ungrudgingly given. When however the last meeting was concluded we said to the gathering, `Now that the witness

is over, it would be natural to desire and to depart, and to be with dear ones at home', but no one misunderstood us.

We, and they, knew that the train must be taken from Toronto to Quebec, the ship taken from Quebec to

Southampton, and the journey completed to Hutton. In the same way Paul expressed himself in 2 Corinthians 5. He

did not enunciate as a doctrine `absent from the body IS TO BE THEN AND THERE present with the Lord'. He

positively declared that he did NOT wish for the `unclothed' condition, what he said was that he was `willing rather to

be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord' (2 Cor. 5:1-8). So in Philippians, the apostle's desire

overleaps all intervening time, even though, like the train and the ship, such time remains as a fact, though

The apostle's `conversation' was `in heaven'. For him, death had ceased to have any `sting', it would be a falling

asleep to awake satisfied in the image of his Lord. Any attempt to extract a conscious intermediate state from Paul's

intense desire here expressed is manifestly unjustified. The alternative before the apostle, was to continue here in

this life a little longer, and he was constrained to make this his choice for several reasons.

It was `more needful' for the Philippians. Although the apostle had `a strong desire' to depart - epithumeia being

translated in Colossians 3:5 `concupiscence'; and in Ephesians 2:3 `lust' - yet the `need' of the believer was stronger.

There is a sense of `constraint by force' in the word anagkaios `needful', the word used by the apostle here and

which is translated mostly `necessary' and `necessity' and occurs again in Philippians 2:25, providing another

example of the unselfish service of the apostle. He put the `more needful' over against the `far better' and left us a

blessed example of one who sought indeed the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

`And having this confidence'. How does this expression of confidence arise? In Philippians 2:24, Paul reverts to

the subject of his continuance and ministry saying `but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly'

where the same Greek word pepoitha `trust' occurs, that is translated `confidence' in Philippians 1:25. In Romans

14:14 the original reads oida kai pepaismai ... hoti `I know and am persuaded ... that' which inclines Lightfoot to

translate Philippians 1:25, touto pepoithos oida hoti `of this I am confidently persuaded, that, etc'. Being persuaded

that his continued presence in the flesh would be advantageous to the Philippians, Paul knew that his life of ministry

would be extended for a period.

`Abide and continue' `Meno kai parameno'. It will be seen that the word translated `continue' is literally `to

abide beside', the double expression being similar to our `bide and abide', to find a dwelling and also to continue for

a period of time. Merely to `bide' here in the flesh was no longer desirable to the apostle. Meno is absolute,

parameno is relative, it has personal contact and fellowship in mind as well as mere continuance.

Length of life, says a poet, is not measured by the ticks of a clock, but by heart beats. Mere continuance of

existence is no synonym in the estimate of Paul for `life'. For me, said he, to live is Christ.

`Your furtherance and joy of faith'. Translators are divided in their endeavour to express the apostle's intention

in these words. Bishop Middleton says, in his great work on the Greek article :

`Of these words there are various translations, which I forbear to enumerate. My objection to the greater part of

them is, that they disjoin prokopen "furtherance" and charan "joy" as if pisteos "faith" did not depend on the

former of these as well as on the latter. That this, however, is the construction, I infer from the omission of the

article before charan. So in verse 7 of this chapter we have "the defence and confirmation of the gospel"'.

On the other hand Weymouth translates the passage `to promote your progress and joy in the faith', while J. N.

Darby has the note `progress and joy go together, not progress - and joy in faith,' and Rotherham reads `for your

advancement and the joy of your faith'. It is a nice point, and the grammarians will probably differ to the end of

time. In actual practice there is little or no difference, however the passage is read. The `furtherance' of the

believer, and the furtherance of the faith which he believes go hand in hand; and again, the furtherance of the

believer, will necessarily be accompanied by joy in the faith.

The apostle does not say in conclusion `that your rejoicing may be more abundant by my coming to you again',

which would most certainly have been true, what he does say is `that your rejoicing may be more abundant IN

CHRIST JESUS for me by my coming to you again'. Christ was the centre and the touchstone of Paul's life and

ministry. In the original the two phrases come together en Christo Iesou en emoi `in Christ Jesus in me' (`Christ