But Paul forgot the things which were behind so as not to be content with present measures of grace: he was still for having more and more. We need to draw from God, the spring and the only supplier of power that can resist the devil; but, at the same time, that we have the devil to resist in His power is a conviction that may well demand "fear and trembling;" and this, lest in such a conflict we should let in anything of self, which would at once give a handle to the devil. But, it might be argued, that was a snap decision, perhaps later to be regretted and reversed. It is hard to rejoice in circumstances. WebPhilippians 3 Leaving Law and Pressing On to Jesus A. Therefore he intreated them to "do all things without murmurings and reasonings, that they might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shone as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." To support this statement, Paul refers to his own experience. 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. In the Christian life there is no room for a person who desires to rest upon his laurels. "Being confident," he therefore says, "of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all." In rich measure did the apostle live thus himself it was the one thing he did; and he would have the saints to be living in it too. "All that time, Mr. Wesley and I lay on the floor: he had my greatcoat for a pillow, and I had Burkitt's notes on the New Testament for mine. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. I agonizo towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.Paul said, "Don't you realize that they that run in a race run all, only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain." WebPhilippians 3:11-14 Meaning and Commentary INTRODUCTION TO PHILIPPIANS 3 In this chapter the apostle cautions the Philippians against false teachers, whom he describes Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. Now she walks back out where all of the girls are waiting, and she said, "Look girls," and as they gasp in amazement at the glory and the beauty of the dress, she said, "This is something that I could have never purchased for myself. And did feel rather sorry for 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. First of all He emptied Himself, becoming a slave and a man; and having thus come down, so as to take His place in the likeness of men, He, found in figure as a man, humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the lowest point of degradation here below. I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead: Paul has discussed in these verses the concepts of justification and sanctification, and now he speaks of the believers glorification. Pauls yearning is for complete oneness with Christ. He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to throw in prison those who believed in Jesus Christ. He looks upon himself to be in a state of imperfection and trial: Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect,Philippians 3:12; Philippians 3:12. 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 what enabled him to look at the saints, as he called them to look at one another, esteeming others, as he says, better than themselves. In every town and in every city and in every country there were Jews. WebPhilippians 3:611 The New International Version (NIV) 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely," nor was this all, but "supposing to add affliction to my bonds.". They want to tell you that you ought to be prosperous, you ought to be successful, you ought to be living in luxury, you are God's child, you ought to be indulging your flesh. Thus he anticipates the removal of the last trace of the first Adam; he looks for our being brought fully, even as to the body, into the likeness of the Second Man, the last Adam. All Commentaries Videos Images Devotionals Other Translations Sermons Related Scriptures Podcasts Blogs. But unfortunately, since then, a lot of those things that they counted loss at that point, they picked back up, so that they are encumbered again. Will it be said that this is what the apostle felt, and did, and suffered in the freshness of his first acquaintance with Christ? But now the apostle turns to the use that he makes of so blessed a pattern, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." Surely he, most of all, must have felt the change the heart that took in the Gentiles, that swept the circle of lands from Jerusalem to Illyricum, that yearned over Spain, ever going out farther and farther, boundless in his desires for the salvation of souls. Why go in the way of crowds of soldiers or civil officers? The real circumcision is not a mark in the flesh; it is that true worship, that true glory, and that true confidence in the grace of God in Jesus Christ. He therefore puts all his energy into his efforts to reach this goal, just as a runner strains every muscle to reach the finishing line and gain the prize (12-14).Mature Christians will have the attitude to life that Paul has just outlined. They really mind the earthly things. That is a wonderful thought. So the people whom Paul attacks may have been the clever Gnostics who produced specious arguments to justify their sinning or they may have been misguided Christians who twisted the loveliest things into justification for the ugliest sins. Habitually, indeed throughout this epistle, we find the word " me," and a very different "me" from the "me" of Romans 7:1-25. after a flea!" It was the teaching of these Jews that, if a man wished to be saved, he must earn credit in the sight of God by countless deeds of the law; and, further that salvation belonged to the Jews and to no one else, and that, before God could have any use for him, a man must be circumcised and, as it were, become a Jew. In Him, we, know, who was the perfect model in the same warfare, which He fought single-handed, conquering for God's glory and for us, the prince of this world came, and had nothing in Him, absolutely nothing. As he tells them, fruit that might abound to their account was all that his heart really yearned after. "It pleased God," wrote the father, "not to cut him off in his sins. Even in the ends of the earth they remained unshakeably Roman. Oh, is it not awful to think, that the best proof of the love of Christ and of His glory is the very ground which the base heart of man turns into a reason for denying both His love and His glory? In front of people they can act very holy and sanctified and excited and exhilarated in the things of the Lord, but when they get away from the stage, they can have filthy mouths; they can tell dirty jokes, they are living a two-faced life. There is nothing so high as that which we all have been made in our blessed Lord. But it gives us also the effect of Christ in the saints eventually of Paul himself, of Timothy, of Epaphroditus, and indeed of the Philippian saints. How could any murmur who believed they were really bonds in Christ? But not the righteousness which God has accounted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. This is the great value of Christian experience. He is God equally with the Father. If by any means - Implying, that he meant to make use of the most strenuous exertions to obtain the object. For no personal end did he mention their grace; "but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." Such is the meaning here. He had proved long the power and the joy of Christ for every day, and for every circumstance of it. 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. And if anyone is otherwise minded in any way, this too God will reveal to him. Soul (14+ yrs) CY (11-14 yrs) Epic Explorers (kids) Universal Editions; Promotional materials; Translations; Booklets and tracts; Books; Shop by Type; Evangelistic Books; When God does not interpose, men are apt to allow reflections and reasonings. What a God is ours, so to treat that which, connected with the world, Christ Himself calls "unrighteous mammon!" 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. You can also change some of your preferences. John Gill John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Philippians 3:1. Let me press this, because alas! You can have these things of your flesh, you know. 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. Paul himself did not hope to attain it through his own merit and righteousness, but through the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Long, long before this, the great teachers and the great prophets had seen that circumcision of the flesh is by itself not nearly enough and that there was needed a spiritual circumcision. There is no epistle that so abounds in joy. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. For there are many who behave in such a way--I have often spoken to you about them, and I do so now with tears--that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ. "You see, the angel doesn't have to erase the righteousness and then rewrite it, or whatever. "My bonds in Christ," he says, "are manifest in all the palace." 87-88; and S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "The Out-Resurrection from the Dead," Bibliotheca Sacra 110 (1953):139-46; and Lightner, "Philippians," p. This is illustrated in several instances. I found it no better than skubala ( G4657) ." He adds further (Philippians 3:13; Philippians 3:13): This one thing I do (this was his great care and concern), forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before. Even he who knew them well marvelled that they were so soon shifting, not only from him, but from the gospel, after he left them. Superficially this verse seems to suggest that Paul had some doubt about the certainty of his resurrection. NIV I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. It is the personal experience of another person. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. 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. He is just about to send Timothy from himself that he might know about them. And thus it was the power of the Spirit of God that gave him to look out in the midst of all that he passed through day by day, that all, whatever it might be, should be done to Christ, and so too all by Christ, the Holy Ghost working it, so to speak, in his soul to give him simply and settledly in everything that occurred an opportunity of having Christ Himself as the substance of his living and serving, no matter what might come in the course of duty. Christian worship is not a thing of ritual or of the observation of details of the Law; it is a thing of the heart. "Our conversation is in heaven; from whence we wait for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour" for this is the true meaning of it. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.I think that we have to be the most blessed and privileged people in the world. And so, it is an established righteousness. When the distinction of the resurrection of the just from that of the unjust got lost in Christendom, and all were merged in the error of one general indiscriminate resurrection, one can understand that people would not feel the impropriety of substituting for (for as to , of which Dr. B. speaks, it exists in no document whatever). But you will never know the life of the resurrected Christ until you have experienced the fellowship of the sufferings. It is not the dread of losing the Saviour of their souls, but because they felt for His name; "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Long before them, Mill had given his judgment in favour of the more ancient reading; and Wetstein repeated it apparently with approval. We do not speak of standing in Christ now, but of their allotted services. (iii) As far as zeal went, he had been a persecutor of the Church. In 1756 a letter came to John Wesley from a father who had a prodigal son. They are always looking at their past and doing nothing now. iv. "So Paul, he had done his best to clothe himself in righteousness by works, but then he came in to that glorious knowledge of Jesus Christ, and, "No longer," he said, "to be found in my own righteousness, which is of the law, my own making, my own work, but I will gladly exchange that for the glorious righteousness which God has accounted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ." And one day when I am sitting, looking up in Jesus' face, just overwhelmed by His glory and love, I will turn to the fellow next to me, and I will say, "I finally have apprehended that for which I was apprehended. There is not even the allowance of the possibility of their turning aside from the bright career both of possessing a Saviour they knew, and of enjoying Him increasingly. And is there not evidently a path of unobtrusiveness (for the veil or sign of power on the woman's head is no vain figure) which most befits a woman? No saints are outside the danger. "This robe of flesh I will drop and rise to reap the everlasting prize." Love feels acutely nothing so much; but it triumphs. "You know, if you only had enough faith, you could be jetting across the United States also in your own Lear Jet." This is the unfailing secret of it all the true source of humility in service. Verse 11. The apostle is here contributing to that which shall never pass away, and hence begins with the "saints in Christ Jesus" as such. Skubala has two meanings. Looking to the Lord, as it is the life-breath of love, so it adds to the value of brotherly kindness in its season. He breaks it completely, becomes conqueror for ever, wins the title for God's grace to deliver righteously every creature, save only those who, far from receiving Christ, dare to reject Him because of that very nature which He took on Him, and that infinite work on the cross which had caused Him suffering to the utmost in working all out for the glory of God. Again and again he speaks of it ( Acts 22:2-21; Acts 26:4-23; 1 Corinthians 15:8-10; Galatians 1:13). WebThe allusion is to the white line, or mark, which the runners in the Olympic games made up to, and to which he that came first received the prize; and by which the apostle intends the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ( skopov) , "the scope", or "mark", of all the thoughts, purposes, and counsels of God, to which they all aim, and in which they all Like the song said, "Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead." 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. ), . They had been manifesting their mindful love for the apostle, who on his part was certainly not forgetful of its least token. For it is not meant looking to Him now, or having Him as one's life: to win Christ means having Him at the other side. By this claim Paul makes it clear that he is not an Ishmaelite, for the Ishmaelites were circumcised in their thirteenth year ( Genesis 17:25), nor a proselyte who had come late into the Jewish faith and been circumcised in manhood. "Oh, I had such a glorious experience, the Lord met me in such a powerful way. If, then, they really loved him, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if there be any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies," he would venture to seek another proof of it. The word if can be translated as since: Since I will attain to the resurrection from the dead is the The very language Paul uses to describe the Law--excrement--shows the utter disgust for the Law which his own frustrated efforts to live by it had brought him; and the joy that shines through the passage shows how triumphantly adequate he found the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Hence it is that, although doctrine is sparse, if not almost excluded, nevertheless what little appears comes in as ancillary to the main purpose. When they returned from the exile, it was from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah that the nucleus of the reborn nation was formed ( Ezra 4:1). He will reach it only on the day when Christ returns and raises the righteous from death. Oh that the Lord might make it true of His own! and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. It was not so with the Philippians. Quite suddenly Paul's accent changes to that of warning. It was a calm, fixed, cordial habit of their souls, which indeed had distinguished them from the first. And Paul writes. And as to Romans 4:17 (which was probably meant rather than 16), it has no bearing on the matter, as it is there merely a question of God's power displayed in quickening the dead, and calling things that are not in being as in being, and in no way distinguishing the resurrection of life from that of judgment. This is nothing to be surprised at. Comment: Amazing, transforming grace, is able to change a From which we also eagerly wait for the Savior: As Philippians would eagerly await a visit from the emperor in Rome, even more so should Christians eagerly await the coming of their King Jesus Christ. A holy fear of coming short is an excellent means of perseverance. THE WORTHLESSNESS OF THE LAW AND THE VALUE OF CHRIST ( Php_3:8-9 ). (i) He says that he is trying to grasp that for which he has been grasped by Christ. Resurrection -- If "raised" with Christ in baptism, we have a picture of also being "raised" at the resurrection. Who, when He comes, He is going to change our bodies, that they might be fashioned like His own glorious image. The point Paul is making here is similar to that in Romans 8:17, which says, "we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." This is lost in the idea of labouring in it. That he might be found in him (Philippians 3:9; Philippians 3:9), as the manslayer was found in the city of refuge, where he was safe from the avenger of blood, Numbers 35:25. Abraham and those saints of the Old Testament, the scripture said, confessed that they were just strangers and pilgrims on this earth, that they were looking for the city which hath foundations whose maker and builder is God. There are two Greek verbs which are very like each other. . Hence we see the great importance of this truth. This is the only allusion, as far as I know, to flesh in this epistle, but it is flesh in its religious form, and not as a source of evil lusts and passions. So Paul sets out his credentials, not in order to boast but to show that he had enjoyed every privilege which a Jew could enjoy and had risen to every attainment to which a Jew could rise. B. Lightfoot speaks of "the dogs which prowl about eastern cities, without a home and without an owner, feeding on the refuse and filth of the streets, quarrelling among themselves, and attacking the passer-by.". Their sympathies, drawn out by the afflictions of the apostle in his work, were the workings of the Holy Spirit in their souls at least the instincts of a life that was of Christ, and that judged in view of Him, and not according to appearances. It is interesting that Paul turns it around and uses it of those teachers that would seek to put the believers back under the law. He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion. Paul warns that they are there, they were there in Paul's day; they are there today. He desires for them, not anxiety about the issue of it, but true gravity of spirit, because of feeling that it is a question between God and the devil, and that we have to do with that struggle in the most direct way. There is the present joy of Christ; but this does not content the soul. WebBible Commentaries; Philippians 3:1-11; Philippians 3:1-11. If right here, we are at one, so to speak, with His present purposes. Paul says, "You Jews think that you are circumcised; in point of fact, you are only mutilated.". 's critical, scholastic, and exegetic manner. Notwithstanding, it has been already explained that the man has a relative place as the image and glory of God, being set in a remarkable position between God and the woman in matters of outward decorum. a really inaccurate mode. 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. As citizens of heaven we keep in communication with our native home. But such things as I could humanly reckon as profits, I came to the conclusion were all loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. Paul felt that when Christ stopped him on the Damascus Road, he had a vision and a purpose for Paul; and Paul felt that all his life he was bound to press on, lest he fail Jesus and frustrate his dream. Much akin to Pauls straining toward what is ahead; this racers concentration on [Note: Saucy, p. What a word, and how calculated to make us ashamed! To know Christ means for him certain things. "The prize" is "the crown of righteousness" (1Co 9:24; 2Ti 4:8). This is a claim that Paul makes more than once ( Acts 22:3; Acts 23:6; Acts 26:5). God, I thank you that I am so good," that pride and self-righteousness. He has regarded his life on earth, particularly his former life as a Pharisee, as garbage compared to the life he now attains to, the life of knowing Christ. 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. After being here near three weeks, one morning about three o'clock Mr. Wesley turned over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying: 'Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer: I have one whole side yet, for the skin is off but on one side!'" This is not the same as to say that he was a true Israelite. ", He loves, we see, to couple with the relationship to himself what was related to them. It describes him with eyes for nothing but the goal. I just can't do it. The NIV is more paraphrastic, translating a Greek word with any number of English synonyms to make the English translation more readable. (ii) Our only boast is in Jesus Christ. Energy is not the best or highest aspect of Christianity. And, let me observe, it is not merely that Christ is my life. This separates from all, and judges the best of man to be dung, as the former conforms the heart after His love. They stubbornly refused to be assimilated to the nations amongst whom they lived; they retained faithfully their own religion and their own customs and their own laws. Let your every contact with the world be just as light as possible." He is able even to subdue all things to Himself and accomplish something as amazing as the resurrection of our bodies after the pattern of Jesus resurrection. It was from the tribe of Benjamin that the first king of Israel had come ( 1 Samuel 9:1-2), and it was no doubt from that very king that Paul had been given his original name of Saul. Here was a picture the Philippians could understand. Now he proceeds to give his reason. Observe, [1.] If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Oh, what a shame. WebPhilippians 3:611 The New International Version (NIV) 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. Hers is a more delicate place than that which becomes the man, and one which a man attempting it would awkwardly fill. c. The Lord Jesus Christ: The title Lord was also applied to the Roman Caesar. However elsewhere in his writings he was very confident that God would resurrect him and all believers (e.g., Romans 8:11; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 15:12-57; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Timothy 2:18). The apostle would remind us that even he "must watch and pray continually to abide in the fellowship of Christs sufferingfor only in that way the glorification with Christwill be attained" (Silva 193, quoting J.J. Muller). I have not yet accomplished that purpose. View Exodus on the Timeline. The words, as they stand in the best MSS., are as follow: , to that resurrection which is of the dead. And so, she put it on and she walked out in the dorm where the other girls were and she said, "Look girls, this is my new dress for the prom. It is incumbent upon us, as Christians, to rise out of our despondencies. The question is at once settled as a matter of faith. And therefore, "whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." and here I am in my little pompous righteous throne, judging everybody else who isn't living by my standards. I made it myself." It is the apostle giving us what his heart was occupied with when he could not go forth in the activities of work, and when it seemed as if he had nothing to do. 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) He sets down what we might call the indestructibility of Christian joy. Jesus roamed the earth as an outcast, didn't seek to possess any things of the earth. And so, this body will be changed, and I will receive a new body like His, fashioned like His glorious image, according to that power of the Spirit that raised Him from the dead. They said that, since grace was wide enough to cover every sin, a man could sin as he liked and not worry; it would make no difference to the all-forgiving love of God. It is the proof that his promise to be with us always to the end of the world is true. It is the only place in Scripture where the phrase means, not simply the righteousness of God in point of character, but the righteousness of God in point of source. "Let your requests," whatever they may be, "be made known unto God;" and not only so, but "with thanksgiving." Thus we know how on approaching Rome Paul was lifted up and comforted, as he saw those who came to greet him. 3:1 As for what remains, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. The Lord has laid down their places respectively with distinctness. Roman dress was worn; Roman magistrates governed; the Latin tongue was spoken; Roman justice was administered; Roman morals were observed. They went in. "You know, it is what I used to be, what I used to do. No man knew better from personal experience what Jewish religion was at its highest and most demanding. 10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. I like the power, but I don't like the suffering. He persecuted the church. The keynote of the epistle is rejoice, and he said. It may well be that one of our faults is our desire for novelty. Click to enable/disable _ga - Google Analytics Cookie. It was God the Father that made Him Lord and Christ, but God the Father never made Him Jehovah. WebPhilippians 3:8-11 meaning Paul considers religious practices and custom meaningless compared to the far better value of serving Jesus Christ through the obedience of faith. It is not at all a question of what one has here. that a saint should decline. (ii) He was of the race of Israel. There may be sins within your heart that have long resisted control. Hence he says, "We look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour: who shall change our vile. He must have felt that he had been setting a high challenge before the Philippian Church.
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