Philippians 1: Points to Ponder

V20: “...in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”

By Paul's carefully chosen words, Christ becomes the subject and Paul is simply the instrument by which the greatness of Christ shines out.

He is confident that his present circumstances, and their outcome will enable him to accomplish, by God's grace, what he has labored toward and longed for after he met his Savior, which is glorifying the One who changed him.

Paul says this will take place “... in my body...” and this phrase is only used one other time in the NT (Gal 6:17), where Paul speaks of bearing the marks of Christ on his body. Paul stresses here that this experience is not merely spiritual, not a state of mind, but that the whole of himself will be involved. 

He intends to magnify Christ “... whether it be by life or death...”.

If God chooses to magnify Christ through Paul by “life” it will mean more than thoughts and heartbeats. It will mean life lived in union with Christ Himself.

V21: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

The life of the indwelling Christ was a daily, moment-by-moment reality for Paul. Paul can say to live is Christ as he explains in Gal 2:20 where he reveals that it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. He reminded the Colossian believers that is “Christ who is our life” (Col 3:4).

In physical death the non material part of us, our soul, is separated from our physical body, (Ecc 12:7 “... the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”. So to be released from this body and this physical world is gain. To die is to depart and to be with Christ eternally. Death is gain because it will bring him to the more complete union with Christ, no longer hampered by the limitations of the flesh, and his thorn in the flesh which troubled him so much will then finally be removed.