The Greek verb translated I am pulled is a vivid word picturing a traveler on a narrow road with walls of rock on both sides, unable to turn either way. One can readily imagine the kind of pressure suggested by this verb. Though Good News Translation changes the image from one of pressure or of being hemmed in to one of being torn apart, it still correctly represents the dilemma involved. The same verb is translated in Luke 12.50 as “distressed” (cf. Luke 19.43 “your enemies … close in on you from every side”). In two directions translates “from the two.” A number of picturesque expressions are used to translate this verb, for example, “I am hemmed in on both sides” (Knox); “I am torn in two directions” (Phillips); “I am caught in this dilemma” (Jerusalem Bible). Other possible renderings are “I do not know what direction to turn,” or “I want to go in two directions at once.”
Paul proceeds to give his personal preference with a participial phrase, literally “having the desire to depart and be with Christ.” Good News Translation changes this to a finite statement, I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ. The Greek word translated “desire” is sometimes used in the bad sense of “lust,” “passion,” or “covetousness.” Here it is used in the sense of “strong desire” (Moffatt cf. Bruce “great desire”), and it is given a verbal form, I want very much.
The verb translated to leave this life occurs elsewhere only in Luke 12.36. It may have a military sense of breaking up an encampment or a nautical sense of releasing a vessel from its moorings. It is often used as a euphemism for death.
To leave this life and to … be with Christ are closely connected. These two infinitives have only one article in the Greek. Apparently Paul is thinking of an immediate union with Christ directly after death (cf. 2 Cor 5.6, 8; Luke 23.43). Elsewhere Paul describes death as sleep from which the believers will arise to be with Christ at his return (cf. 1 Cor 15.51-52; 1 Thes 4.13-17).
It is seldom possible to translate literally to leave this life. A more satisfactory rendering is normally “to die,” though in some languages it may prove more satisfactory to translate “to not continue to live.”
There is a subtle problem involved in rendering the phrase be with Christ. Since this is associated with a previous expression for dying, readers might assume that what is meant is that Paul wishes to die and thus be with Christ in the state of death. To avoid this implication, it may be necessary to translate “I want very much to stop living here in this world, and to live with Christ.”
A far better thing is a triple comparative used by Paul to express the superior excellence of being with Christ, literally “much rather better” (Knox “a better thing, much more than a better thing”). Which is a far better thing must be clearly specified in some languages as being related directly to Paul’s experience, for example, “this would be far better for me,” or “which would be to my advantage.”
Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .