The mention of life and death in the preceding verse leads the apostle to state what these things mean to him. Good News Translation restructures the whole verse, making the apostle pose a rhetorical question and then answer it. Life translates a Greek verb meaning “to live.” The verb is in the present tense, denoting the process of continuous living, not the principle of life (cf. Rom. 8.12; 2 Cor 1.8)

To me is emphatic in the Greek text. It has the force of “according to my own experience” (Goodspeed “as I see it”). The rhetorical question what is life? may be rendered more explicitly “what does it mean to live?” The question is answered by it is Christ. This phrase is translated by some as “life means Christ” (Knox, Bruce) and by others as “Christ is my life” (Luther, Tyndale). Life to Paul has no meaning apart from Christ. His life is not his own; it is totally devoted to Christ (Gal 2.20). In some languages a literal rendering of this important saying may be wrongly understood as equating me with Christ. To avoid this misconception one may have to render the last clause “it is for Christ,” even at the expense of losing some of the impact found in the original Greek.

For what is life? is obviously a rhetorical question. Paul is not asking for information; he is only highlighting the purpose of his own life. This question must be semantically amplified in some languages, for example, “what is the purpose of living?” or “what is to be gained in continuing to live?” It may even be useful to render this question as “what do people live for?” Paul indicates clearly that for him it is Christ. For languages which do not employ rhetorical questions, it may be necessary to recast the question and its answer to read “for the very purpose of my life is Christ.” In some languages, however, it would be utterly meaningless to say that “life is Christ,” but it is usually possible to say “the purpose of my living is to serve Christ.”

Death translates a Greek aorist infinitive which denotes the event of dying, not the process. Will bring more translates a single word in Greek, literally “gain.” “Death is gain” in two respects. First, it is the gateway to the immediate presence of Christ (v. 23). This would mean gain for the apostle personally (Jerusalem Bible “death would bring me something more.”) Second and more important, his death by martyrdom would produce the promotion and progress of the gospel. Hence, death would be gain for the proclamation of the gospel; this seems to be what the phrase will bring more is intended to communicate.

In a number of languages one cannot speak of “death bringing something.” Since in this context death refers specifically to the possibility of Paul’s own death, it may be necessary to render the second part of this verse as “if I die, then, it will be an advantage to me.” “… I will profit from that,” or “… it will help me spread the good news.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .