Back to Philippians! At this rate it’s going to take too many months to finish Philippians. But to be honest, I’m still in my study of Philippians, and at my church, our pastor is doing a series on Colossians.
My ESV Bible separates the rest of chapter 1 into two sections. Verses 12-18 “Advance of the Gospel” and verse 19-30 “To Live is Christ”.
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Paul now speaks from the view of his imprisonment ~ in a Roman jail. He reassures the Colossians that his imprisonment is a good thing! It has served to advance the gospel of proclaiming Christ – to cause the Good News to spread to more and more people. It’s from a more unlikely place though, because prison isn’t associated with freedom. But Paul does have freedom to share the Gospel with important Roman officials in Rome itself. As a matter of fact, he’s in jail because he freely preached Christ faithfully. We can appreciate the irony here!
In Acts 16, we read the story of the conversion of the Philippian jailer. However, Paul is now in a Roman jail as we can read in Acts 28. And here Paul is influencing the highest ranks – the “whole Imperial guard (and Caesar’s household)”! Not just one jailer! When he says, “all the rest”, we can guess that the Gospel may have gone out to the Roman citizens beyond the prison walls. What a picture of God’s providential hand and sovereignty! But the gift of his imprisonment has more advantages– it’s spurring on other believers to be more confident in the Lord, and thus they have become bolder to preach without fear. Paul does encourage believers to imitate him. And his fearlessness and his commitment and love for Christ and the gospel is widely known.
The Reformation Study Bible points out that the phrase “in the Lord” points to the believer’s union with Christ (and their access to all of Christ’s benefits) and occurs 9x in this short letter!
Not only has his imprisonment emboldened others to preach Christ, but it has also led to certain other people preaching Christ because of their envy (of him) and rivalry (with him). The people were concerned that Paul would be hurt by this, or that this was just simply wrong. After all, they wanted to usurp Paul’s authority and claim it for themselves. Their motives were anything but pure! They were pretty sure that Paul would want them to stop these renegades! But in a surprising turn of thought, Paul says, “It doesn’t matter! Because Christ is being preached and that’s ultimately what matters!”. God can and will use their envy, rivalry, and nefarious purposes to accomplish His will for the coming of His Kingdom. And so it is today. We can see all manner of evil around us, especially in the political atmosphere – even globally. But all those evil, Christ hating leaders who have goals that are decidedly purposeful to eliminate Christians and Christ himself, are all just puppets in the hand of God. They don’t acknowledge it, but they are God’s tools in His hand to accomplish His purposes for the advancement of His Kingdom. Even when we see “false teachers” who yet proclaim Christ crucified – God can use them to bring His elect into His Bride – the Church.
In verse 18 and 19, the main theme of Philippians is in view again – joy. Christ being preached is joy. Full stop. Paul rejoices in that despite his circumstances. Can we do that? Are we doing that? Are we able to rejoice in the Lord during and amid any of our own trials? Joy doesn’t mean happiness. Joy doesn’t mean a laissez faire attitude. Joy means a deep love and contentment in Christ, and in our salvation through him!
Verses 19 and 20 is a long sentence with multiple ideas. Paul affirms that their prayers are heard by God and answered through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. If you happened to read my previous post on “Pneumatology”, you’ll know that Paul here is referring to none other than the Holy Spirit – the 3rd Person of the Trinity. We confess that we abide in Christ and Christ in us through the Holy Spirit. What prayers is Paul speaking of? It seems likely that he is referring to his deliverance from prison as in verses 25 and 26, and in chapter 2:24.
Let’s look at verse 20: “I 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.” (NIV) Verse 20 can be further understood by looking at different translations.
The ESV translates this “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed…”
The NLT writes it as “but I fully expect and hope…”
NET writes “My confident hope…”
NASB writes “….earnest expectation”.
The original word in Greek that is translated “earnest expectation”, is “apokaradokia”. It can also be translated as “an anxious and persistent expectation”. The word “hope” in Greek is “elpis”: to anticipate with pleasure – or an expectation of what is sure and certain. Paul is putting emphasis on what he believes is GOING to happen. He is eager and confident – he is certain that he will not be ashamed. Ashamed of what?
The Reformation Study Bible suggests that he is saying he will not be ashamed of the Gospel at his upcoming trial. And in Acts 28 we see that is exactly the case, made possible only by the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact he is confident that he will have full courage that Christ will be honoured in his body. Why does he focus on his body?? It makes sense that he desires that Christ himself would be honoured and exalted – but in his own – Paul’s – body? Yes, “in my body, whether by life or by death.” His actual life – and he has no compunction about this – is that whether he lives or dies, the most important thing is that Christ will be exalted BY his life or his death. His ultimate goal is neither to live nor to die – but only that Christ is magnified! (see Romans 1:1-2) Shouldn’t this be our posture too? We need to imitate Paul here, so that no matter what happens in our lives, whether to us or around us or to others, we would continue to speak of Christ and his gospel with confidence and boldness so that Christ is glorified!
One of the most known and loved verses comes in verse 21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” This phrase can be so common to us that we lose the glory and faith of it. Seeing other translations helps me.
NET: “For to me, living is Christ, and dying is gain.”
NCV: “To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me.”
NLT: “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.”
Paul is saying without a doubt that his life is all about his Saviour, Jesus Christ. Life is about glorifying and magnifying Christ in everything. Christ is his all in all. Let’s ask ourselves:
Is Christ my all in all? Is my whole life about Christ? Do we think and meditate on God’s Word, on Jesus and our salvation more than being on social media, or playing games on our phones? More than our finances, our wealth, our vacations? Not that these things are inherently wrong. But it is true that what we spend most of our time on is what matters most to us. It’s an uncomfortable truth, isn’t it? How deeply are we willing to examine our lives and change things up? Yes, we have jobs to do, we have kids to care for, we have obligations and needs that fill up our day, causing us to say, “there isn’t enough hours in the day!” But everything we do needs to be for Christ, it needs to glorify Christ. Most of us are not in jail awaiting trial for our faith in Christ. We must use our freedom while we still have it (here in Canada!) to preach Christ and him crucified, and to live in such a way that the world will know who our King is!
Then Paul tells us what many of us can’t believe – that dying is even better. We don’t look forward to dying or even death. Death is avoided at all costs. We are wired to strive to live. People will fight to stay alive. We often say to someone who is critically ill “ya gotta fight this!” And life IS precious! But Christ needs to be our all in all. IF you are a believer, death means being in Christ’s presence. Do not fear it!
But just in case we think Paul has a death wish, he clears it up by saying that his life is about working for fruitful labour. He desires to magnify Christ. And then, he is honest. You can hear the weariness in his voice. Paul has been on multiple missionary trips, he’s been preaching, healing, planting churches, training leaders, writing letters, maintaining precious relationships – not to mention he’s in jail – and not for the first time! That is hard. Unpleasant. Dirty. Unsanitary. No wonder he feels “hard pressed” to choose! The Greek word used is “synecho” – a verb that means to compress, constrain, compel, hold, keep in, be in a strait, press, controlled even. It’s like he’s in a strait, squeezed between 2 good things – which way to go? One side: he longs or desires to be with Christ, yes – to die, a very strong desire given his circumstances, but also because Christ is far better. The word “polys” in Greek means “many, much, abundant”. Being with Christ is VERY MUCH BETTER. And the other side: to remain alive, which equals bringing fruitful labour for Christ – to continue his ministry – is also good.
Here we see Paul’s selflessness – it’s more needful “anagkaios” – which also means “connected by bonds of nature or friendship.” It is his love – his relationships with and for the people of God, including those at Philippi that causes him to put their needs above his own longings. He will write about this later in chapter 2: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others more significant that yourselves. Everyone should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” And of course, in this Paul is urging believers to imitate Christ. We also understand that Paul knows that ultimately God decides whether he lives or dies, and when he dies. Our days are numbered by God before the foundation of the world was laid.
But he is persuaded, believes, has confidence in the fact that his time has not yet come. He will remain – “meno” – he will abide with, be present with all of them – for their growth and delight in the faith they have in Jesus Christ. Paul has more to say, “so that” they would glory in Christ. By looking at Paul and what he’s done and still is doing, they in turn would turn their attention to Christ! Their pride in or confidence in or boasting in of Paul is redirected to where it ultimately belong – Christ Jesus! In Colossians 3:1, Paul says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
Paul’s primary view through this entire section is that his life or his death is all about Christ Jesus and giving him the glory and praise, that his work is for Christ’s glory. We too can learn a lot from Paul’s viewpoint. I’ll live you with 3 questions:
- Can you say that to live is Christ, that he is your all in all?
- Can you say that your life is for the benefit of others?
- Can you say that everything in your life is directed to Christ and his glory?
————————————————————————————-
After writing this, I listened to a sermon by my pastor on Colossians 2: 6-8.
Verse 6 & 7 says: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
You can see so much connection between Paul’s letters to the Colossians and the Philippians. You are in Christ. You have Christ! The title of his sermon was “Don’t Just Receive Christ. Live in Christ.”
He emphasized that as believers, we should look like Jesus. We are to be imitators of him! We are connected to Christ – permanently. No, we cannot do this perfectly, far from it. But we are called to this. We are called to start with hope and continue in hope. Hope in Christ. We are called to bear fruit in every good work. How? By abiding in Christ. By being united to him. We are to live FOR Christ. Not for others. Jesus was selfless and humble. Jesus never put an emphasis on earthly things that we think will give us happiness, that will make us feel blessed. Not even our spouse, our children or grandchildren. Our happiness is ONLY found in Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus, my friend, and ONLY him.
Theology Musings 