Philippians 1:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Such must a Christian be. I do not live, he says, an ordinary life. How then do you live, blessed Paul? Do you not look at the sun? Do you not breathe the air common to all? Are you not nourished by the food common to all? Do you not walk on the earth as we do, and need sleep, clothing, and footwear?

What are you saying: I do not live? How do you not live? Why do you boast? No, this is not vainglory. If his deeds did not bear witness to this, then of course it could be called vainglory. But since his deeds bear witness, what vainglory is there?

Let us examine how he does not live. Elsewhere he says: "By whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6:14). Therefore listen in what sense he says, "It is no longer I who live," and again, "but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

Beloved, the name of life has many meanings, just as the name of death also does. There is bodily life, and there is sinful life, as the Apostle says elsewhere: "We died to sin. How then shall we live in it?" (Rom 6:2). Therefore it is possible to live a sinful life.

I beg you, pay close attention, so that our labor may not be in vain. There is eternal and immortal life, and at the same time heavenly life: "Our citizenship," he says, "is in heaven" (Phil 3:20). There is also bodily life, of which it is said: "For in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

Therefore he does not say that he does not live the natural life. He speaks of the sinful life by which all people live. And he speaks rightly. How does one live by the present life if he is not attached to it? How does one live by it if he strives toward another life? How does one live by it if he despises death? How does one live by it if he desires nothing here?

As one made of adamant will never turn aside, even if struck a thousand blows, so firm is Paul. "It is no longer I," he says, "who live," that is, the old man. And elsewhere: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:24).

Thus, if someone does nothing for food, nothing for clothing, and nothing for the present, how does he live? He does not live the natural life. Whoever cares for nothing earthly does not live. We live this life, since we do everything for it. But he did not live, since he occupied himself with nothing here.

How then did he live? As we also say about some people, "Such a one does not exist for me," when he does nothing that concerns me. Or again, what is the same, "Such a one does not live for me."

That he did not neglect the natural life is clear from another place: "The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20). That is, I live a certain new life, different from the ordinary one.

He says all this for the consolation of the Philippians. Do not think, he says, about their depriving me of this life, because even while living I did not live this life, but the life Christ wished.

Tell me, does the man live this life who despises money, pleasures, hunger, thirst, troubles, health, and prosperity? Does he live this life who possesses nothing here, who often resolves to leave it when necessary, and does not care for it? Not at all.

This must be explained to you by an example. Suppose some very rich man has slaves and gold, but uses none of it. Is he rich by such wealth? Not at all. Suppose again that he sees his children squandering the estate and living loosely in idleness, and cares nothing for them. Suppose, if you wish, that he also endures beatings without grief. Shall we call him rich? By no means, although the wealth belongs to him.

So also Paul says: "Christ lives in me." If you wish to examine my life, Christ is my life. "And to die is gain." Why? Because after death I shall know Him much more clearly. Thus to die means to begin true life.

Those who kill me will cause me no harm, because they will send me to my life and free me from this life that is not proper to me. What then? While here, are you not Christ's? Very much so.

Jesus is salvation for us while we live here, and life when we depart from here. For the Apostle says, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Truly it is gain, because death profitably ends the calamities and sufferings joined to a long life.

He says that death is gain for him because then, he says, I shall be more manifestly united with Him. Therefore those who strive to remove me from life in this world will bring me gain, since they will lead me to Christ, Who is my life.

How much more important it is to obey divine commands than human ones. Therefore, for the saint, life is Christ and death is gain. As a servant, he does not withdraw from the service of life. As a wise man, he values what he gains after death.

To gain means to cease increasing sins, to withdraw from evil, and to hasten toward what is better.

And so we see that such death is gain, while life is punishment. Therefore Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And what is Christ, if not the death of the body and the spirit of life?

For this reason we die with Him, that we may live with Him.

"What philosophy! By the words, 'to die is gain,' he rejected love for this life. By the words, 'to live in the flesh is fruitful labor for me,' he showed that the present life is also necessary.

How is it necessary? If we use it as we ought, if we bear fruit. Therefore one must not hate life, for one can live well. But if we misuse life, even then we must not blame it.

Why? Because life is not the cause, but the will of those who misuse it. God gave you life so that you might live for Him. But you, by your inclination to evil, live sinfully and subject yourself to every blame" (Chrysostom).

"In itself, death is neither loss nor gain, and it occurs according to God's order. Therefore Saint Paul calls martyrdom itself gain, death for Christ and the Gospel. Such death is truly gain, for of itself it crowns the sufferer with a most glorious crown" (Bishop Theophan).

To this our more recent interpreter adds: "As Christ partook of divine glory and sat at the right hand of God the Father only after the Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, so the believer will partake of Christ's glory and behold God face to face only after his own resurrection.

Therefore, although the Apostle, even while living in the flesh, has Christ as his true life, death will be gain for him. It is gain not in itself, but as a necessary link in the passage from this earthly life, filled with deprivation and sufferings, to the life of glory with Christ.

It is the passage to full communion with Him and the contemplation of Him."

"There could be no comparison between being with Christ in the other life and life here. It is not this latter life that appears in the Apostle as the counterweight to the former. Rather, it is what he can still do in this life for the good of his neighbors, and for the spread of the Kingdom of Christ on earth" (Nazarevsky; cf. Rom 9:1-3).

Whether he is put to death here for the work of Christ, or released for further activity, both outcomes will contribute to this magnification of Christ. The Apostle's death, which he will accept with joy, will arouse special courage in other preachers of Christ's name.

His life, if it continues, will of course be dedicated as before to the glorification of Christ's name among mankind.

That the Apostle's life and death will equally contribute to Christ's glorification, the Apostle proves by saying that his life is Christ. That is, he lives only for Christ.

He also regards death as something very advantageous for the glory of Christ's name. It must bring him perfect communion with Christ and thereby glorify Him. On the other hand, it must strengthen other teachers of the faith for sufferings for Christ.

The statement that life for him is Christ contains two thoughts. First, he has spiritual life from Christ and in Christ. Second, the chief object of his care and striving is to please Christ and fulfill His commandments; see Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Blessed Theophylact, and Blessed Theodoret.

But in the present place the Apostle wished chiefly to express this: his whole life was given over to the work of preaching the Gospel. His aim was to teach all that our salvation is only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He sought to dispose all to seek and find their salvation in Him; see Saint John of Damascus. This does not exclude the first two thoughts. On the contrary, it includes them in itself.

Death is gain for all, because it delivers from the burden of this sorrow-laden present life and brings us into a better one. Yet in this sense death is gain not in itself, but because the Lord was pleased to unite this with it.

In itself, death is neither loss nor gain, and it occurs according to God's order. Therefore, when Saint Paul calls death itself gain, he means not ordinary death, but martyrdom, death for Christ and the Gospel.

Such death is truly gain, for of itself it crowns the sufferer with a most glorious crown. It was such a death that the Apostle expected.