotion. Alas! again, how rare this life! If the masses of men who are really in earnest, and who therefore live, were to express their belief. he they would say, "For us to live is wealth, power, science; no more. Christ is no more to them than any of the gods of Olympus.

2. It is manifestly imperative. It is urged on every man by the authority of reason, conscience, and the gospel.

II AN IDEAL LIFE BLOOMING INTO A HAPPY DEATH. "To die is gain." To whom? To the man whose life is Christly. It is not gain to those who live to sensual enjoyments and worldly interests. No; by it they lose all that makes tolerable the existence. But to the Christly man it is "gain " on two accounts.

1. On account of what it takes away. Physical afflictions, secular anxieties, mental imperfections, moral depravities, spiritual temptations; in one word, all that pains the body, deludes the judgment, saddens the heart, and deadens the conscience.

2. On account of what it bestows. Perfection in his being, character, friendships, worship, enjoyments. Death is indeed then "gain." Shall the Christ-living man dread it? Shall the diseased man dread the hour in which he leaves his couch of suffering and weakness, and goes forth into the green fields of nature with vigorous limbs and buoyant health? Shall the exile dread the hour when the bark that bears him from the scenes of long banishment shall touch his native shores? Shall the prisoner under the sentence of death dread the hour, promised by the clemency of his sovereign, when his fetters shall be struck off, and his dungeon door be opened, and he shall go forth to family and friends again? Sooner may this be than a Christ-living man dread death.

CONCLUSION. How often preachers exhort their hearers to prepare for death, urging sometimes with marvellous animal vehemence most utilitarian considerations! Let them cease this work, and urge them to prepare to live Christ: right living ensures happy dying. The ideal life lived out will bloom and fructify into a blessed immortality. D.T.

The gain of death.

I Two MOODS IN WHICH PEOPLE FEEL THAT TO DIE IS GAIN.

1. The wrong wood, but the more usual one. W hen it is an expression of weariness and a desire to escape from suffering, responsibility, labor, temptation. This desire is a selfish one, and may mean no more than that he who expresses it is living for himself.

2. The right mood. When "to live is Christ." This is the mood in which St. Paul speaks. Christ had so taken possession of him that he was no longer living a separated life, but Christ"s life was being lived in him. This is a bard life, but a joyous one. They who experience it find that it includes his cross, his yoke, his peace, his joy.

II How can it be gain TO DIE, IF TO LIVE IS CHRIST? To die cannot be more than Christ! But it can be more of Christ. To the Christian death is a closer union with Christ, and is to find a higher life in him. To Jesus" to die was gain, and in the Christian, in whom Christ lives, the experience of Jesus is reproduced. He finds in death, not more of Christ crucified, but more of Christ risen, which is the exaltation of Christ crucified. Note how the "Nunc Dimittis" breathes this same spirit. Spoken by one who had seen the salvation of God, and to whom, therefore, to live was Christ, he is ready to depart, knowing that he will thereby see more of Christ. Only when we can say, "To live is Christ," can we say, "To die is gain." Only when Christ is in our arms and in our hearts can we say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. VW.H.

"To me to live is Christ.

Here is the secret of the wonderful life of St. Paul and the ideal of the true Christian life everywhere. In so far as we approach this ideal we are Christian. The whole scope and aim and energy of Christianity are included in the conception of "living Christ.

I CHRIST GIVES THE PATTERN FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Christianity is Christlikeness. Only they who have the Spirit of Christ are his. The one call of Christ is "Follow me." St. Paul carries this truth out very fully in his descriptions of the assimilation of the Christian to Christ through every stage birth (in the new birth), humiliation, self-denial and service in life, death (to sin and the old life), resurrection (to the newer spiritual life), and ascension (the setting our affections on heavenly things). We must beware of mere servile imitation in following the footsteps of our Lord. We are to seek to have the mind that was in him. If our circumstances are different from these of the first disciples, we have to inquire, not simply what was done in Galilee in the first century, but what would Christ do in England in the nineteenth century?

II CHRIST INSPIRES THE PURPOSE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. The Christian is the servant of Christ. His object in life should not be to seek his own welfare, but to do Christ"s work. It may be that he will suffer personal loss. That will not stand in his way if his spirit is right. For if Christ has died for us the least we can do is to live for him; and even though hardships ensue, we have to remember that we have only to be like Simon, bearing the cross, whilst Christ was nailed to it. So long, therefore, as our object is simply to secure the salvation of our own souls, to be sure of peace here and of heaven hereafter, we have not learnt the very alphabet of the Christian life. That life consists in denying ourselves and living for Christ.

III CHRIST INSPIRES THE POWER NECESSARY FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. To live as Christ lived! To deny ourselves and serve Christ! These are hard things, impossible simply as duties to be performed in our own strength. But the gospel of the cross is "the power of God." Morally, the influence of the love of Christ constraining us is great. Spiritually, the power of the indwelling Christ is the real secret of the Christian life. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To me to live is Christ - To know, to love, to follow Christ, is my life, my glory, my joy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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.

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.

21. For to me to live is Christ. Should he be suffered to live, his life would be for extending the kingdom of Christ, but personally, to die would be gain; a release from sufferings and an entrance upon eternal joys.

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.

21–26. THE SAME SUBJECT: THE ALTERNATIVE OF LIFE OR DEATH: EXPECTATION OF LIFE

21. Ἐμοὶ γὰρ. Ἐμοὶ is emphatic, with the force not of self-assertion but of intense personal experience. This passage is linked with the former by explaining the secret of his holy equanimity in this suspense between life and death. Life and death are to him a dilemma of blessings, in Christ.

τὸ ζῆν Χριστὸς. Vivere Christus, Vulgate. Luther renders, Christus ist mein Leben, and Tindale, after him, “Christ is to me lyfe.” But this would demand rather, in the Greek, ἐμοὶ γὰρ ζωὴ Χριστός: and it destroys the balance of the two clauses; we could not go on to render “Gain is death.” He is thinking here not of the secret of “life” but of the interests of “living.” “Living,” τὸ ζῆν, is for him so full of Christ, so occupied with and for Him, that CHRIST sums it up. Such is meant to be the experience of every Christian; see Col 3:17, and cp. Eph 3:14-21.

τὸ ἀποθανεῖν. “Dying.” The aorist (note the change after the present, τὸ ζῆν, which gives the thought of life as a process) denotes the act of dying, not the process, nor again the state, of death. The dying hour is to St Paul the mere gateway into the “large room” of the presence of Christ.

κέρδος. Not merely “no harm,” but positive “gain.” “Death is his” (1Co 3:22).—This wonderful saying, uttered without an effort, appropriating as a means of bliss man’s awful and seemingly always triumphant enemy, is explained just below.—It is observable that his thought here is, apparently, more distinctly fixed on death as his own experience in prospect than it seems to have been in the earlier Epistles (e.g. 2Co 5:4, οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι, but see Php 1:8 there). Meantime the hope of the Saviour’s Return is bright as ever; see below, Php 3:20.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] For (justification of the preceding expectation and hope, in either event) to me (emphatic) to live (continue in life, present), (is) Christ (see especially Gal 2:20. All my life, all my energy, all my time, is His—I live Christ. That this is the meaning, is clear, from the corresponding clause and the context. But many have taken χριστός for the subject, and τὸ ζῇν for the predicate, and others (as Chrys.) have understood τὸ ζῇν in the sense of higher spiritual life. Others again, as Calvin, Beza, &c., have rendered, ‘mihi enim vivendo Christus est et moriendo lucrum,’ understanding before τὸ ζ. and τὸ ἀπ., κατά or the like), and to die (‘to have died,’ aorist; the act of living is to him Christ; but it is the state after death, not the act of dying, which is gain to him (the explanation of the two infinitives given here does not at all affect their purely substantival character, which Ellic. defends as against me: τὸ ζῇν is life and τὸ ἀποθανεῖν is death: but we must not any the more for that lose sight of the tenses and their meaning. τὸ ἀποθνήσκειν would be equally substantival, but would mean a totally different thing)) (is) gain. This last word has surprised some Commentators, expecting a repetition of χριστός, or something at all events higher than mere κέρδος. But it is to be explained by the foregoing context. ‘Even if my death should be the result of my enemies’ machinations, it will be no αἰσχύνη to me, but gain, and my παῤῥησία is secured even for that event.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῇν Χριστὸς: ‘For to me to live is Christ.’ For Paul life is summed up in Christ. Christ is its inspiration, its aim, its end. To trust, love, obey, preach, follow, suffer,—all things are with and in Christ. So Theoph. καινήν τινα ζωὴν ζῶ, καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς μοί ἐστι τὰ πάντα, καὶ πνοὴ, καὶ ζωὴ, καὶ φῶς: “A kind of new life I live, and Christ is all things to me, both breath and life and light.” See further on ἐν αὐτῷ (ch. 3:9), and comp. 3:7-10, 20, 21; Rom 6:11; Gal 2:20; 2Co 5:15; Col 3:3. Also Ign. Eph. iii., ἸΧ τὸ ἀδιάκριτον ἡμῶν ζῆν, ‘our inseparable life’; and Mag. i, ἸΧ τοῦ διὰ παντὸς ἡμῶν ζῆν, ‘our never-failing life.’ Τὸ ζῇν is the continuous present. In the three other passages of Paul in which it occurs (vs. 22; Rom 8:12; 2Co 1:8), it denotes the process, not the principle, of life.

τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος: ‘to die is gain’; because it will introduce him to complete union with Christ, unhampered by limitations of the flesh. His gain will therefore magnify Christ. (See Rom 8:17.) This is in striking contrast with the Stoic apathy which, in proud resignation, leaves all to fate. (See a beautiful passage in Pfleiderer, Paulinismus, 2 Aufl. p. 219.)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To me. Emphatic. Whatever life may be to others, to me, etc To live is Christ [το ζην χριστος] . Lit, the living is Christ. Compare Gal 2:20. He has no thought of life apart from Christ.

Gain. As consummating the union with Christ. Compare Col 3:4; 2Co 5:1 - 8.

"Declare unto him if the light wherewith Blossoms your substance shall remain with you Eternally the same that it is now, And if it do remain, say in what manner, After ye are again made visible, It can be that it injure not your sight. As by a greater gladness urged and drawn They who are dancing in a ring sometimes Uplift their voices and their motions quicken; So, at that orison devout and prompt, The holy circles a new joy displayed In their revolving and their wondrous song. Who so lamenteth him that here we die That we may live above, has never there Seen the refreshment of the eternal rain." DANTE, "Paradiso," 14, 13 - 27.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.