In
yesterday’s verses we saw that Paul loved the gospel so much that
he could put up with selfishly motivated preachers. Now Paul
increases our awe at his Christ-saturated view of life by saying that
even if he dies, it will somehow work out for God’s glory. It’s
not that Paul wants to die, but he knows that if God grants him the
courage to stay true to Christ, even his own death will bring glory
to God.
Once
again we are challenged. But this fits a larger New Testament
pattern. After all, we proclaim that Jesus was glorified on the
cross. But in the Roman world cross
and glory
were not words anyone would put together. A cross was an instrument
of terror, a threat to scare people into paying their taxes and never
say anything against Caesar, the Roman emperor. If you ended up on a
cross, it was the shameful end of you. Period.
Yet
Jesus’ death opened up the pathway to eternal life. He was somehow
exalted on that spit of wood. Paul knew this. He wrote about it in
all of his letters and preached it wherever he went. The kingdom of
God is an upside-down reality and is the only way to flip a sinful
world that is already upside-down.
To
live is Christ, and to die is gain. It is that simple. It is that
profound. The remarkable truth is that our only hope is Christ!