“To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 a favorite verse because of it’s beauty and clarity. If we live, we live for Christ. If we die, it’s gain, for we get to be with Christ—as Paul says two verses later, “My desire it to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Yet what is often overlooked is how Paul particularly chose to pen the verse. He’s in prison, anticipating a trial where he might be sentenced to death. He knows that soon he might not only be dead, but die.
Which is why he said what he said. He did not write, “To live is Christ, and death is gain” or “to be dead is gain.” He could’ve, but he didn’t. He instead wrote, “to die is gain.”
The English conveys the meaning of the Greek verb well enough. Paul uses the verb “to die.” Meaning, the final action that occurs which brings us to the state of death. The verb (“to die”) leads to the noun (“death”). Paul says, to die is gain (because we get to be with Christ), not merely that being dead is gain.
Why does this matter? It means that we not only have Christian hope when a Christian brother or sister has died (precious promises like how they are with Christ, in a better place, we’ll see them again, and more), but we also have Christian hope while we look forward to that event of dying. Hope for others as they anticipate dying. Hope for ourselves one day when we will die. Our hope as we anticipate old age or sickness is not mainly a hope for healing (though God can and does decide to physically heal), but it’s a superior hope: a hope that this is the very verb, the very action, the very sovereign doing of God, which leads us home.
“To depart and be with Christ is far better,” as Paul said. So, “to die”—to go through that fallen, sorrow-stricken moment of dying—is gain because it brings us that departure to that much better location.
Practically then, while most of us trust God and acknowledge the better place when a fellow brother or sister in Christ has has passed away, we should also similarly acknowledge that the action of dying itself is gain. This does not mean we make light of or don’t weep at dying—it’s a tragic, terrible result of the Fall. But we should remember that God through Paul says that dying itself—the verb, not the noun—is gain. “To die is gain.” This means that one day for each of us (unless Jesus returns first) dying will be gain. Whatever this dying will look like, whatever the sorrow and suffering to be involved, we can still confidently declare the action will be gain because it’ll bring us home.
In death, we’re home, so it’s gain. In dying, we’re going home, so it’s gain. When we each face not only our death, but our dying, may we hold fast to this I’m-going-to-be-with-Christ Christian hope.
