Phili 3:4-10 | KingComments | STEP | Also in this chapter it is all about Christ. He is presented here as He is in the heavenly glory. There He is the source of power for the life of a Christian. When you look at His glory in faith, you will want to gain nothing but Him, while you consider all other things as loss and rubbish. Chapter 2 describes Christ in His humiliation as a model and the driving force for the true Christian spirit of self-sacrifice. Chapter 3 is the answer to the question of how to get the mind of chapter 2. When you are filled with Him, you will always be like Him and that gives power for a life in humility. . With the expression “finally” Paul goes on to another theme. Of course not essentially, but certainly there is a shift in the emphasis as I just pointed out. The joy remains the same because the object of joy does not change. Paul is not tired of asking the believers in Philippi to rejoice in the glorified Lord. He knows that he is associated with them as brothers. He and they form a family. Together they should rejoice in Him as they are connected with one another through Him. Whoever rejoices in the Lord is kept from being busy with himself. The joy of the Lord gives strength to live for the glory of the Lord ( ). Some things must be simply said repeatedly. Paul does not say that sighing with the undertone: ‘When will you learn it at last?’ No, he repeats his message gladly knowing how important it is. He knows how forgetful people are, even the believers. It is not clear what precisely is meant by “the same things”. It could refer to the joy but it could also be meant as a warning to the adversaries. He already dealt with it in chapter 1 ( ). In the following verses he talks at length about it. If it is about joy Paul however does not present a new method in order to make faith more cheerful. If it is about the adversaries he does not seek to join them to make a compromise. His teaching is the same. Nothing disturbs him and that gives the assurance to the Philippians that they are on the right track. If views are constantly changed it produces a lot of uncertainty and one might even say a feeling of insecurity. Teachers who once interpreted the Word of God clearly, now say, that they do not know all things so sure any more. Don’t let them throw you off the track. The Word of God is exactly the same and sure today as it was in the past centuries. . “Beware” – Paul uses this word three times – of people who want to undermine the faith and separate believers from Christ and from the joy in Him. They have always existed. Here is mentioned such category of people. Paul does not use flattering terminologies. He calls them “dogs”, who are people with a corrupted way of life, just like the unclean Gentiles. He also calls them “evil workers”, people who introduce evil things under the guise of working for Christ. He speaks of “false circumcision”, literally “mutilation”. This is a word-play on circumcision by which he means, by reintroducing the law, people mutilate, i.e. cut in pieces, what Christ accomplished. When this happens even the Christian witness is mutilated. The letter to the Galatians is a huge argumentation against this undermining of the perfect work of Christ on the cross. There we read about the reintroduction of all kinds of practices of the law in the Christian church, including circumcision. That circumcision Paul calls mutilation. Here Paul is very pungent. It is because he sees very clearly that his beloved Philippians run the great risk of becoming entangled in wrong doctrines. Therefore he is sharp. Love is always sharp in defending their loved ones against unscrupulous people who seek to plunge their loved ones into destruction. As for circumcision, certainly it is ordered by God given ( ). It belonged to the Jewish people as an outward sign of God’s covenant with His earthly people. If it is introduced into the church, it does injustice to God and to His people, and His Word is not taken seriously. . For the church circumcision has a spiritual meaning. Paul says it in (cf. ). You have experienced a spiritual circumcision through what happened to Christ on the cross ( ). When He died under the judgment of God on sin you died there with Him. With “we are the [true] circumcision”, are those meant who are really separate from evil. Paul views this here not from the negative side, but from the positive. He cites three characteristics that belong to those who are the circumcision. The first is that they “worship in the Spirit of God”. That puts an end to any stereotyped service which is often seen in professing Christianity in sacraments, in church orders and liturgy without regard to the Holy Spirit. A church service without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a formal service which can be performed very well by people who are not born again. The second point is that they “glory in Christ Jesus”. In the Old Testament people boasted in their own ‘I’. Anyone who paid attention to the rules got fame. But the Spirit points our hearts to Christ. The third characteristic is to “put no confidence in the flesh”. The entire Old Testament was oriented on a service in the flesh. You must not understand flesh here as the sinful flesh, from which lust comes out. What is meant is something which you can touch and can lead to get honor. . Paul knew what he was talking about. When it is about flesh he can enumerate a lot. In seven points he mentions his privileges about which he can boast. He possessed four privileges without having had to work for it; they were just thrown into his lap, so to speak. One has absolutely no influence on the parents who gave him birth. The other three privileges are the consequences of his own decisions and have to do with his personal contributions. He can compete with anyone in all these things and would then be a winner on all fronts as well. No, he had no interest in this kind of triumph; on the contrary he gave up these privileges. He considered them even rubbish ( ) in the light of the glory of the Man Who appeared to him when he was on the road to Damascus ( ). He is exactly like Moses who gave up all the treasures of Egypt and all the prerogatives of a king’s son, because he had seen the Invisible ( ). Thus he became a model for the Israelites. He gave up more than anyone else. Paul also is such a model. He gave up much more than what you and I would probably give up. . First, he mentions that he was “circumcised”, by which he was incorporated into the covenant God made with His people. Second, he was not added as a stranger to the people through circumcision, but he was “of the nation of Israel”, which means he was an Israelite by birth. He was one of a people whom God chose from all nations to be His own people with special blessings (cf. ). Third, among this nation he belonged to the “tribe of Benjamin” and was therefore a descendent of Jacob's family and his favorite wife Rachel. Fourth, he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews”. This name is used for the first time for Abraham ( ) when he migrated away from his family and came to Canaan. This name means ’passer by’. By mentioning this name Paul says that he lived, as a true, pure-bred descendent of Abraham in the land of promise. There were even more things of which he could boast. They were things which he had acquired with unbridled zeal and was committed to them with boundless energy. Fifth, no one knew the law like him and lived according to the law like him ( ; ). . Sixth, his zeal for the law had made him “a persecutor of the church”. He pursued after the church universally and visited places where the believers were to be found; where they were living as members of that one church in dependence on the Head of His church, the Lord Jesus. This Name made him furious ( ). Wherever he could, he wanted to exterminate all who honored this Name. Country borders did not count for him ( ). Seventh, with all his knowledge of the law, even in persecution of the church, he remained within the bounds of the law. He was “found blameless”. He was like the young rich ruler ( ). Paul and the rich young man were blameless before the eyes of men, but not in the eyes of God ( ). Now read Philippians 3:1-6 again. Reflection: Are there things which you can boast about?

‏ Philippians 3:4-10

Confidence in the Flesh

Also in this chapter it is all about Christ. He is presented here as He is in the heavenly glory. There He is the source of power for the life of a Christian. When you look at His glory in faith, you will want to gain nothing but Him, while you consider all other things as loss and rubbish.

Chapter 2 describes Christ in His humiliation as a model and the driving force for the true Christian spirit of self-sacrifice. Chapter 3 is the answer to the question of how to get the mind of chapter 2. When you are filled with Him, you will always be like Him and that gives power for a life in humility.

Phil 3:1. With the expression “finally” Paul goes on to another theme. Of course not essentially, but certainly there is a shift in the emphasis as I just pointed out. The joy remains the same because the object of joy does not change. Paul is not tired of asking the believers in Philippi to rejoice in the glorified Lord. He knows that he is associated with them as brothers. He and they form a family. Together they should rejoice in Him as they are connected with one another through Him. Whoever rejoices in the Lord is kept from being busy with himself. The joy of the Lord gives strength to live for the glory of the Lord (Neh 8:10).

Some things must be simply said repeatedly. Paul does not say that sighing with the undertone: ‘When will you learn it at last?’ No, he repeats his message gladly knowing how important it is. He knows how forgetful people are, even the believers.

It is not clear what precisely is meant by “the same things”. It could refer to the joy but it could also be meant as a warning to the adversaries. He already dealt with it in chapter 1 (Phil 1:15). In the following verses he talks at length about it. If it is about joy Paul however does not present a new method in order to make faith more cheerful. If it is about the adversaries he does not seek to join them to make a compromise.

His teaching is the same. Nothing disturbs him and that gives the assurance to the Philippians that they are on the right track. If views are constantly changed it produces a lot of uncertainty and one might even say a feeling of insecurity. Teachers who once interpreted the Word of God clearly, now say, that they do not know all things so sure any more. Don’t let them throw you off the track. The Word of God is exactly the same and sure today as it was in the past centuries.

Phil 3:2. “Beware” – Paul uses this word three times – of people who want to undermine the faith and separate believers from Christ and from the joy in Him. They have always existed. Here is mentioned such category of people.

Paul does not use flattering terminologies. He calls them “dogs”, who are people with a corrupted way of life, just like the unclean Gentiles. He also calls them “evil workers”, people who introduce evil things under the guise of working for Christ. He speaks of “false circumcision”, literally “mutilation”. This is a word-play on circumcision by which he means, by reintroducing the law, people mutilate, i.e. cut in pieces, what Christ accomplished. When this happens even the Christian witness is mutilated.

The letter to the Galatians is a huge argumentation against this undermining of the perfect work of Christ on the cross. There we read about the reintroduction of all kinds of practices of the law in the Christian church, including circumcision. That circumcision Paul calls mutilation. Here Paul is very pungent. It is because he sees very clearly that his beloved Philippians run the great risk of becoming entangled in wrong doctrines. Therefore he is sharp. Love is always sharp in defending their loved ones against unscrupulous people who seek to plunge their loved ones into destruction.

As for circumcision, certainly it is ordered by God given (Gen 17:9-14). It belonged to the Jewish people as an outward sign of God’s covenant with His earthly people. If it is introduced into the church, it does injustice to God and to His people, and His Word is not taken seriously.

Phil 3:3. For the church circumcision has a spiritual meaning. Paul says it in Phil 3:3 (cf. Rom 2:29). You have experienced a spiritual circumcision through what happened to Christ on the cross (Col 2:11). When He died under the judgment of God on sin you died there with Him. With “we are the [true] circumcision”, are those meant who are really separate from evil. Paul views this here not from the negative side, but from the positive. He cites three characteristics that belong to those who are the circumcision.

The first is that they “worship in the Spirit of God”. That puts an end to any stereotyped service which is often seen in professing Christianity in sacraments, in church orders and liturgy without regard to the Holy Spirit. A church service without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a formal service which can be performed very well by people who are not born again.

The second point is that they “glory in Christ Jesus”. In the Old Testament people boasted in their own ‘I’. Anyone who paid attention to the rules got fame. But the Spirit points our hearts to Christ.

The third characteristic is to “put no confidence in the flesh”. The entire Old Testament was oriented on a service in the flesh. You must not understand flesh here as the sinful flesh, from which lust comes out. What is meant is something which you can touch and can lead to get honor.

Phil 3:4. Paul knew what he was talking about. When it is about flesh he can enumerate a lot. In seven points he mentions his privileges about which he can boast. He possessed four privileges without having had to work for it; they were just thrown into his lap, so to speak. One has absolutely no influence on the parents who gave him birth. The other three privileges are the consequences of his own decisions and have to do with his personal contributions.

He can compete with anyone in all these things and would then be a winner on all fronts as well. No, he had no interest in this kind of triumph; on the contrary he gave up these privileges. He considered them even rubbish (Phil 3:8) in the light of the glory of the Man Who appeared to him when he was on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-5). He is exactly like Moses who gave up all the treasures of Egypt and all the prerogatives of a king’s son, because he had seen the Invisible (Heb 11:26-27). Thus he became a model for the Israelites. He gave up more than anyone else. Paul also is such a model. He gave up much more than what you and I would probably give up.

Phil 3:5. First, he mentions that he was “circumcised”, by which he was incorporated into the covenant God made with His people.

Second, he was not added as a stranger to the people through circumcision, but he was “of the nation of Israel”, which means he was an Israelite by birth. He was one of a people whom God chose from all nations to be His own people with special blessings (cf. Rom 9:4-5).

Third, among this nation he belonged to the “tribe of Benjamin” and was therefore a descendent of Jacob's family and his favorite wife Rachel.

Fourth, he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews”. This name is used for the first time for Abraham (Gen 14:13) when he migrated away from his family and came to Canaan. This name means ’passer by’. By mentioning this name Paul says that he lived, as a true, pure-bred descendent of Abraham in the land of promise.

There were even more things of which he could boast. They were things which he had acquired with unbridled zeal and was committed to them with boundless energy.

Fifth, no one knew the law like him and lived according to the law like him (Acts 26:5; Gal 1:14).

Phil 3:6. Sixth, his zeal for the law had made him “a persecutor of the church”. He pursued after the church universally and visited places where the believers were to be found; where they were living as members of that one church in dependence on the Head of His church, the Lord Jesus. This Name made him furious (Acts 26:9). Wherever he could, he wanted to exterminate all who honored this Name. Country borders did not count for him (Acts 26:11).

Seventh, with all his knowledge of the law, even in persecution of the church, he remained within the bounds of the law. He was “found blameless”. He was like the young rich ruler (Mk 10:17-20). Paul and the rich young man were blameless before the eyes of men, but not in the eyes of God (Ecc 7:20).

Now read Philippians 3:1-6 again.

Reflection: Are there things which you can boast about?

Gain Christ

Phil 3:7. This verse begins with a meaningful “but”. This brings a complete turn in the argumentation. In the previous verses Paul highlighted all the privileges he possessed and all the achievements he could boast about. ‘What an admirable person’ you could say. But all of them sink into nothing and disappear completely from the scene as soon as he meets the Lord Jesus and sees His magnificent excellencies.

By this encounter Paul sees that he as the ‘best human being’ is the greatest sinner and that all the good things and all the achievements counted nothing before God. On the other hand he gets to know what he received in Christ, all the profit it brings him. He spreads out this gain largely before the Philippians. He lays before them his personal profit and loss account. He writes off what was profit before, and turns it into a loss of income. The only additional entry that stands against this loss is Christ.

The profit is not simply written off. He thought over it and came to the conclusion that all these gains could not be compared to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They aggrandize man and minimize Christ. Whoever meets the Lord really is inspired by only one desire: to glorify Christ. If this is your desire too, you will give up all what interferes with it. This desire will be indicated not only at the moment of your repentance but it will run through the whole of your future life.

It is noticeable that Paul here constantly uses the ‘I’ form. He tells his personal story, and narrates his experiences and desires. You can apply this to yourself only if you are filled with the same desire. What he says is either far from you or is quite near. You cannot be neutrally interested in the zealousness of this man. The fact that you are still reading this means that, at any rate, you want to come close to what drove him. So it is with me too. I am quite jealous of him and I know that this is a legitimate jealousy.

Phil 3:8. In Phil 3:8-11 Paul gives you and me in a long sentence an insight into his character and his motives. Thus we become familiar with his desires and his pursuits. In summary he means that he has three desires: to know Christ, to gain Christ, and to be found in Christ.

Paul did not give up all to regret later and to pull some things back (cf. Heb 11:15-16). He was filled with Christ and therefore he looked at all that prevented him from knowing Christ more, as ”loss”. There is nothing more valuable than the knowledge of His Person! He considered all his own righteousness as something filthy (Isa 64:6). It did not matter whether it was a good social position, or a noble family, or a circle of men among whom he enjoyed prestige, or intellectual knowledge. He puts aside everything a person can boast of.

His goal is clear. It is about “the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. He testifies here to his personal relationship with Christ, my Lord. At the same time he acknowledged the authority of Christ over his life by calling Him my Lord. In the light of this Person he saw all the privileges not only as harmful but even as “rubbish”. Do you find it difficult to dispose of “rubbish”? It costs dearly sometimes to handle as rubbish things which have a certain value to you although you know that it is detrimental to keep it. Nevertheless, to dispose of rubbish is not a sacrifice.

It is one thing to look at all as loss and it is another thing to suffer loss for all. Paul experienced both. He found out that his privileges were harmful if he wanted to know Christ better. He did not remain with that knowledge. He really gave all up all. He did not do it as a kind of self-flagellation. Such acts will never bring spiritual benefits and they do not bring you to a greater knowledge of Christ.

Knowing Christ results in a desire to gain Christ. By this, of course, he does not mean an effort to be saved. He is saved, and that is by faith alone and not by any achievement of his own. What Paul is saying here is what someone says who is engaged in a race and wants to win it. He wants to be conformed to Christ as much as possible. He wants Christ to become more and more visible in his life. He talks about that in the next verse.

Phil 3:9. To all his excellent merits he could have added further that he gave up all his privileges. But even through all this his view of Christ would be more unclear. He just wanted a different and maximum profit: Christ Himself. He wanted to possess Him completely, as the One Who gave meaning and direction to his life. He wanted to “be found in Him” so that all that he was and all that would be visible in his life would be a clear image of Christ. Should anybody see him whether man or God he should perceive only Christ and nothing of Paul.

Therefore his own righteousness had no meaning for him anymore. Imagine he thought that he would be able to maintain himself irreproachable before God and men, what would that mean then? His ‘I’ would be great. But he says, ‘I do not want that at all. It would not be more than a human righteousness, and that is not what I want.’

Do you know why Paul thought so? It is because he had met Christ and it is because Christ is the content of his life. Faith in Him has given Paul the “righteousness which [comes] from God”. Paul has seen how relative and meaningless all is what is of men, even of the most exalted people who are of high standing. He found out the eternal values of all that is of God, and of all whose origin is God.

The righteousness which has God as its source has become his portion, not on the basis of his achievements but by faith. He received the righteousness which is from God, because he put his faith in what the Lord Jesus had done for him on the cross, and therefore he did not place any value on his own efforts any more.

Phil 3:10. That does not make him a reckless Christian, someone who pays due attention to his own righteousness. No, he desires the daily practical fellowship with Christ in order to know Him as good as possible. You may know Him as a new convert; nevertheless if you live with Him day by day and experience Him every day you can know Him better and better. You will learn how He thinks about you and how He expects that you should live. What’s more: you get to know Him better and better in the place He now occupies in heaven, and you see more and more of His glories.

When you are busy with Him in His glory, you also learn more of the “power of His resurrection” (Eph 1:19-20). It is the power by which you walk on the earth. By this power you will, so to speak, pass through death and can walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4).

However, a walk in the power of His resurrection does not make you immune to the suffering that is your portion if you are faithful to the Lord. With the mind of Paul you do not accept suffering as something from which you can not escape. No, Paul sought after all means to be like the Lord Jesus. Fellowship with Him also included suffering. ‘All right’, Paul says, ‘I like to suffer, because that deepens my fellowship with Him.’

“Fellowship of His sufferings” is to have a share in the suffering that the Lord experienced during His life time on the earth, namely, to pass through ridicule and shame and to feel the pain by hearing and seeing sin. Even in his death Paul wanted to be like his Lord. A person says this if he has no more interest on the earth than only Christ. It was enough for him that the servant becomes like his Master (Mt 10:25).

Paul followed Christ on the path of suffering not in fear like His disciples in their days (Mk 10:32). He wanted to undergo sufferings, not for the sake of suffering, but in order to partake of Christ’s sufferings. That is why he did not go away sad like the rich young man who leaned on the advantages of the flesh (Mt 19:22). After all, he has wholeheartedly renounced all these things, and in this sense there is nothing that still binds him to the earth.

Phil 3:11. Paul not only carried his cross after the Lord Jesus, but he also wanted to die on it. Whatever the cost, and however painful the way might be, he wanted full fellowship with Christ on the way that led to his resurrection. His whole aim was to be like the lord Jesus in all, and be on the way He went, to reach Him in glory. Did the Lord Jesus suffer? Then he also wanted to suffer. Did the Lord die? Then he also wanted to die as a martyr in the service of his Lord. Did the Lord rise from the dead and go into heaven? Then he also wanted to rise from the dead and go to Him.

How exactly it would be in his case, he did not know. Certainly, he did not doubt this fact. Note, that it does not say ‘resurrection from death’ but “from the dead”. That literally means a ‘resurrection out of the dead’. Even so the Lord Jesus also resurrected out of the dead, while all others remained in death.

The great desire of Paul to be in complete identification with Christ shows how much he was attached to Christ. I sincerely hope that this is your desire too. In the following passage you will hear more about it, so that your desire is aroused still more to follow Paul with regard to the one goal for his life.

Now read Philippians 3:7-11 again.

Reflection: How can you gain Christ?