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From: Philippians 1:18b-26

St. Paul’s Own Circumstances

[18b] Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed;
and in that I rejoice. [19] Yes, and I shall rejoice. For I know that through your pra-
yers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
[20] as it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but
that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether
by life or by death. [21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [22] If it is
to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I
cannot tell. [23] I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and
be with Christ, for that is far better. [24] But to remain in the flesh is more neces-
sary on your account. [25] Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and con-
tinue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, [26] so that in me you
may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you
again.

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Commentary:

15-18. “From envy and rivalry”: we do not know whom he is referring to, but it does
not seem to be Judaizers, as is the case in the epistles to the Galatians and the
Romans. St Paul, who gives no thought to himself, rejoices as long as the Gos-
pel is preached, even if the preachers have bad intention (v. 18). Christians should
always be happy to see others working for Christ.

Jesus says this quite clearly in the Gospel: “’Teacher, we saw a man casting out
demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.’ But
Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name
will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us’”
(Mk 9:38-40). The basis of this teaching lies in the fact that an apostle is only an
instrument of God in the service of souls; he has no proprietary rights over souls.”
[Let us remember] that souls belong to God; that no one on earth has that right
of ownership over souls; and that the Church’s apostolate, by which it announces
and brings about salvation, is not based on personal prestige of individuals but on
the grace of God” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 267).

19. His imprisonment for preaching Christ, and even his pain at others’ preaching
out of rivalry, does not take away the Apostle’s peace; for he realizes that this
pain identifies him with Christ. “And the reason for this is that when we do any
good action that promotes the salvation of others, this makes for our own salva-
tion” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Phil, ad loc.”). St James makes the
same point: “whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his
own soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (Jas 5:20).

20. “Christ will be honored in my body”: whether he lives (because that will allow
him to keep up his apostolic work) or whether he has to face martyrdom: in either
case he is able to bear witness to Christ.

Every Christian is linked to Christ through Baptism (cf. Rom 6:5) and this union
is strengthened by the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17). A believer, therefore, should
aspire to identify with Jesus to such an extent that he can say with the Apostle,
“it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Everything anyone
has is a gift from God; and a Christian’s life in the body, with any suffering he ex-
periences, and even death, identifies him in some way with Christ’s own life: this
identification is the goal of every Christian.

21-26. St Paul expresses a desire to “depart” and be with Christ: the Greek verb
he uses has the sense of casting off (like a boat before it leaves harbor) or upping
stakes (like an army decamping): he sees death as a liberation from earthly ties,
which allows him immediately to “be with Christ”. These words indicate that those
who die in grace do not have to wait until the Last Judgment to enjoy God in hea-
ven. This was the teaching of the Church, based on Sacred Scripture, at the Se-
cond Council of Lyons: “the souls of those who after holy Baptism have acquired
no stain of sin at all, and those who having incurred the stain of sin are cleansed
...are received immediately into heaven” (”Profession of Faith of Michael Paleo-
logue”).

The Apostle is in two minds. But his desire to be with Christ does not inhibit his
generous work for the good of souls: he wants to stay in the world, in order to
continue working for the conversion of the Gentiles and to look after the Christian
communities which he has founded, which are going from strength to strength.

In spite of his uncertainty about his future, St Paul is inclined to think that he will
be allowed to continue his work to the spiritual advantage of the Philippians and
the other churches.

21. Death is “gain”, because, for a person who dies in the grace of God, it means
entering into the joy of the Lord, seeing him face to face (cf. 1 Cor 13:12) and en-
joying “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2 9). This desire to enjoy
God in heaven caused St Teresa of Avila to say: “I am living and yet I am not real-
ly living, for I place my hopes on such a higher life that I am dying because I do
not die” (”Poems”, 2).

“Christ himself, our teacher of salvation, shows us how useful it is to leave this
life when his disciples became sad because he told them that he was going
away, he said to them, ‘If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go
to the Father’ (Jn 14:28), thereby teaching them that, when those we love leave
this world, we should rejoice rather than be sad” (St Cyprian, “De Mortalitate”, 7).
Faith shows us that death is the definitive step into eternal life. However, to have
a well grounded hope of attaining that goal we need to remember that for us “to
live is Christ” here on earth also. For one thing, supernatural life is the life of
grace, and this has been won for us by Christ; also, knowing and loving Christ
should be our life-purpose. A Christian has to try to see that his life is fruitful in
terms of holiness, and that he uses all ordinary events and all his activities to
draw others towards Christ.

“So, if you have encountered Christ,” John Paul II exhorts, “live for Christ, live with
Christ, and bear witness to him; proclaim this in the first person singular: ‘For me
to live is Christ.’ That is what true liberation also consists of — proclaiming Jesus
Christ freed from attachments and present in men who are transformed and be-
come a new creation” (Homily, Santo Domingo Cathedral, October 1984).

27. The Greek term translated here as “let your manner of life be” has a more
specific meaning — “Live like good citizens.” The inhabitants of Philippi enjoyed
Roman citizenship and were very proud of this (cf. p. 101 above). However, in ad-
dition to whichever positions they have in society, Christians are citizens of hea-
ven (cf. Phil 3:20), and therefore they should lead a life “worthy of the gospel of
Christ”, like good citizens of the Kingdom of God, where Christ reigns as king (cf.
Jn 18:37), by loyally obeying his laws — the new law of grace contained in the
Gospel.

However, being a citizen of heaven is quite compatible with being a citizen of hu-
man society: “to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man,
since such dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God. Man has in fact
been placed in society by God, who created him as an intelligent and free being;
but over and above this he is called as a son to intimacy with God and to share
in his happiness. (The Church) further teaches that hope in a life to come does
not take away from the importance of the duties of this life on earth but rather
adds to it by giving new motives for fulfilling those duties” (Vatican II, “Gaudium
Et Spes”, 21).

A truly Christian life in the middle of the world speaks to all, Christians or no, of
the presence of God and of his plans for the salvation of all mankind. Moreover,
“what does much to show God’s presence clearly is the brotherly love of the faith-
ful who, being all of one mind and spirit work together for the faith of the Gospel
(cf. Phil 1:18) and stand out as a sign of unity” (”ibid”.). This is essential to the
effort to spread the Kingdom of God, for “every kingdom divided against itself is
laid waste” (Lk 11:17). The early Christians really did put this teaching into prac-
tice: they were “of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.