New English Translation
Philippians 1:21
21For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
Philippians 1:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- New International Version (NIV)For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Context of Philippians 1:21
19for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: 23I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,
Read all of Philippians 1Philippians 1:21 word by word
Ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν Χριστὸς καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Philippians 1:21
- Philippians 1:20My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die.
- Philippians 2:21Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
- Galatians 6:14But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- Colossians 3:4When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.
- Philippians 1:23I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,
- Isaiah 57:1The godly perish, but no one cares. Honest people disappear, when no one minds that the godly disappear because of evil.
- Romans 8:35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
- 1 Corinthians 3:22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you,
- 2 Corinthians 5:1For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.
- Revelation 14:13Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them.”
Commentaries on Philippians 1:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21For to me to live is Christ - Whether I live or die, Christ is gain to me. While I live I am Christ's property and servant, and Christ is my portion; if I die - if I be called to witness the truth at the expense of my life, this will be gain; I shall be saved from the remaining troubles and difficulties in life, and be put immediately in possession of my heavenly inheritance. As, therefore, it respects myself, it is a matter of perfect indifference to me…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21For to me to live is Christ - My sole aim in living is to glorify Christ. He is the supreme End of my life, and I value it only as being devoted to his honor - Doddridge. His aim was not honor, learning, gold, pleasure; it was, to glorify the Lord Jesus. This was the single purpose of his soul - a purpose to which he devoted himself with as much singleness and ardor as ever did a miser to the pursuit of gold, or a devotee of pleasure to amusement, or an…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-26Verses 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21to die is gain: For believers, death is not something to fear. It means going to be with Christ (see 1:23; compare John 5:24; 11:25–26; Romans 8:38–39).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. For--in either event (Php 1:20) I must be the gainer, "For to me," &c. to live is Christ--whatever life, time, and strength, I have, is Christ's; Christ is the sole object for which I live (Ga 2:20). to die is gain--not the act of dying, but as the Greek ("to have died") expresses, the state after death. Besides the glorification of Christ by my death, which is my primary object (Php 1:20), the change of state caused by death, so far from being a…Read the comment
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In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Philippians 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
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