Paul is trying to win us to this way of thinking, of living for Christ and of dying being gain to us. It is the most blessed life. He is pressed between 2 goods. Here is esentially the choice. Do I keep fighting on, or do I keep quiet in the face of persecution and acccusation? Do I remain like Christ, like Polycarp and other early Christian martyrs? The answer is - Paul as an imitator of Christ, puts away his own preference. It is very much better to be with the Lord. Much betterer in the original Greek. It is a double comparative. It is much more the better to be loosed from the body of death and be with Christ. That's Paul's heart. That is the better thing. But he knows that he shall remain on with them for a time to teach them how Christ put away His own preference so as to become our Savior; so that we could full of His life.
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John Tobler has been studying good theology and taking Greek online from SBTS in Louisville. He has recently begun to preach and teach for the Reformed Baptist Church of Tama, Iowa, occasionally. He is doing this with a possible view of his becoming a pastor in the future.
