Philippians 1:18b–26

I WILL CONTINUE to rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

Original Meaning

Christ Exalted Through Life or Death (1:18b–20)

Paul concluded his discussion of his present circumstances in verses 12–18a with the comment that although he had undergone the hardship of opposition from Christian brothers, at least these rival preachers were proclaiming Christ, “and because of this I rejoice.” He introduces the future emphasis of this new section by projecting his joy into the future with the statement, “Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.” He then gives the reason for his certainty that his joy will continue: All that has happened to him, he says, will result in his “deliverance” (soteria).

The word soteria is commonly used in the New Testament, and especially in Paul’s letters, to mean “salvation” in the ultimate sense of rescue from God’s wrath on the final day. This is clearly its meaning only a few sentences later in 1:28, where Paul contrasts the Philippians’ future salvation with the destruction that awaits their persecutors. It is probably also the meaning Paul intends here, since he equates the “deliverance” of verse 20 with Christ’s being exalted in his body and says that this exaltation can happen either “by life or by death.”2 Even Paul’s death, in other words, can result in his “deliverance,” because the deliverance of which he speaks is unrelated to his physical release from the chains that bind him. It is instead his eschatological “salvation.”3

In what follows, Paul qualifies this statement in two ways. First, he claims that the events described in 1:12–18a “will turn out” for his salvation through the Philippians’ prayers and through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Just as Paul has prayed that the Philippians would steadily mature in their faith so that they might be able to discern what is best and arrive at the final day pure and blameless (1:9–11), so Paul believes that God will use the Philippians’ prayers for him while he is in captivity to help him persevere with “sufficient courage” and ultimately to stand before God as one of his redeemed people.

The “Spirit of Jesus Christ” is the divine means through which this help will come. The word “help” (epichoregia) in the NIV rendering of verse 19 can also mean “supply” and is closely related to a Greek verb that means to “furnish, provide, give, grant,” and, less frequently, “support.”4 Paul used this verb in Galatians 3:5 to speak of God as the one who has “given” his Spirit to the Galatians. It seems likely, then, that here in Philippians 1:19 the word does not mean the help that the Spirit gives to Paul but the Spirit himself, whom God supplies to Paul. This supply of the Spirit, moreover, is more closely tied to the prayers of the Philippians than the NIV implies. In the Greek text, one definite article stands in front of both “prayers” and “supply” so that the phrase runs, literally, “through the prayer [the term is singular in Greek] of you and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Paul is suggesting that the presence of the Spirit will be supplied to Paul through the prayers of the Philippians. In some mysterious way, those prayers are linked with God’s furnishing of the Spirit to him, and together they provide the help he needs to face the Roman tribunal with courage.5

Second, Paul qualifies his statement of confidence that he will ultimately experience salvation by saying that his salvation will occur according to his expectation that he will endure successfully the trials that lie ahead of him (v. 20). The way in which Paul phrases this second qualification has created intense debate among commentators. (1) The word the NIV translates “eagerly expect” (apokaradokia) appears only here and in Romans 8:19 in the whole extant corpus of Greek literature prior to Paul, and many scholars believe that Paul coined it. What then does it mean? (2) The rest of the verse (“and [I] hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage”) has sometimes been understood to mean that Paul hoped he would not be ashamed of his behavior during his future appearance before a Roman court of justice. Is this Paul’s concern?

The answers to these two questions are related to each other. The noun “eager expectation” (apokaradokia) is unusually strong, as Paul’s use of it in Romans 8:19 shows. There it describes creation’s “eager expectation” for ultimate salvation that it will one day be “liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). The use of the verbal form of the word (apokaradokeo) in ancient Greek confirms the intensity of this meaning. Josephus, the Jewish historian and younger contemporary of Paul (b. A.D. 37/38), for example, uses the verb to describe how in the moments before the Roman armies attacked the Galilean city of Jotapata, which he was assigned to defend, he “breathlessly awaited (akpekaradokei) the hail of arrows.”6 The word, then, refers to the intense expectation of something that is sure to happen. It seems unlikely, therefore, that Paul would use this word to refer merely to the hope that he will conduct himself properly during his impending court appearance. Instead, he sees the upcoming test in court as a divinely appointed opportunity to defend the gospel (Phil. 1:16) on his way to the final salvation he eagerly awaits.

In the contest that awaits him before that final vindication, he says, he will not “be ashamed” (aischyno), but Christ will “be exalted” (megalyno) in his body. Here Paul uses the language of the Greek rendering of the Psalms. They affirm that “no one whose hope is in [the Lord] will ever be put to shame [kataischyno], but they will be put to shame [aischyno] who are treacherous without excuse” (Ps. 25:3). The Psalms often also speak of exalting (megalyno) the Lord (Pss. 34:3; 35:27; 40:16; 57:11; 69:30; 70:4; 92:5; 104:1, 24; 126:2–3). Paul’s intention, then, is not to deny that he or anyone else will be ashamed of his conduct in the test awaiting him, but that God will allow him to be put to shame before the forces of evil ranged against him.7 He will ultimately triumph over evil because his hope is in the Lord.

His victory, however, is not dependent on acquittal at the trial. Instead, he will not be ashamed, and Christ will be exalted in him “whether by life or by death.” Even if his appearance before a Roman tribunal results in condemnation and death at the hands of an executioner, Paul contends that he will not have been put to shame by his enemies (cf. Ps. 25:2) and that the Lord will be exalted. His physical circumstances are out of his hands, and it may look perhaps to some as if they are out of God’s as well, but the apostle knows that despite appearances God is still sovereign over the affairs of his life and that God will see him safely through to ultimate, eternal vindication.

Bridging Contexts

IN MOVING THIS text out of Paul’s context and into our own we should remember that verses 18b–26 form the second part of a larger section in which Paul gives the Philippians news, probably eagerly awaited, of his own circumstances. Throughout these two parts, however, Paul speaks of his own affairs only as they touch on the progress of the gospel. Paul is in prison, but that “has really served to advance the gospel” (v. 12). Rival preachers are attacking him, “but what does it matter?” Christ is being preached (v. 18a). He may live or die, yet he does not know what to choose, for living is Christ and dying means being with him (vv. 21–22). He thinks he will live, however, because that will encourage the “progress” of the gospel among the Philippians (vv. 25–26). As we bring the second part of Paul’s report on his own circumstances out of his context and into ours, then, we should keep in mind that the most significant theological feature of the entire section is Paul’s absolute devotion to the gospel.

We should also keep in mind the breathtakingly comprehensive nature of Paul’s devotion to the gospel and to the Christ proclaimed in it. Every major feature of his life at the time when he wrote the letter—his physical comfort, the opinions others have about him, his position with respect to the secular authorities, and the question of whether he lives or dies—are molded by his commitment to the advancement of the gospel. Paul expects the Philippians to have the same perspective—their progress and joy in the faith, he implies in verse 24, should mirror his. The culture of the Western world at the turn of the twenty-first century, with its elevation of personal freedom and individual rights above virtually every other ideal, does not provide a friendly environment for the development of the notions that Paul expresses here, and we who are products of that culture will have to resist the temptation to soften the impact of this passage.

The difference between verses 12–18a and 18b–26, then, lies not in a change of the section’s overall theme, but in a change in Paul’s temporal orientation. In verses 12–18a he was concerned with the progress of the gospel in his present circumstances. In verses 18b–26 he is concerned with the future. Two aspects of Paul’s future emerge as particularly important. One is the shape of his confidence in his future salvation, the other the shape of his confidence in the outcome of his imprisonment. Both contain important theological elements that our own culture has conditioned us to ignore; thus, the message of both aspects needs careful attention.

Salvation, Prayer, and the Supply of the Spirit. Paul is sure that he will be saved on the final day, but he views his impending opportunity to testify to the gospel before his accusers as an important step on his way to that final destination. Moreover, he is dependent on the Philippians’ prayers, particularly their prayers that God will supply him with the sustaining presence of the Spirit, so that he may take this step successfully.

Paul frequently asked the churches to which he wrote for their prayers that he would be kept safe (Rom. 15:30–31a; 2 Cor. 1:10–11; 2 Thess. 3:2; cf. Philem. 22), that his apostolic labor would progress unhindered (Rom. 15:31b–32; 2 Thess. 3:1; cf. 1 Thess. 5:25), and that he would proclaim the gospel clearly (Col. 4:3–4) and fearlessly (Eph. 6:19).12 Only in Philippians 1:19, however, does he speak of prayer for his ultimate salvation. This is a difficult concept for many Christians to grasp, and indeed if grasped incorrectly could lead to the notion that Christians can somehow distribute salvation through their prayers—that they hold the keys to the kingdom and can give or deny them at will. Such a notion, of course, is utterly foreign to the Paul who wrote elsewhere that “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Rom. 9:18).

On the other hand, it is important to recognize that God ordains the prayers of his people as a means through which to accomplish his purposes, including his purposes for the perseverance of Christians in the faith and for their ultimate salvation. Paul’s own prayers for the sanctification and final salvation of the believers to whom he wrote (1 Cor. 1:4–9; Eph. 1:15–23; 3:14–21; Phil. 1:3–11; Col. 1:9–14; 2 Thess. 1:11–12) show how seriously he took this duty, and Philippians 1:19 shows that he expected his churches to take it seriously on his behalf as well. Although it grates against Western notions of the autonomy of the individual, Paul did not conceive of sanctification and ultimate salvation as solely private enterprises. Individual Christians need the prayerful intercession of their brothers and sisters for their spiritual well-being so that they “may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (1:10).13

The Philippians’ prayers, as we saw in our study of the original meaning of the passage, are closely linked in Paul’s mind to “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (v. 19, KJV), and this concept too is difficult to grasp. Does Paul’s statement mean that the Spirit came and went in his life? Does it mean that one believer can pray for another to receive the Spirit? Paul could hardly be clearer elsewhere that the Spirit dwells within every believer. “You … are controlled not by the sinful nature,” he wrote to the Romans, “but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom. 8:9). It is unlikely, then, that here Paul suddenly reverts to the notion that he can be deprived of the Spirit and may need the prayers of other Christians to restore it.

On the other hand, many Christians today believe that the Spirit is more inactive than Paul’s language allows. Paul can speak of the Spirit being given to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 4:8) and being supplied to the Galatians (Gal. 3:5), he commands the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), and he tells Timothy to fan the gift given to him (probably the Spirit) into flame (2 Tim. 1:5).14 All believers have the Spirit all the time, but they sometimes experience the Spirit’s presence in greater power and abundance than at other times. Thus Luke tells us that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” when he bore witness to the gospel before a hostile Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8), that the persecuted Jerusalem community was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and spoke God’s word boldly (4:31), and that Stephen, prior to his martyrdom, was “full of the Holy Spirit” (7:55). Paul was similarly “filled with the Holy Spirit” when he confronted the magician Elymas (13:9), and despite the persecution that Paul and Barnabas left in their wake when they departed Pisidian Antioch, the disciples there were “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (13:52). The Holy Spirit lived within each of these people prior to these occasions (see, for example, 6:5), but each apparently received an unusual abundance of the Spirit’s infilling during a time of special testing. Paul awaited such a time when he wrote Philippians 1:19, and he hoped that through the prayers of the Philippians on his behalf, the Spirit would be supplied to him in such measure that he would witness boldly to the gospel before his accusers. In the words of Henry Barclay Swete:

He was confident that, as his converts prayed, a fresh abundance of the Spirit which was in Jesus Christ and had been sent by Him would be poured into his heart, making for his final salvation whether the present captivity should result in life or death.15

It is appropriate and desirable that believers today should in a similar way pray for their fellow believers that, especially in times of trial, God will fill them with his Spirit in unusual abundance so that they may stand firm and even be strengthened in the faith.

The Choice to Live, a Difficult Choice? The second major aspect of this passage that can easily go unnoticed in our own culture is that Paul genuinely considers his choice to live rather than to die to be the more difficult and sacrificial choice. We live in a culture that thinks of physical death with such dread that society’s highest goal is the postponement of death as long as possible. When it finally occurs, it is something of an embarrassment. On the other hand we are so obsessed with physical life that we are willing to deny it to countless unborn children too small and weak to defend themselves in order to improve “the quality of life” for the strong who can. Those of us who are products of such a society will inevitably find Paul’s notion that remaining alive is a sacrifice and execution a gain difficult to understand.

The implications of this passage are undeniable: Physical life or death are not of ultimate importance to Paul. Living means carrying out his calling to preach Christ (v. 21a) and dying means both the gain of conformity with Christ’s death (v. 21b; 3:8–11) and fellowship with Christ (1:23). He hopes for the outcome that, in his opinion, will most clearly advance the preaching of Christ. This can only strike us as strange in the modern church if we have allowed the comforts of our present physical existence to usurp the place of Christ in our lives as our chief priority. If we are to let this passage speak to us on its own terms, we will need to stare Paul’s astonishing indifference toward death squarely in the face and ask ourselves whether our attitude toward death imitates his.

Paul, however, may find our need to do this puzzling; he seems to have assumed that his is the only attitude for a slave of Christ Jesus to take. He has another point primarily in mind in this section of his letter, for he hopes to demonstrate for the Philippians the principle that he will articulate more clearly in 2:4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This is a principle that we in the modern church should take away from this passage as well. In matters as momentous as life and death, Paul is willing to put the interests of the Philippians ahead of his own. We, on the other hand, are too often ready to destroy the church’s unity over whether to place the new piano on the left or the right side of the sanctuary. Along with the Philippians in times past, we need to look to Paul as a model. Christ is more important than life itself to him, and the joy and progress of his fellow Christians more important than departing to be with Christ.

Two Minor Confusions. We should not leave our study of how to apply this section to the modern church without commenting on two minor issues that occasionally disturb modern readers. First, verse 23 sometimes appears in the debate over “soul sleep,” or the idea that at death the soul loses consciousness or “sleeps” until it is reunited with the body at the final resurrection. Advocates of this position claim that because the soul is not conscious during the interval between death and resurrection, Paul can say in verse 23 that when he dies he goes to be with Christ, as if that happens immediately. The difficulty this verse poses to the notion of soul sleep, however, is insuperable. Death certainly would not have been “better by far” to Paul had he been conscious of any interval when he would not be with the Lord between his physical death and his physical resurrection. When we add to this Paul’s clear teaching in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that at death he will leave the body but dwell with the Lord, the case against “soul sleep” appears closed.16

Second, some readers might mistake Paul’s statement in verse 26 to mean that Paul had an inflated view of his own importance. The NIV has appropriately translated the verse in a way that shows that this is not the case. But translated more literally, verses 25–26 read this way:

And since I am confident of this, I know that I will stay and remain on with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, in order that your boast might abound in Christ Jesus in me through my coming again to you.

Is Paul saying here that he thinks he will be released to return to the Philippians so that they might be able to boast about him? The answer to this question lies in looking carefully at Paul’s grammar. The Philippians’ boast will abound not in Paul but “in Christ Jesus.” The phrase “in me through my coming again to you” simply explains that Paul’s return to the Philippians will provide an opportunity for the church to give glory to Christ Jesus. Paul’s return will provide clear evidence that God is able to advance the gospel among the Philippians despite human attempts to keep it in fetters, and that is certainly appropriate grounds for giving glory to Christ.

Far from revealing a self-absorbed Paul, this statement shows the apostle’s clear-headed reckoning of his own place in God’s plans to advance the gospel. All glory belongs to Christ, but Paul understands that just as God’s work among his churches provides others with the opportunity to give grateful praise to God (2 Cor. 9:11–15; cf. Phil. 2:16), so God’s work in his own life sometimes provides the opportunity for his churches to give glory to Christ and to God (cf. 2 Cor. 1:10–11).

Contemporary Significance

NEARLY EVERY THEOLOGICAL principle that lies beneath this passage challenges the modern church of the West. Paul’s unmistakable feeling of dependence on the prayers of his fellow believers in Philippi urges evangelical Christians to temper their emphasis on the autonomy of the individual with an appreciation for the interconnectedness of the church. The notion that salvation lies in the future and that those who enter it may pass through times of testing on their way reminds Reformed Christians to make their calling and election sure. Paul’s desire that the Philippians should ask God to supply him with the Spirit should prompt those who are not Pentecostals to reexamine their static notions of the Spirit’s role in the believer’s life. Paul’s request that this special abundance of the Spirit might come to aid him amid a particularly strenuous trial challenges the “health-and-wealth” wing of Pentecostalism to reexamine its notion of the victorious Christian life. No sector of Christianity in the comfort-conscious West is exempt from the implicit rebuke of Paul’s attitude toward death. It will be a rare believer indeed who can read this passage, grapple with it seriously, and come away satisfied that he or she is following Paul’s example.

The Character of Our Intercessory Prayers. This passage challenges the modern church both to pray for others and to pray for the perseverance and eventual salvation of believers. We should not assume in a culture that emphasizes the rights of the individual as heavily as Western culture that believers will automatically think it necessary to pray much for others, except as their prayers for others somehow meet some need of their own. We tend to spend much of the time we devote to prayer asking God for things that will make our lives more pleasant, and since seeing friends and family members in difficult circumstances is unpleasant for us, we sometimes pray for their deliverance from hardship. But even so, our prayers are often self-centered. The first step in applying this passage to ourselves, then, may simply be to ask God to give us a genuine love for other Christians and an understanding of their need for our prayers.17

Even if we have an unselfish desire to pray for other Christians, we may seldom think to pray for their salvation. Among Christians who trace their theological roots to John Calvin, this notion may seem especially foreign. The Westminster Confession, which many of us who are Presbyterians have been taught from our youth, contains an entire chapter on “… the Perseverance of the Saints,” the first paragraph of which reads this way:

They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved (17.1).

The guiding documents and confessions of other Reformed denominations contain similar statements.18 The doctrine was never intended by those who drafted these theological summaries to encourage the notion that formal church membership guaranteed a secure eternal destiny or that believers could pay little attention to the development of their spiritual lives. But the doctrine, in attenuated form, has sometimes had these effects. A vivid illustration of this recently appeared in my own state when a teenager was accused of complicity in the murder of a young woman. When his friends, who had actually committed the murder while he stood by, claimed that he had taught them the satanic rituals that led to their evil deed, the local newspaper claimed that he responded, “I’m no Satan worshipper. I’ve been saved and baptized.”

There can be little doubt that Paul believed in the ultimate salvation of those who truly follow Christ. Only a few sentences before verse 19 he expressed his confidence in God’s ability to bring to completion the good work begun in the Philippians (1:6; cf. 1 Cor. 1:1–9; 1 Thess 5:23–24). There can be equally little doubt, however, that Paul thought that those who have truly believed can tear down rather than build up their faith by the way they live (1 Cor. 8:1–13; Rom. 14:1–23) and that those who persist in grave sins may have never experienced a real conversion at all (1 Cor. 5:1–13; 10:1–12).19 So far was Paul from presuming upon his own standing before God on the final day that he could say, “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Cor. 9:27). Whether the prize here is salvation, as some interpreters believe, or the glory that Paul will receive at the final day, as others hold, the statement shows that Paul refused to use his assurance that he would persevere to the end as an excuse to relax his efforts in the service of Christ and the gospel.20

This, of course, is why he coveted the Philippians’ prayers during his present time of testing. This is also why we should be as vigorous in our prayers for the perseverance of other believers as we are in other aspects of our intercessory work for them. One of the prayers for perseverance in the old Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (1906) provides a particularly good model to follow:

O God, who hast willed that the gate of mercy should stand open to the faithful; look on us, and have mercy upon us; that we, who by Thy grace are following the path of Thy will, may never turn aside from the ways of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Understanding of the Spirit’s Work. The modern church also needs to learn from this passage that the work of the Holy Spirit is not some easily contained and static operation but powerful and dynamic. The church has historically taken a cautious attitude toward claims that the Spirit is at work in some new and powerful way. Sometimes this caution sprang from a disobedient conservatism, as when the earliest Christians resisted the notion that Gentiles should be admitted to the people of God without first becoming Jewish proselytes. At other times it was well advised, as when the church rejected the claims of Montanus and his followers in the second century that the Holy Spirit had led them to accept extreme forms of asceticism.21 The reason for the caution is clear: Anyone can claim to be possessed with the Spirit’s power, and many have used this claim deceptively for their own advancement or erroneously, imagining themselves to be led by the Spirit of God when they were not. The danger that such claims can lead believers astray is real.

The biblical approach to claims that the Spirit is at work in unusual ways will, of course, try to avoid the disobedient conservatism of the “circumcision party” on one hand and the gullible permissiveness of Montanism on the other. Philippians 1:19 will not provide all of the guidelines we need to test the spirits, but it does provide two important ones. (1) We should expect the Spirit to come upon Christians with surprising power. The Spirit’s work is not limited to creation, to producing the miracles of the apostolic age, and to the inspiration of those who wrote the Word of God. The Spirit comes upon believers today for surprising purposes and sometimes in ways that do not fit comfortably into Western notions of the superiority of the empirical and rational. Some Christians, for example, speak in tongues, and an entire library of books by people dedicated to the belief that the Bible is the infallible Word of God has appeared to claim that this ecstatic speech cannot really be from God’s Spirit. Every argument that tries to exclude ecstatic utterances such as speaking in tongues from present-day manifestations of the Spirit’s power, however, crashes against the plain reading of the relevant passages. When those who speak in tongues follow the rules and adopt the attitude expressed in 1 Corinthians 12–14, then the church neglects the lucid command of 1 Corinthians 14:39 at its own peril: “Do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

(2) This passage teaches us that we should pray for and expect the Spirit to come with unusual abundance on Christians who are undergoing suffering, particularly suffering for their faith. Paul does not desire a special supply of the Spirit in this passage so that he might be ushered onto a higher spiritual plane than the ordinary believer. He certainly does not desire the Spirit’s anointing so that he might experience health and wealth. Instead, he hopes that the Spirit’s abundant presence will lead him to bear courageous and clear testimony to the gospel so that whether he is spared or executed by the Roman authorities, “Christ will be exalted” (v. 20).

Our Attitudes Toward Life and Death. It has often been observed that death is an embarrassment to modern Western culture. Prior to the first half of the twentieth century, when extended families often lived near each other and even in the same house with one another, it was not uncommon for children to observe death firsthand and to learn to cope with it from older family members around them. Today, however, people die in hospitals more frequently than in homes, bodies are quickly removed from hospital to morgue, and the embalmer’s art rapidly restores the body of the deceased to a lifelike appearance.22 Death is the worst possible event for those who believe that they have an inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and our way of coping with it seems to be to deny its existence.

Paul, however, faced death with the same firm resolve that marked his approach to life, for both death and life to him meant service to Christ, and service to Christ was his primary goal. Perhaps more than at any other time in history, the church today needs to adopt Paul’s perspective on life and death. With most in the world around us refusing to talk about the subject out of stark terror, and with the philosophers who do speak of it often claiming that the notion of life after death is only wishful thinking, it is tempting for the believer to live as if there were nothing beyond the grave. This can only cause us to clutch our material possessions more tightly for the security they can give and keep us from risking our lives in the service of God.

Many Iranian believers, on the other hand, have learned Paul’s perspective on death, and they, like him, provide an example for Westerners. Mehdi Dibaj, for example, was imprisoned by the government of Iran in 1984 on charges of “apostasy,” since he had converted from Islam to Christianity. The penalty for this crime according to the Islamic law that ruled Iran was death. Mehdi languished in prison for ten years before his case came to trial; when it did, his written statement of defense was a simple and straightforward reaffirmation of commitment to Jesus Christ. The last few lines of that defense contain this remarkable paragraph:

[Jesus Christ] is our Saviour and He is the Son of God. To know Him means to know eternal life. I, a useless sinner, have believed in His beloved person and all His words and miracles recorded in the Gospel, and I have committed my life into His hands. Life for me is an opportunity to serve Him, and death is a better opportunity to be with Christ. Therefore I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord….

On December 12, 1993, the court before whom this defense was made sentenced Mehdi to execution. Then, under intense pressure from people in the West who knew of the case, including the U. S. State Department, the Iranian government arranged Mehdi’s release in January 1994. Seven months later, he was found dead “under suspicious circumstances” in a Tehran park, the third Christian murdered in Iran after his release from prison. Some Christian groups suspected the complicity of the Iranian government.23

The test of faith that Paul experienced nearly two millennia ago is repeated in the modern church still. We in the West are insulated from it, but it remains a reality for believers who live under anti-Christian totalitarian regimes. If we are to be as faithful in our commitment to the gospel and to the church as Paul expected the Philippians to be, we need to be aware of the needs of our suffering brothers and sisters, pray that God will supply them with an unusual abundance of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and learn from their single-minded devotion to the gospel, in life and in death, how we should live in the service of the gospel in our own time and place.

Original Meaning

Death a Gain, Life a Fruitful Labor (1:21–26)

Paul explains more fully the reason for this remarkable indifference to his physical fate in the second part of the passage. Whether he lives or dies, Paul says, he will be with Christ, although he believes that he will live since he is convinced that the Philippians need his guidance in order to progress in the faith.

Paul explains this understanding of his destiny through a series of contrasts between death and life and the results of each. Thus life is Christ, but death is gain. Living in the flesh means fruitful labor, but death is better by far since it is a departure to be with Christ. Life, however, is more necessary for the Philippians (vv. 21–24). Each result is so desirable that Paul finds himself on the horns of a dilemma about which to “choose” (vv. 22–23). He finally decides that although dying and being with Christ would be “better by far” (v. 23), the Philippians’ “progress and joy in the faith” would be better served by his continued work among them; therefore, that becomes his “choice” (v. 25).

The most important statement in this series of contrasts is the first: To Paul, life means Christ (v. 21a). Statements like this are common in Paul’s letters. Everything that might have usurped the place of Christ in Paul’s life he has considered rubbish that he might gain Christ (3:8). Paul has been buried together with Christ so that just as Christ was raised, Paul might live a new life (Rom. 6:4; cf. 6:8, 11; 14:7–9; 2 Cor. 5:14–15; 1 Thess. 5:10). He has been crucified with Christ so that Christ lives in him (Gal. 2:20). His life is Christ (Col. 3:4).8 Such statements can only mean that Paul’s relationship with Christ was so close that his entire existence derived its meaning from his Lord.

Paul’s account of his circumstances prior to verse 21 and his perspective on the future after this verse both demonstrate what his close relationship with Christ means in practical terms. Prior to verse 21, even imprisonment by the unbelieving authorities and ill will from fellow believers could not dampen the joyful character of Paul’s life, for God was advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ through these hardships (1:12–18a). After verse 21, Paul looks ahead and comments that death is gain, for it will mean the closest possible union with Christ.9 In the same way, continued life is fruitful labor because it means that Paul will be able both to preach the gospel (1:7) and strengthen the Philippians’ faith (1:25).10 Such a perspective on the hardships of the present and the possibilities of the future is possible for Paul only because Christ lives within him and gives him strength (4:13).

The thrust of 1:18b–26, then, is clear, but the way Paul expresses himself poses a problem. Why does the apostle seem to entertain the real possibility that his imprisonment will end in execution in verses 20b–23, but then in verses 24–26 appears to be convinced that he will remain for the benefit of the Philippians’ spiritual advancement? Some commentators have suggested that Paul underwent a change between the composition of these two units—that he perhaps received a divine revelation about his fate, or that a judge handed down a favorable verdict, or that Paul thought more deeply about God’s purposes for him.11

When Paul claims to “know” that he will remain in the flesh in verse 25, however, he does not shut out the possibility that he will be executed. Indeed, the possibility of his martyrdom surfaces again in 2:17. Instead, Paul states his own difficult decision, based on his confidence that remaining in the body would be better for the Philippians, to choose life. The ultimate choice of life or death throughout the passage, as Paul surely knows, lies with God. Paul speaks here, therefore, not of certainties but of what he would do if the choice were his and of what he believes God’s own desire may be.

But why does he do this? Why does he debate before the Philippians his personal preference in circumstances whose outcome he cannot control? The answer lies in Paul’s desire to serve as a model for the Philippian church. Paul urges the Philippians twice in the letter to look to him and to others like him as examples (3:17; 4:9). Here, then, Paul provides an example to the Philippians of what it means to put “the interests of others” above one’s “own interests” (2:4), an admonition that the disunited Philippians needed to hear (2:14; 4:2). Although Paul’s personal preference is unquestionably to depart and be with Christ, he is convinced that his acquittal and freedom to return to Philippi would result in “progress” for the Philippians in the faith and in the kind of joy that characterizes Paul himself (vv. 25–26). This joy, as we have seen, is connected not with outward circumstances but with the advancement of the gospel. Like Christ in 2:6–8, Timothy in 2:20–21, and Epaphroditus in 2:30, Paul has put the interests of others ahead of his own interests, and the interests of the gospel above all.

Paul’s mention of the Philippians’ “progress” (prokope) in the faith in verse 25 echoes his claim in verse 12 that his own circumstances had served “to advance” (eis prokopen) the gospel. He thus brings the discussion of his own circumstances to a close and introduces the topic of the Philippians’ circumstances. As we have seen, Paul’s discussion of his own circumstances is actually a discussion of the advancement of the gospel within those circumstances. So, when Paul turns to the Philippians, his primary concern will be with how, in the give and take of life in Philippi, the gospel might progress by means of the Philippian church.

Bridging Contexts

Contemporary Significance