But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose.
- KJV But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
- BSB But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know.
- NKJV But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
- NLT But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If Paul keeps living, his labor will bear fruit, so he is genuinely torn about what to prefer. Continued life means fruitful service.
Overview
Paul weighs the value of remaining: more ministry and spiritual harvest among the churches. He does not treat earthly life as worthless but as an opportunity for productive work. His uncertainty is not despair but the tension of a man content either way.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Pet 4:2that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
- Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
- Phil 1:24Yet, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.
- 2 Cor 10:3For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
- Acts 3:17“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
- Ps 71:18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
- Col 2:1For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
- Rom 11:2God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:
- Exod 32:1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
- Isa 38:18–19For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
- Gen 39:8But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, my master doesn’t know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand.
- Gen 21:26Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.
How Philippians 1:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.