Philippians 1:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why would this be? Did you not lead a bitter life? Was it not "in vigils," in shipwrecks, "in hunger and thirst, in nakedness," in cares and anxieties? With the weak you were weak, and over those who stumbled you burned.

"In great patience," he says, "in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, under blows, in prisons, in banishments, in labors, in vigils, in fastings, in purity, in prudence, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love." "Five times I received forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent in the deep. I was often on journeys, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from pagans, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brethren" (2 Cor 6:4-6; 11:24-26).

When the whole Galatian people turned to the observance of the law, did you not cry out: "You who are justified by the law have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4)? How many tears you shed then. And after all this, do you still desire this passing life?

Even if nothing of this had happened to you, but you had accomplished all your works safely and with pleasure, should you not, out of fear of the unknown future, hasten toward some harbor?

Tell me, what merchant, having a ship filled with countless treasures, would still wish to remain at sea when he is near the harbor where he can enter and rest? What athlete would wish to continue the contest when he has already earned the victor's crown?

What fighter would wish to enter battle again and break his head when the crown is being placed upon him? What general would keep wearying himself and fighting when he could be freed from war with honor and trophies, and taste rest with the king in his palace?

How then do you, leading so bitter a life, still wish to remain here? Was it not you who said: "Lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor 9:27)? If for no other reason, then for this one reason alone you should have desired release.

Even if the present life were filled with countless blessings, even then one should desire to be loosed from them for the beloved Christ. O soul of Paul! There was none equal to it, nor will there be.

You are surrounded by countless troubles, and you fear the future, and you do not wish to be with Christ? No, he says. This too is for Christ, in order to strengthen still more in good disposition those whom I have made His servants, and to make fruitful the field I planted.

Have you not heard that I seek not my own profit, but that of my neighbors? Have you not heard that I could wish to be cut off from Christ, if only many might be converted to Him? If I resolved on this, then with far greater pleasure I will resolve to sacrifice my delay and my remaining here, if only it may serve in any way for their salvation.

"Who shall tell the mighty acts" of You, O Lord (Ps 105:2), that You did not hide Paul from us, that You revealed such a man to the inhabited world? All the angels praised You with one accord when You created the stars and the sun, yet not so much as when You revealed Paul to us and to the whole inhabited world.

Through this the earth became more radiant than heaven. Being brighter than the light of the sun, he sent forth most brilliant flashes and poured out bright rays. And what great fruit did he produce for us? He did not fatten plants or nourish trees. He both brought forth and ripened the fruit of piety, and he continually raised up what was falling.

Indeed, the sun can in no way restore a fruit-bearing tree once it has rotted. But Paul turned away from sins people covered with countless sores. The sun yields to night, but Paul conquered even the devil.

Nothing crushed him. Nothing overcame him. The sun, remaining on high, stretches its rays downward. But Paul, ascending from below, did not merely fill the space between heaven and earth with light. As soon as he opened his mouth, he filled even the angels with great joy.

How so? If "there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Lk 15:10), then when by his first preaching he caught many, how did he not fill the powers above with joy?

And what am I saying? It was enough for Paul simply to begin speaking, and the heavens leapt and rejoiced because of it. "When Israel went out of Egypt... the mountains skipped like rams" (Ps 113:1, 4). When people were being transferred from earth to heaven, what joy do you think there was?

This is why he says, "to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you." After this, by what shall we justify ourselves? Often a man who owns a small and not wealthy estate does not resolve to move elsewhere, valuing his own comfort.

But Paul could depart to Christ, and did not wish to go to Christ. To Christ, whom he loved so much that for Him he was ready even for Gehenna. He remained to struggle further for people. By what, then, shall we justify ourselves?

But is it possible to speak of Paul simply and in general terms? See what he did. First he said that to depart was better for him, persuading them not to grieve. Then he says that if he remains, he remains solely for them, and that this cannot be attributed to the malice of deceitful men.

But since the words that follow are, "this is far better," it is clear that the Apostle desires this better thing. Thus, being drawn by both, or constrained by both, he desires one thing and finds the other only more necessary.

That is, he desires to depart and be with Christ, while he finds remaining in the flesh more necessary. Here the ambiguity is resolved by the single following particle "for," although some interpreters have omitted it.

They thought that the Apostle was not only constrained by both, but apparently also desired both. In light of this observation, the Apostle's words in this place should be divided as follows: "I do not know what to choose. I am pressed by both."

After this one should read, "having a desire to depart and to be with Christ." Since someone here could ask the Apostle why he especially desires this departure, he adds, "for this is far better."

Why then does he find himself constrained on both sides? Because on the other side he finds it more necessary to remain: "but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you."

In the same way, when someone comes to desire death, if he has already attained the desire to die while possessing firm faith and seeing where he must go, he has already come to depart this life willingly.

For understanding where one must go is not the same as also loving it and desiring to be there. As regards what will happen in his soul, it is necessary that he die willingly.

Therefore some who already possess firm faith speak in vain when they say that they do not wish to die in order to become perfected. Their very perfection consists in their coming to wish to die.

If they wish to speak truthfully, let them not say, "I do not wish to die in order to become perfected." Rather, let them say, "I do not wish to die because I have not been sufficiently perfected."

Thus, for believers, not wishing for death is not counsel by which they may be perfected. It is an indication that they have not been sufficiently perfected. Therefore, as to their not wishing to be perfected, let them wish it, and behold, they are already perfected.

The bonds of this life, that is, the union of soul and body, are explained in the preceding verse of the same psalm: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps 115:6).

Therefore David rejoices, prophetically foreseeing that he would abide with the saints and with those who gave their souls for Christ according to the promise. For he too faithfully sacrificed himself for the people of God.

He did this when he fought Goliath in single combat (1 Kgs 17:40) and alone turned away the danger threatening all. He did it when he was ready for death, in order to wipe away his sin before the Lord (2 Kgs 12:13).

He did it when he resolved to bear the punishment himself for the salvation of the people struck by the Lord's chastisement (2 Kgs 24:17). For he knew that to die for Christ is a greater honor than to reign in earthly life.

What could be higher than to become a sacrifice for Christ? And although one may read of many sacrifices that David offered to the Lord, here he nevertheless adds, "To Thee I will offer the sacrifice of praise."

He does not say, "I offer," but "I will offer," thinking of that perfect sacrifice when each one, loosed from bodily bonds, stands before the Lord and makes himself a sacrifice of praise to Him.

For there is no perfect praise before death. It is impossible to give faithful praise to anyone on earth, when his future life is still unknown (Sir 11:28).

Thus death is the separation of soul and body. So too we have read in the Apostle: "To depart and to be with Christ is far better."

What does this separation bring with it, except that it frees the body and gives it rest, while bringing peace and freedom to the soul? And further, if the soul is pious, it is destined to be with Christ.

Saint Ambrose again turns to the definition of death as the separation of soul from body, stressing that this understanding is based on Holy Scripture and not on the judgments of philosophers.

If some of them were led there unwillingly together with the people, by these we understand those who leave the higher word of knowledge and pass through teaching about the passions.

They do this not by choosing what is preferable, but because the salvation of others requires it, for the guidance of those who need it.

Therefore the great Apostle also decided that his remaining in the flesh was more profitable (Phil 1:24). That is, it was for the sake of the disciples and their moral instruction.

Yet he also had a perfect desire to depart (Phil 1:23) from the moral instruction of others and to be with Christ in supramundane and simple noetic contemplation.

"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).

He desires it not for its own sake, but for the sake of what can be attained through it. When the Apostle saw that remaining in the flesh was more necessary, and that he still had strength to accomplish this most necessary work, then the better future entered into struggle with the best future.

The prolongation of the present life serves as the means to that best future. Then the resolution of the dispute took place of itself: "I shall remain and continue with you." However difficult the present life is, I must desire its prolongation, and I do desire it.

Saint Chrysostom marvels both at this wavering of desires in Saint Paul and at this decision: "What are you saying? You will depart from here to heaven and be with Christ, and you do not know what to choose?

No, this is not characteristic of Paul's soul. For who would not choose this, that is, to be with Christ, if someone told him of it and firmly assured him of it? Certainly no one.

But it is not in our power either to depart and be with Christ, or to remain here when the time for departure comes. Yet for Paul and his soul, both were possible.

What then are you saying? You know and are certain that you will be with Christ, and yet you are perplexed, saying, 'I do not know what I shall choose'? More than this, you even decide to remain here, that is, to remain in the flesh.

Why is this? Are you not leading a bitter life? Are you not in calamities, hunger, thirst, and nakedness? And yet you still desire this passing life?

Even if none of this had happened to you, and you accomplished all your works in safety and pleasure, should you not, fearing the uncertainty of the future, hasten to the safe harbor?

Even if the present life were filled with countless blessings, even then one ought to desire release from them for Christ, Whom you love. No, he says, even this, remaining in the flesh, is for Christ.

It is so that I may establish still more firmly in good disposition those whom I have made His servants. It is so that I may make fruitful the field I have planted.

Have you not heard that I could wish to be cut off from Christ, if only many might be converted to Him? If I resolved on this, would I not with still greater joy resolve to sacrifice my delay and remaining here, if only this might serve somewhat for their salvation?

This is why he says, 'to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.' Paul could have gone to Christ and did not wish to go to Christ, to Christ Whom he loved so much that he was ready even for Gehenna for His sake.

Instead, he remained to struggle here for people. With what, then, shall we justify ourselves?"