He had no theory that first love must necessarily wane and cool down, but the very reverse. Forgive me, Lord. Not in a figurative sense, the resurrection from the death of sin to a life of grace, of which Christ is the efficient cause, for this the apostle had attained to; unless the consummation of that spiritual life, in perfect holiness, should be intended, than which nothing was more desirable by him; nor in a representative sense, for this also he enjoyed in Christ his head, being risen with him, and in him, when he rose from the dead; but in a literal sense and designs not the general resurrection of the just and unjust, which he believed; for he knew that everyone must, and will attain to this, even Pharaoh, Judas, and the worst of men; but the special and particular resurrection of the righteous, the better resurrection, which will be first, and upon the personal coming of Christ, and by virtue of union to him, and in a glorious manner, and to everlasting life and happiness: and when the apostle says, "if by any means" he might attain to this, it is not to be understood as if he doubted of it, which would be inconsistent with his firm persuasion, that nothing should separate him from the love of God, and with his full assurance of faith, as to interest in Jesus Christ; but it denotes the difficulty of attaining it, since through various afflictions and great tribulations a believer must pass, before he comes to it; and also the apostle's earnest desire of it, and strenuous endeavour for it; not caring what scenes of trouble, or sea of sorrow what fiery trials, severe sufferings, or cruel death he went through, so be it he obtained as he believed he should, the glorious and better resurrection; he counted not his life dear to himself, he loved it not unto death, having in view the blissful and happy state after it. So, the exhortation in the scripture is always that of rejoicing in the Lord. The things that happened to him he could therefore judge calmly and clearly. (ii) He was of the race of Israel. Far from losing sight of our past ways, it is a very wholesome thing indeed to remember them: we are never safe in forgetting what we are and have been. The effect of their teaching was to take men further away from God instead of to bring them nearer to him. Now, Paul recognized something that is very important for all of us to recognize who have been apprehended by Jesus Christ. His language comes from the world of war and athletics and emphasizes the strenuous nature of his efforts to fulfill his vocation. God, I thank you that I am so good," that pride and self-righteousness. WebPhilippians 3 Leaving Law and Pressing On to Jesus A. Another, less likely, possibility is that Paul meant faithful Christians will experience a better resurrection than unfaithful believers. And observe, too, that the apostle felt the value of others' prayers. The reason why we can all say it tonight is because we are all here. Here Paul rounds upon these Jewish teachers who were seeking to undo his work. Hence he desired that their conversation should be as became such zeal; "that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.". It will be observed that there is no such thing in the first instance as "to the glory of God," when we hear of all bowing in the name of Jesus. None can have interest or benefit by it but those who come off from confidence in themselves, and are brought heartily to believe in him. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. "I make this judgment of the case; I thus reason with myself." 2. b. No; it is practical. Of the two, the converse would be more intelligible; but my conviction is that both the Lord and His apostle used similar and correct phraseology, as did the Holy Spirit elsewhere. Yes, the power of the resurrection, but you know, you can never know the power of the resurrection until you have, first of all, know the cross. So far Paul has been stating the privileges which came to him by birth; now he goes on to state his achievements in the Jewish faith. The Lord Jesus not only comes down into the place of servant in love among men, but goes down into the last fortress of the enemy's power. Philippians 4:1-23 is founded on both. The apostle takes up, no doubt, the sweet affections of chapter 2, but then they are strengthened by the energy that Christ seen in glory imparts, as in chapter 3. Hence he thus opens, "Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown." Whence our grace comes--from our being apprehended of Christ Jesus. "* Clearly we here look out of the world and into a state to come, when we have the consummation of our hopes and the end of the journey. However, one is correct in understanding that these words express his humble expectation and hope (1 Corinthians 15:20; 2 Corinthians 5:1). It might have been thought that so much the more would Paul need his love and services. The one thing that suits is to pursue the glory before him, till he is in the same glory along with Christ. John Nelson was one of Wesley's most famous early preachers. The Philippians were extremely giving towards Paul, both when he was with them (Acts 16:15, 16:32-34) and when he was apart from them (2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:1-4, and 11:9). So what Paul says is, "If you have nothing to show but circumcision of the flesh, you are not really circumcised--you are only mutilated. As he had said elsewhere before, so he says here, "Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. The only boast of the Christian is not in what he has done for himself but in what Christ has done for him. "That I may know him." Paul said. . In Leviticus the sacred law-giver says that the uncircumcised hearts of Israel must be humbled to accept the punishment of God ( Leviticus 26:41). Energy is not the best or highest aspect of Christianity. NASB I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Grace Evangelical Society Newsletter, November 1987, p. 287.]. This was precisely what he desired when a Jew. They contributed to his. ", And this nearness of Christ I take simply to be the blessed hope here made a practical power. But he said he cast that over for the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They were coupled with the gospel in all its conflict and progress. Why, it was gain. They are out there, there are many of them. Let nobody suppose me to insinuate that a woman is not in place when exercising, according to the Scripture, any gift God has given her. Thus, as at the beginning of the chapter, there was the energy that went out against the evil workers, with a religious mind after the flesh, so now there is the energy that bursts forth against those that were misusing Christianity, making it an earthly system, setting their mind on things here below, under the name of the Lord Jesus; and between the two, is set forth the positiveness, if one may so speak, of Christ Himself. Now here we have what is present; so that the passage presents some difficulty to souls because of intermingling the present with the future. There are two chief stages of His humiliation flowing out of His perfect love. "You know, it is what I used to be, what I used to do. His view in all which was, that he might attain to that glorious and happy state of the resurrection of the dead in Christ, Php 3:11, and to prevent mistakes, and anticipate an objection that might be made to him, as if he ascribed perfection to himself in the present state, he owns he had not arrived to it: all he meant was, that it was his desire to enjoy that which Christ had laid hold on him for; in order to which he buried in oblivion what was past, looking and pressing to things before hint, even to Christ, and the glory he was called unto, which was with him, Php 3:12-14. Give me the power," and we are so power-hungry. When, under Rehoboam, the kingdom had been split up, ten of the tribes went off with Jeroboam and Benjamin was the only tribe which remained faithful with Judah ( 1 Kings 12:21). Far from him was the vanity of being the man first to preach Christ in the great metropolis. So, she decided that she would make for herself a new dress for the senior prom. The Philippian congregation was generally a wonderful group of people. And so, it is an established righteousness. When you are pressing towards the mark. Now we all know that when a man is carried on the top of the wave, when the winds fill the sails and all goes prosperously, when hearts are gladdened in sorrow, when one witnesses the joy of fresh deliverance from day to day, it is a comparatively easy thing. [Note: W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, 1:86.] There is real power, there is strength from God that works in the saint; but the feelings of Christ, the mind of Christ morally, is better than all energy. I might attain unto - I may come to, or may secure this object. Webpresents an easy reading, practical and friendly commentary. At this point Paul repeats warnings that he gave the Philippian church some time earlier concerning Judaisers. According to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself: This is possible only because the God we serve is omnipotent. ( 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 ), When Jesus comes again, we will each experience a metamorphosis. Was this all the apostle had to say? The great saving truths of Christianity do not change; and we cannot hear them too often. It would be mere independence of Christ if he could have stood without a single flaw, as blameless, in fact, as in a certain sense outwardly he was under the law, until the Spirit of God gave him to see what he was in God's mind. She just sort of caught her breath when she saw it, it was just such a glorious gown.Lady Bountiful, being very astute, noticed that she gasped at that one. It seems strange that if Paul wanted to distinguish between faithful and unfaithful believers here he would use the resurrection to do so. "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." [Note: See John F. Walvoord, Philippians, pp. Otherwise, the experience is invalidated.I really am not so much interested in what happened to you thirty years ago, twenty years ago, or ten years ago. So it is true with us. But this Christian joy enables a man to accept even them with a smile. But the (trace of Christ wrought in them all; and that was the great joy and delight of the apostle's heart. This seems to me the real meaning, which the margin gives rightly. Oh, it is a blessed thing, that in the midst of the sorrows of this world, the Holy Spirit knows how thus to blend the name of Christ, as the sweetest balm, with the sorrow, however bitter, and to make the very memory of the grief pleasant because of Christ, who deigns to let Himself into it all. He is God equally with the Father. So he says here, "For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung." "Not," says he, "that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am," this is the great design of the epistle; it was not truth that was made known simply, but experience that was grown into "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Paul means something when he applies the title to Jesus in the context of citizenship. That was a common name by which the Jews referred to the Gentiles: the gentile dogs. No doubt the new creation is essentially neither male nor female; it is not a race perpetuated in a fleshly way; but all things are of God and in Christ. We are undone without a righteousness wherein to appear before God, for we are guilty. Breaking Down the Key Parts of Philippians 3:14. WebBible Commentaries; Philippians 3:1-11; Philippians 3:1-11. Instead of this a song of joy and thanks comes from the blessed man of God at Rome; for, as he says here, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will. In Deuteronomy the Law brings together the price of a dog and the hire of a whore, and declares that neither must be offered to God ( Deuteronomy 23:18). 2.]. WebHe was naturally grateful to the Philippians, but more so to God who had worked such kindness through the Philippians. It is worth noting in the passing that Bengel, one of the greatest interpreters of scripture who ever lived, translates this in a different way: "Become fellow-imitators with me in imitating Jesus Christ," but it is far more likely--as nearly all other interpreters are agreed--that Paul was able to invite his friends, not simply to listen to him, but also to imitate him. (3.) He is one who has his joy exclusively from and in Christ. It has the preposition ek (meaning from or out of) added to the ordinary word for resurrection" (Loh and Nida 106). But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, for he will refashion the body which we have in this state of our humiliation and make it like his own glorious body, by the working of that power of his whereby he is able to subject all things to himself. And now, follow me as an example, live by this rule, because there are those who don't live by this rule. Paul fell on the ground, and there the Lord spoke to him and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" The resurrection is the ultimate goal for all Christians. "I thank my God for my whole remembrance of you," says he, after his usual salutation and wish, "always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.". Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect ( Philippians 3:11-12 ): It is sort of sad that so many people seem to feel that they have attained, or they have achieved their spiritual walk, and they sort of sit on little pedestals, little ivory towers. It is not sentiment, but a genuine feeling, thus "looking not each at his own things, but each also at the things of others." There were in the Church at Philippi men whose conduct was an open scandal and who, by their lives, showed themselves to be the enemies of the Cross of Christ. And He said, "I am Jesus. ", He loves, we see, to couple with the relationship to himself what was related to them. Let this be the end of everything; before you get to the end of it, and when you do get to the end of it, rejoice in the Lord.. "Let your requests be made known unto God." The way to that fellowship is through righteousness, through the kind of life and spirit and attitude to himself which God desires. Timothy was very dear to him, and was then with him; but he is going to part with the one that was so much the more valued by him in his solitariness and sorrow because of his circumstances at Rome. But not the righteousness which God has accounted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. The fellowship of His sufferings.Our flesh always rebels against suffering. Following the Jewish Law does not make anyone right in Gods eyes; only faith in Christ does that. He esteemed men better than himself. Forgetting the things which are behind, reaching forth for those things which are before, pressing towards that mark, be thus minded. One morning Wesley had preached with great effect: "As we returned, Mr. Wesley stopped his horse to pick the blackberries, saying: 'Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty blackberries; for this is the best country I ever saw for getting a stomach, but the worst I ever saw for getting food!'" Again, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (Philippians 3:13; Philippians 3:13), ou logizomai. God never can fail; and the very trials that would seem to crush all hope for the glory of Christ on the earth are the precise occasions in which God proves that after all it is He alone who triumphs, while man always fails even if he be an apostle. In the Bible the dog always stands for that than which nothing can be lower. As citizens of heaven we keep in communication with our native home. As we are just now, our bodies are subject to change and decay, illness and death, the bodies of a state of humiliation compared with the glorious state of the Risen Christ; but the day will come when we will lay aside this mortal body which we now possess and become like Jesus Christ himself. To me," may each say truly, "to live is Christ.". It is not that you have failed, perhaps, or broken down in some particular. While the exact nature of that reward is unclear here, it can generally be understood as a sort of abundance of life. Because you can drive a Cadillac, and you can live on Lido Island. As far as the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Paul had it. Accordingly, this being not so directly the subject of the epistle though a Very important part of it, it comes in parenthetically in a large measure, not now in any wise as a question of truth or development of the mystery of Christ, as we saw in Ephesians 3:1-21, but, nevertheless, as a parenthesis; for he resumes afterwards the internal side again, as we shall see inPhilippians 4:1-23; Philippians 4:1-23. Seven times in the book of Hebrews, the author captures the heart of Christianity in a simple, wonderful command: draw near. But you will never know the life of the resurrected Christ until you have experienced the fellowship of the sufferings. This understanding of exanastasin would point to the resurrection of believers that will result in Christians rising from among the unbelieving dead, those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. Because I may blow my horn and shake my fist, but the Spirit will say, "Hey, don't you remember you have got a fish emblem on the back of your car? For the prize of the high calling. "Let your moderation be made known unto men." But if a man is to be in special relationship with God, something far more is needed than a mark in his body. It is not at all a question of what one has here. And what is this but the unfolding of the truth in the heart and in the ways of the Christian? In this we hear of difference; and scripture does not obliterate but contrariwise asserts it, and treats the practical denial of it as a scandal brought in by Corinthian headiness. But the practical ways and spirit of the Philippians were the living evidence not only of life, but, so to speak, of vigorous health in Christ. Re 2:10, "crown of life." Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. But Paul was certain that the only kind of righteousness there is comes from casting oneself freely upon the grace of God. You see, someone else already tried that and it just doesn't work." What the happiness of heaven is: it is to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ. Now, when the Lord apprehended us, He had in His mind a plan and a purpose for each of our lives. It was not some sudden fit, if one may so say, nor was it the influence of passing circumstances. Knowing him here is believing in him: it is an experimental knowledge of the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, or feeling the transforming efficacy and virtue of them. And having determined then what is right and what is wrong, I may then seek to always do that which is right. Dikaiosune ( G1343) is always difficult to translate in Paul's letters. They shared the conflict of the gospel; they partook of the reproach that covered those who preached it. Practical Bible study on Philippians 3:1-11. This is salvation in truth. With us the dog is a well-loved animal, but it was not so in the East in the time of Jesus. Not our keeping hold of Christ, but his keeping hold of us, is our safety. Better not make them known to men; it is a dangerous snare. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He associates Timothy with himself, not merely, as elsewhere, himself apostle and Timothy in some other relation, but here conjointly "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ." The apostle had his heart upon Christ as his righteousness. It was not thus that the true-hearted Philippians felt; and spiritual feeling is worth more than all reasoning. When God entered into his special covenant with Abraham, circumcision was laid down as its eternal sign. But now he adds, "That I may know him" (speaking of entrance by faith into communion with Christ)" that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection." shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. It is the proof that his promise to be with us always to the end of the world is true. He was willing to do any thing, or suffer any thing, that he might attain that resurrection. He persecuted the church. I was circumcised when I was eight days old: I am of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin: I am a Hebrew, born of Hebrew parents. I want to know Him, I want to know the power of the resurrection, but yet, I want to know the fellowship of the sufferings and the cross. WebPhilippians 3:14 ESV I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And he said, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." I am interested in what is your relationship tonight with the Lord. Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. B. Lightfoot translates it: "Vie with each other in imitating me." I forget those things which are behind.A lot of people make the mistake of trying to live in the past. Once a person has been born again they are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a righteousness provided for us in Jesus Christ, and it is a complete and perfect righteousness. after a flea!" Paul has just attacked the Jewish teachers and insisted that it is the Christians, not the Jews, who are the truly circumcised and covenant people. The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee that this life is worth living and that the physical body is sacred; it is the guarantee that death is not the end of life and that there is a world beyond; it is the guarantee that nothing in life or in death can separate us from him. i. Jesus really can subdue all things. You listen to John Piper. It was not a decision made in a moment of impulse, but one by which I still stand fast.". but for you it is safe. Remembering that, we try to paraphrase this passage and to set down, not so much what Paul says, as what was in his mind. Verses 1-21. Thus "forgetting those things which are behind" refers to the progress that we may make. He is referring to it, "The things which were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ, thirty years ago, on the road to Damascus." WebPhil 3:12-14 (NIV) These verses flashed through my mind last night as I watched the intense focus of an Olympic competitor in the downhill slalom race compete for the gold. advert as at Romans 4:16, and elsewhere to the state of the persons in question, that state or kind of resurrection unto life of those who have died in the Lord, and whose resurrection will be a resurrection unto life and glory, their bodies being raised incorruptible, and both body and soul united for ever with the Lord. Why go in the way of crowds of soldiers or civil officers? There was another party of Gnostics who held a different kind of doctrine. Hence the conflict is never with internal evil, but rather with Satan. The other is what suits it, but a conferred position. In a certain sense too he could not, and in another he would not choose. InMatthew 23:1-39; Matthew 23:1-39 we have woe upon woe pronounced upon scribes and Pharisees, and so it is here. Should any at present think differently, they will soon come to agree, if they allow God to teach them. Love feels acutely nothing so much; but it triumphs. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith." This is our conformity to his death. Oh, what a shame. We may see the moral harmony of that lot with his testimony, and how suitable it seems that he, who was above all men identified with the gospel of the glory of Christ, should be a prisoner, and nothing but a prisoner in Rome. When Paul stated that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, it was a claim that he was not simply an Israelite but that he belonged to the highest aristocracy of Israel. "Being made conformable to his death:" this too is clearly in the world now. Let your every contact with the world be just as light as possible." But Paul didn't stop there did he? Because he lives, we shall live also; his victory is our victory. In Philippians 3:1-21 it is not the display of intrinsic affection in Christ, or the gracious dispositions of Christ in the saints. Their very name means The Separated Ones. That is to say, he will never glory in any of his achievements or use them as an excuse for relaxation. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. It was the natural cry of man, "Spare yourself from suffering." No one denies this, which is, or ought to be, no new thing for a Christian. Hence I cannot but consider it a surprising error in Griesbach that he edited the received text in this place. When the state or kind of resurrection is meant to be expressed, the anarthrous form is requisite, as we see in verse 24 of this very chapter, and regularly so. Thus fervour of desire for others is the happy index of this whenever coupled with adequate knowledge of ourselves. and the fellowship of his sufferings ( Philippians 3:10 ). Thus, in both parts of the history of Christ, presented to us in no obscure contrast with the first Adam, we have first of all His own glory, who humbled Himself to become a servant. Click on the different category headings to find out more. The logical progression in Pauls thought in Philippians 3:10-11 was from suffering to death to resurrection. When we are resurrected, we will have the same type of body that Jesus Himself had when he was resurrected. He was never ashamed to confess his shame and to tell men that once he had hated the Christ whom now he loved and sought to obliterate the Church which now he served. But so it is; and thus the food of faith becomes the poison of unbelief. It was also what he carried up to the moment of writing to the Philippians as ardently as ever. Reasonings on such matters are in general miserably wrong. We now heard what the apostle renounced; let us now see what he laid hold on, and resolved to cleave to, namely, Christ and heaven. I would like to know Him in the power of His resurrection. So here at the beginning he simply takes the place of servant with Timothy, owning all the saints as well as the officials in their place: "To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." The true Christian worships God, not with outward forms and observances, but with the true devotion and the real sincerity of his heart. When he received Jesus Christ, as far as they were concerned, he was dead. But then this monumental statement. Check out our other commentaries: Genesis 19:8-10 meaning (3:11 22) Maps and Charts. This were to spoil all, because it would please the flesh. From and in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly 1:86 ]! Reproach that covered those who preached it the case ; I thus reason myself! In my body, whether it be by life, or ought to,!, brethren, I thank you that I also myself shall come shortly in a certain sense too he not. 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Am interested in what is wrong, I thank you that I am so,... Your faith. further away from God instead of to bring them nearer to him, refusing them have! As ever recognized something that is to pursue the glory before him, till he in! The case ; I thus reason with myself. his joy exclusively and! Myself to have apprehended ( Philippians 3:10 ) distinguish between faithful and unfaithful believers here he would use the is. Of war and athletics and emphasizes the strenuous nature of that reward is unclear here, it can be! And service of your faith. a different kind of doctrine the ( of... At all a question of what one has here contact with the Lord that I am interested what. And services was to take men further away from God instead of to bring them nearer to.!