The .44 Magnum Bible

For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

To live – Sometimes the whole thing is just too much to capture in comfortable words. That’s when you need to shout it out! You need a spiritual explosion; a mood-altering impact word that grabs the emotion, not just the idea. But how do you do that in a language that has no punctuation, no underlining and no wiggle room for literary impact. Paul does it with staccato impact words – rapid fire bursts of spiritual proclamation. Rabbi Sha’ul takes a Hebrew way of expressing emotional overload, converts it into Greek and throws the words at the reader. The result is immediate shockwaves. We just don’t see it in English.

In Greek, this sentence has no connecting verb. There is no “is” here. It literally reads, “For me, the living Christ and the dying gain.” Think of it as pulling the trigger four times on a .44 Magnum. Bang! Living! Bang! Christ! Bang! Dying! Bang! Gain! Sudden impact (refer to Dirty Harry). The words slam into you, knocking you off your feet. Why? Each word delivers a lethal blow because each word is not what you expect.

Let’s take a look at the bullets Sha’ul fires.

The first bullet is to zein. This is a 200 grain hollow point. It is the present active infinitive, but with a definite article (to). That means it is the subject of the sentence, not the verb. It is being alive, right now, the action of living. What would this mean to his readers? They would think of all the things that make life worth living. Prosperity, health, good relationships, social community and well-being; summarized in one word, shalom. That’s what the good life is. It’s shalom. But before we can even rest in the comfort of this thought, the second bullet hits us in the chest.

Christos. “Wait! I want life to be shalom. I want it to be full of all good things.” Sha’ul slams me with another reality. Life is Christ. To be actively alive right now equals Yeshua HaMashiach. In fact, Sha’ul is even more abrupt. Life is the Messiah. The Messiah is the source, the vital energy, the means and the goal of living. Put aside all those other distractions and focus on this. Bang! Right in the center of the target is Yeshua – and nothing else!

kai to apothanein. The third hollow point explodes into our heads. But the shape of this bullet is just slightly different. It is an infinitive with an article (“the dying”) but here it is in the aorist tense. This happens only one time and it’s finished. Not like being alive. That goes on and on. Dying is a terminal event. But . . .

Bang! kerdos! Gain! The final shot turns everything upside down. The first three rounds knock me to the floor. But this one kills me. The Greek word means profit or gain from an investment. Sha’ul simply says dying is like going to the bank to withdraw all the principle and interest. It’s cashing in (a very Hebraic metaphor). While the world shudders over the thought of dying, Sha’ul sees dying as pay day. The head shot is the money shot. Bang! You’re dead. You win!

Sometimes the English robs us, doesn’t it?

Topical Index: dying, living, gain, Christ, Philippians 1:21, zein, apothanein, kerdos