Paragraph 1:21–26

Paul wanted very much to go and be with Christ, but it was more necessary for the Philippian believers that he continue living.

1:21a

For: This word introduces the reason why Paul hoped that he would always glorify Christ. It means “since” or “because.”

to me: In Greek this is an emphatic pronoun. In this verse it is put at the beginning of the sentence for added emphasis. It indicates a change in topic. Paul was now focusing on his personal situation. If you have emphatic pronouns in your language, you may be able to use one here.

to live is Christ: In Greek this is a short and dramatic statement. For Paul, the whole purpose of being alive was to know Christ, to love him, to serve him and to honor him. In some languages, however, a literal translation of the phrase to live is Christ will be meaningless or it may even have a wrong meaning. If this is a problem in your language, it may be possible to say:

If I continue to live ⌊it will be to honor⌋ Christ.
-or-

⌊ The meaning of⌋my life is ⌊to know⌋ Christ.

1:21b

to die is gain: Paul meant that for him to die would be better that continuing to live because then he would be with Christ. However, if you translate the phrase to die is gain literally, your readers may not understand this. You could restate it as:

dying will be even better for me

Other possible translations that include more implicit information are:

when I die, that will be better ⌊for me because then I will be with Christ⌋
-or-
when I die, it will result in something that is better ⌊than living on earth.⌋

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