Philippians 1:21
kFor to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῇν, Χριστός· καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν, κέρδος.
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Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Colossians 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Psalms 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
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, Php 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, Php 1:23, who alone makes his faithful servants happy in life and death.