SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:22
Mas si viviere en la carne, esto me ser para fruto de la obra, (y no s entonces qu escoger;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Philippians 1:22
Verse 22. But if I live in the flesh] Should I be spared longer, I shall labour for Christ as I have done; and this is the fruit of my labour, that Christ shall be magnified by my longer life, Phil. i. 20. Yet what I shall choose I wot not.] Had I the two conditions left to my own choice, whether to die now and go to glory, or whether to live longer in persecutions and affliction, (glorifying Christ by spreading the Gospel,) I could not tell which to prefer.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 22. But if I live in the flesh , etc.] To be in the flesh sometimes signifies to be in a state of nature and unregeneracy, and to live in and after the flesh, to live according to the dictates of corrupt nature; but here it signifies living in the body, or the life which is in the flesh, as the Syriac version renders the phrase here, and as the apostle expresses it in ( Galatians 2:20), and the sense is, if I should live any longer in the body, and be continued for some time in this world: this [is] the fruit of my labour ; or I have fruit in my works, as the above version renders it: yet what I shall choose I wot not , or know not; whether life or death; since my life will be for the honour and glory of Christ, and though a toilsome and laborious one, yet useful and fruitful: by his labour, he means his ministerial work and service; the ministry is a work, a good and honourable work, and a laborious one. Christ's faithful ministers are labourers; they labour in the word and doctrine, both in studying and preaching it; and such a labourer was the apostle, who by the grace of God laboured more abundantly than others; the fruit of which was the conversion of many sinners, the edification, comfort, and establishment of the saints, their fruitfulness in grace and works, the spread of the Gospel far and near, the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, and the weakening of Satan's kingdom, and the glorifying of Christ in his person, offices, and great salvation; all which was a strong and swaying argument with him, to desire to live longer in the body, and made it on the one hand so difficult with him what to choose: for as a certain Jew says, the righteous man desires to live to do the will of God while he lives; but not with that view, he adds, to increase the reward of the soul in the world to come.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 21-26 - Death is a great loss to a carnal, worldly man, for he loses all his earthly comforts and all his hopes; but to a true believer it is gain for it is the end of all his weakness and misery. It delivers him from all the evils of life, and brings him to possess the chief good. The apostle's difficulty was not between living in this world and living in heaven; between these two there is no comparison; but between servin Christ in this world and enjoying him in another. Not between two evi things, but between two good things; living to Christ and being with him. See the power of faith and of Divine grace; it can make us willin to die. In this world we are compassed with sin; but when with Christ we shall escape sin and temptation, sorrow and death, for ever. But those who have most reason to desire to depart, should be willing to remain in the world as long as God has any work for them to do. And the more unexpected mercies are before they come, the more of God will be seen in them.
Greek Textus Receptus
ει 1487 δε 1161 το 3588 ζην 2198 5721 εν 1722 σαρκι 4561 τουτο 5124 μοι 3427 καρπος 2590 εργου 2041 και 2532 τι 5101 αιρησομαι 138 5698 ου 3756 γνωριζω 1107 5719
Vincent's NT Word Studies
22. If I live (ei to zhn). Rev., better, if to live: the living, as ver. 21. This is the fruit of my labor. According to the A.V. these words form the offset of the conditional clause, and conclude the sentence: if I live - this is the fruit. It is better to make the two clauses parallel, thus: if living after the flesh, (if) this is fruit of labor. The conditional suspended clause will then be closed by what I shall choose I do not declare. Fruit of labor, advantage accruing from apostolic work. Compare Rom. i. 13.
Yet what I shall choose I wot not (kai ti airhsomai ou gnwrizw). Kai rendered yet has the force of then. If living in the flesh be, etc., then what I shall choose, etc. Wot is obsolete for know. In classical Greek gnwrizw means: 1, to make known point out; 2, to become acquainted with or discover; 3, to have acquaintance with. In the Septuagint the predominant meaning seems to be to make known. See Prov. xxii. 19; Ezek. xliv. 23; Dan. ii. 6, 10; v. 7. The sense here is to declare or make known, as everywhere in the New Testament. Compare Luke ii. 15; John xvii. 26; Acts ii. 28; Col. iv. 7; 2 Pet. i. 16, etc. If I am assured that my continuing to live is most fruitful for the Church, then I say nothing as to my personal preference. I do not declare my choice. It is not for me to express a choice.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
1:22 {If this is the fruit of my work} (touto moi karpos ergou). There is no ei (if) here in the Greek, but touto ( this ) seems to be resumptive and to repeat the conditional clause just before. If so, kai just after means {qen} and introduces the conclusion of the condition. Otherwise touto introduces the conclusion and kai means {and}. {I wot not} (ou gnwrizw). "I know not." It seems odd to preserve the old English word "wot" here. But it is not clear that gnwrizw (old causative verb from ginwskw) means just to know. Elsewhere in the N.T., as in #Lu 2:15; Ro 9:22, it means to make known, to declare. The papyri examples mean to make known. It makes perfectly good sense to take its usual meaning here, "I do not declare what I shall choose."
