1:23 hard pressed. Paul wants to be with Christ but also to remain on earth for the sake of the church. This is his dilemma. However, the outcome is in God’s hands, and Paul is confident that God has further work for him to do among the Philippians (vv. 24, 25).

be with Christ. Paul’s language here sheds light on the character of the intermediate state (i.e., the condition of a person between the times of physical death and the resurrection). See theological note “Death and the Intermediate State.”