To die is gain?

In Philippians 1:21, the Apostle Paul records a profound statement: “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” The verse is quoted so often that perhaps its pious ring insulates us from its impact.

Paul is talking about the end of his life here, and that terrorizes most people. How can he possibly think that death is better than life?

When we ask the question that way, we have forgotten what life really is, and how it works. The “life” that we live now in the flesh is a sort of walking death, that is, it is being lived out under the curse God prophesied in Genesis 2 and imposed in Genesis 3, after Adam’s sin.

Paul explains here and elsewhere that his life (and indeed that of all believers) is lived on two planes or in two spheres; we live a contradiction. Galatians 2:20 puts it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Romans 6:4 says it another way: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Jesus said that He came to give His disciples life abundant, that is, eternal life, and that life is incompatible with the mortal, death-anticipating life we now experience. The mortal must put on immortality, but how is that accomplished? Only through death and resurrection.

If death is the mere extinction of life, then we (along with all other humans) are hopeless. But if the life of Jesus is within us, then His resurrection guarantees ours, and death is merely our bodies’ going to sleep to await His return. 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

It is not denial to say that we already are dead, and, in fact, raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1). In fact, it would be a denial of eternal life to cling to mortal life. For believers, death is gain because we immediately will be in the presence of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, and who has given His Spirit as a pledge. Will death be gain for you?

“God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions–
it is by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:4b, 5


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