Philippians 1:22

1:21-26 Death is a great loss to a carnal, worldly man, for he loses all his earthly comforts and all his hopes; but to a true believer it is gain, for it is the end of all his weakness and misery. It delivers him from all the evils of life, and brings him to possess the chief good. The apostle's difficulty was not between living in this world and living in heaven; between these two there is no comparison; but between serving Christ in this world and enjoying him in another. Not between two evil things, but between two good things; living to Christ and being with him. See the power of faith and of Divine grace; it can make us willing to die. In this world we are compassed with sin; but when with Christ, we shall escape sin and temptation, sorrow and death, for ever. But those who have most reason to desire to depart, should be willing to remain in the world as long as God has any work for them to do. And the more unexpected mercies are before they come, the more of God will be seen in them.

Php 1:22 . Εἰ δὲ , but if ) Here he begins to discuss the first member of the period: the second at ch. Php 2:17 , yea, and if I am offered . Moreover, he uses δὲ , but , because, from the disjunction [two alternatives] laid down in the preceding verse, he now assumes the one; and on this assumption, presently, as if repenting, he begins to doubt, in such a way, however, as not to avoid assuming it in the meantime.— τὸ ζῇν , viz. ἐστί μοι ) if living is to me: if I am to live.— ἐν σαρκί ) This is a limitation; for even they who die, live.— καρπὸς ἔργου , the fruit of my labour ) I derive this fruit from it [from living], that I may thereby do the more work; a noble work , ch. Php 2:30 ; desirable fruit , Romans 1:13 . Another seeks fruit from [by means of] his labour; Paul regards the labour itself as the fruit. This living is the fruit of my labour. The expression, καρπὸς ἔργου , the fruit of labour [= the labour (is) my fruit]; as, the river of the Rhine, the virtue of liberality [for the river Rhine; the virtue, liberality ]. The price of the labour is its immediate result.[11] Cicero says, “ I propose to myself as the fruit of friendship, friendship itself, than which nothing is more abundant .”— αἱρήσομαι , I shall choose ) He supposes the condition, viz. if the power of choosing were given to him. This is the reason of [the ground on which he uses] the Future. [ The lot of the Christian is truly an excellent one.

It is only of things that are good that the choice can be made, so as to perplex or put his mind in a strait with hesitation. He never can be disappointed .—V. g.]— οὐ γνωρίζω ) I do not explain , viz. to myself; i.e. I do not determine. [11] The reward which the labour itself affords is an immediate result, independent of its future rewards.—ED.

If I live (εἰ τὸ ζῆν) Rev., better, if to live: the living, as Philippians 1:21. This is the fruit of my labor According to the A.V. these words form the offset of the conditional clause, and conclude the sentence: if I live - this is the fruit. It is better to make the two clauses parallel, thus: if living after the flesh, (if) this is fruit of labor. The conditional suspended clause will then be closed by what I shall choose I do not declare. Fruit of labor, advantage accruing from apostolic work. Compare Romans 1:13. Yet what I shall choose I wot not (καὶ τί αἱρήσομαι οὐ γνωρίζω). Καὶ rendered yet has the force of then. If living in the flesh be, etc., then what I shall choose, etc. Wot is obsolete for know. In classical Greek γνωρίζω means: 1, to make known point out; 2, to become acquainted with or discover; 3, to have acquaintance with. In the Septuagint the predominant meaning seems to be to make known. See Proverbs 22:19; Ezekiel 44:23; Daniel 2:6, Daniel 2:10; Daniel 5:7. The sense here is to declare or make known, as everywhere in the New Testament. Compare Luke 2:15; John 17:26; Acts 2:28; Colossians 4:7; 2 Peter 1:16, etc. If I am assured that my continuing to live is most fruitful for the Church, then I say nothing as to my personal preference. I do not declare my choice. It is not for me to express a choice.

22. Rather as Greek, "But if to live in the flesh (if), this (I say, the continuance in life which I am undervaluing) be the fruit of my labor (that is, be the condition in which the fruit of my ministerial labor is involved), then what I shall choose I know not (I cannot determine with myself, if the choice were given me, both alternatives being great goods alike)." So Alford and Ellicott. Bengel takes it as English Version, which the Greek will bear by supposing an ellipsis, "If to live in the flesh (be my portion), this (continuing to live) is the fruit of my labor," that is, this continuance in life will be the occasion of my bringing in "the fruit of labor," that is, will be the occasion of "labors" which are their own "fruit" or reward; or, this my continuing "to live" will have this "fruit," namely, "labors" for Christ. Grotius explains "the fruit of labor" as an idiom for "worthwhile"; If I live in the flesh, this is worth my while, for thus Christ's interest will be advanced, "For to me to live is Christ" (Php 1:21; compare Php 2:30; Ro 1:13). The second alternative, namely, dying, is taken up and handled, Php 2:17, "If I be offered."

Verse 22. - But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not ; or perhaps, as Meyer, "I make not known." St. Paul wavers between his own personal longing for rest in Paradise with Christ, and the thought that the continuance of his life on earth might conduce to the spreading of the gospel. The grammar of the Greek sentence aptly represents the apostle's hesitation. The construction is almost hopelessly confused. Perhaps the interpretation of the R.V. is the simplest: "But if to live in the flesh, - if this is the fruit of my work, then what shall choose I wot not." Thus καρπός is parallel with κέρδος (Ver. 21); τὸ ζῇν ἐν σαρκι is also a gain, a fruit; the genitive is one of apposition; the work itself is the fruit. St. Paul, says Bengel, regards his work as fruit, others seek fruit from their work. Bishop Lightfoot proposes another rendering, "But what if my living in the flesh will bear fruit, etc.? In fact what to choose I know not." Surely, says Bengel, the Christian's lot is excellent; he can hesitate only in the choice of blessings; disappointed he cannot be. Philippians 1:22

(22) But if I live in the flesh . . . —The translation of this verse in the Authorised version is inaccurate, and perhaps a gloss to soften the difficulty of the original. The exact translation is, But if to live in the flesh this is to me a fruit of work, and what (or, what also ) I shall choose I know not. The construction is clearly broken by emotion or absorption in thought; it can only be supplied by conjecture. If (as in 2Corinthians 2:2 ) the word “and,” or “also,” can be used to introduce the principal clause (“what then I shall choose,” &c.), the construction will be correct, though harsh. If otherwise, we must suppose either that the sentence is broken at the word “work,” or that the whole should run, But what if to live in the flesh is a part of work? And what I shall choose, I know not, &c. But though the construction is obscure, the sense is plain. St. Paul had said, “to die is gain.” But the thought crosses him that to live still in the flesh, this and this only is ( i.e., carries with it) a fruit of apostolical labour, in souls brought to Christ or built up in Him. Accordingly what to choose he knows not. For in such a harvest there is a gain, which outweighs his own personal gain on the other side.

I am in a strait betwixt (the) two.—The word here used signifies “to be hemmed in,” or “confined,” and is generally associated with some idea of distress (as in Luke 8:45; Luke 19:43), not unfrequently with the pressure of disease (Matthew 4:24; Luke 4:38; Acts 28:8). Our Lord uses it of mental distress in Himself (Luke 12:50): “How am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Here the sense is clear. St. Paul’s mind is “hemmed in” between two opposing considerations, till it knows not which way to move, even in desire.

Php 1:22 . To show the diversities of interpretation to which this verse has given rise, it is enough to note that in the first clause Hpt[54] would supply ζῇν ἐστιν , while Ws[55] suggests κέρδος . Others regard the first two clauses as protasis ( τοῦτο summing up the words preceding), making the apodosis begin with καί . The context suggests an explanation more simple and more natural. Paul has sought to convince them that death has no terror for him; that, on the contrary, it is pure gain. Yet he will not have them suppose that therefore life on earth ( ἐν σαρκί , life with the encumbrance of sinful flesh) is a burden and a trouble. In the circumstances, as he points out immediately, it is probably best for him and them. And he will give a preliminary hint of this. Must we not supply μοί ἐστι , in thought, in the first clause? This is suggested both by ἐμοί preceding and by the μοι which follows. ἐστί has to be supplied, admittedly, in both clauses of Php 1:21 . There is no greater difficulty in doing so here. “But if life in the flesh be my portion, this means (so we must also translate the ἐστί supplied in first clause of Php 1:21 ) for me fruit of ( i.e. , springing from) labour.” τὸ ζῇν is qualified by ἐν σ ., because the Apostle felt that he could not regard physical death as quenching his life. Death only meant fuller life, therefore he must define when he wishes to speak of life on this earth.— καρπὸς ἔργου .

For the phrase see Psalms 103. (104) 13, ἀπὸ καρποῦ τῶν ἔργων σου χορτασθήσεται ἡ γῆ ; Wis 3:15 , ἀγαθῶν γὰρ πόνων ὁ καρπὸς εὐκλεής . Aptly Thphyl., καὶ τὸ ζῇν ἐν σαρκὶ οὐκ ἄκαρπόν μοί ἐστιν · καρποφορῶ γὰρ διδάσκων καὶ φωτίζων πάντας .— τί αἱρής . τί has practically ousted πότερον from N.T. It is quite natural to have the fut. indicat. in a deliberative sentence.— γνωρίζω . Its invariable meaning in N.T. = “make known”. This sense suits almost every instance in LXX. So here, “I do not make known,” “I cannot tell”. [54] Haupt. [55] Weiss.

But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: some, from the various use of the Greek particles, render this first clanse interrogatively; But whether to live in the flesh were worth the while? Or more profitable? (understand, than to die). The apostle having intimated the equality and indifferency of his mind in an entire submission to the will of God, whether that glorifying of Christ by his life or that by his death were more eligible, is upon deliberation, finding the advantage to Christ and himself, upon expense of circumstances either way, in an equal balance, weighing one thing with another: living in the flesh, i.e. abiding here in this mortal body, which he thus expresseth by way of diminution, Galatians 2:20 1 Peter 4:1 ; in opposition to, and comparison of, dying for and in the Lord, and so being with him, Philippians 1:23 . Yet what I shall choose I wot not; he seems, loving the Philippians as himself, to be at a loss what to determine, if God should permit him his choice, whether by labouring in his ministry for rite good of their souls he should bring more fruit to Christ, or by suffering, that which would arise from the blood of a martyr, who himself should receive a crown, 2 Timothy 4:8 .