v. There is a significant contrast between the citizens of earth as described in Philippians 3:18-19 and the citizens of heaven as described in Philippians 3:20-21. b. He always looks there in Philippians. He was for a considerable time a prisoner. It was not a reference to a kindly family pet, but it was a reference to those mean wild dogs that roamed Israel. Like, another apostle (2 John 1:8) he does not hesitate to blend with all this an appeal to their hearts for his own service in their well-being. He makes it clear that he continues to pursue his goal just as a runner might continue to run in order to receive the prize at the end of the race. 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. As far as his zeal and according to the righteousness that is in the law, he was blameless. being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead ( Philippians 3:10-11 ). I found it no better than skubala ( G4657) ." Don't you know that Christians don't have to suffer? He was resurrected in a new body, patterned after the old yet equipped and fitted for heaven. All error is founded on a misuse of a truth against the truth. Yet these were evidently physical experiences, not spiritual realities. They joined with those who preached the truth and partook of their obloquy. The basic thought of this passage is the uselessness of Law and the sufficiency of knowing Christ and accepting the offer of God's grace. ), . There is great reason to think that the arose from those who thought it necessary to the sense, and did not see that it could be fetched from the in . But since he now belongs to Christ, he believes that perfection is the only goal he can aim at. You know, there are many people in the world tonight who have never had the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. c. The Lord Jesus Christ: The title Lord was also applied to the Roman Caesar. When first he tasted it, he found it so sweet that he cared for none other. Let us not mistake in this; let us not be driven from it by a too common misuse. Comment: Amazing, transforming grace, is able to change a Hence that which judged and put aside religion after the flesh, righteousness after the law, all that was now left completely and for ever behind, and the saint is set on the road that nothing can satisfy him but being in the same glorious condition with Christ Himself. It is important to note the verb which he uses for to know. "Let your moderation be known unto all men," strengthened by this consolatory truth, "the Lord is at hand. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. But his spirit was as bright as ever, his joy perfectly fresh, deep, and flowing. I had everything going for me as far as righteousness from the law. Paul fell on the ground, and there the Lord spoke to him and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" There was evidently energy among these Philippians. 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. How lovely that this it was that pained him unselfish love! Better not make them known to men; it is a dangerous snare. This is the object set before us inPhilippians 3:1-21; Philippians 3:1-21. WebSunday, February 26, 2023 Living Hope Christian Church, Inc. will broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube beginning at 11:00 am. Accordingly he prays for them, that as they had shown this true and unabated love for himself as Christ's servant, so their love might abound yet more and more, and this too in knowledge and in all judgment. Reason and sense are out of the question, though reason must reject a creature's becoming God. Certainly this is painful and humbling. But with the Philippians there was increased jealousy for Christ. All these things Paul might have claimed to set down on the credit side of the balance; but when he met Christ, he wrote them off as nothing more than bad debts. There is really no value to say I counted those things loss for Christ thirty years ago, if in the meantime I have picked them back up and I am encumbered with them again. ", "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 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." It was by this name that the Jews called the Gentiles. To him to live was Christ. So, it is rather tragic, because these people are opposed to the life of sacrifice, self-denial, and yet, that is the first step that Jesus said was necessary to be a disciple of His; you have got to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him.And Paul said, "Follow me; you have me as your example. He may perhaps think differently, but, if he is an honest man, God will make it plain to him that he must never relax his effort or lower his standards but must press towards the goal, until the end. He has not only put aside religious ceremonies and national status, but he considers that all things in which he might boast are worthless. It is not Paul's aim to know about Christ, but personally to know him. With all of my efforts I could never come up to that. He met Christ on the Damascus road. Should any at present think differently, they will soon come to agree, if they allow God to teach them. How lovely that even such a man should speak, not merely of his own prayers, but of theirs, turning all to such account. or are there mingled ways and mixed motives? 3:4-7 And yet it remains true that I have every ground of confidence from the human point of view. But Paul didn't stop there did he? This is what brings him, if one may so say, into the dilemma of love. And so yes, I want to know the power of the resurrection, but if I am to experience that, I have got to, first of all, experience the fellowship of the suffering, the death on the cross, the death to my old self, my old nature. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things ( Philippians 3:8 ). 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." Paul evidently expected that the Rapture could happen before he died (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). "You know, if you only had enough faith, you could be jetting across the United States also in your own Lear Jet." This is lost in the idea of labouring in it. 3:8-9 Yes, and I still count all things loss, because of the all-surpassing value of what it means to know Jesus Christ, my Lord. [Note: Bob Wilkin, "Philippians 3:11: Is Our Resurrection Certain?" It was the exact reverse in good of what the Galatians were in evil, for they had been cordial and bright when the apostle was with them; but directly his back was turned, their hearts were alienated. He is exalting Christ. Pastor Mark Schlamann. For God had made the world full of life; He "saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good," and Satan apparently won the victory over Him in it. Now, immediately after telling them to rejoice in the Lord, he is warning them about the false teachers. For no personal end did he mention their grace; "but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." There is a Rabbinic saying, "The nations of the world are like dogs." And now as he had Christ before his soul, in this way the gospel itself, he can feel, is only promoted so much the more. So unbelief interprets, but most assuredly it is wrong. Forgive me, Lord. Following the Jewish Law does not make anyone right in Gods eyes; only faith in Christ does that. Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. But there he was soon to experience the faltering of brethren; there he was to see not one standing by him in the hour of his shame and need. Surely there must have been something seriously wrong to judge in him! In Philippians 3:1-21 it is not the display of intrinsic affection in Christ, or the gracious dispositions of Christ in the saints. Thus the difference between reconciliation and subjection is manifest. What is the point of this? (i) He had been circumcised when he was eight days old. This is what he did, and accordingly this is the source, not merely of a firm faith and confidence as to the issue, but of present joy and all-overcoming power. [Note: Saucy, p. What they did seems a much more proper thing, in my judgment, for a woman. One possibility is that Paul was thinking of his spiritual co-resurrection with Christ. They were "manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by, my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Philippians 3:4b-14. Let me think of myself as one that is serving Him (oh, how feebly and failingly!) Accordingly, from the very starting-point, we are prepared for a difference of tone and character. 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. Of course, the enemy would have desired above all and at any cost to lower such an one as the apostle Paul in the loving esteem of God's saints, more particularly where all had been sweet and happy; but, notwithstanding every effort, grace hitherto had prevailed, and these saints at Philippi felt the more for the apostle when he was a prisoner. How heartily the Germans sing of the dear old fatherland; but they cannot, with all their Germanic patriotism, they cannot beat the genial glow of the Britons heart, when he thinks of his fatherland too. The more one enjoys Christ here, the more one wants to be with Him there. 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 And why should our Lord adopt a correct form to the Sadducees (Luke 20:1-47 repeated inActs 4:1-37; Acts 4:1-37), and Paul an incorrect one to the Philippians? It is not at all a question of ecclesiastical order, in which naturally the chief guides would have front rank. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. So tender, so delicate is his sense, that he would not spare what was needful if there had been any want of thought, but at the same time he hastens to make whatever apology love could suggest. The use of the preposition ek twice in the phrase, the first usage being in exanastasin, suggests a resurrection out from a group not resurrected. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision ( Philippians 3:2 ). If he desired for them that they should be without one stumble till the day of Christ, it was the purpose to which grace had girded up his own loins. that is miserable to God, we can go on delighting in the goodness of God, as well as in its fruits. They nevertheless seem to have been disheartened, even distanced, from their faith by Pauls imprisonment. Their affections were right. They were coupled with the gospel in all its conflict and progress. He had proved long the power and the joy of Christ for every day, and for every circumstance of it. "It pleased God," wrote the father, "not to cut him off in his sins. You think you are going to drop, but you keep going. The words, as they stand in the best MSS., are as follow: , to that resurrection which is of the dead. However, one is correct in understanding that these words express his humble expectation and hope (1 Corinthians 15:20; 2 Corinthians 5:1). 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." "For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. It is always the power of Satan that is in view here. Philippians 3:1114: Can I Really Have Assurance? "You remember Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5 of Matthew, said, "Except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." "In nothing," says he, "terrified by your adversaries [this is the other side]: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. He esteemed men better than himself. It is no rule, but an evasion. So he brings before them another remarkable feature of it their fellowship; and this fellowship too with the gospel. Work hard at doing that which is right. doctrine as this to the Philippians. His desire above all was that Christ's name might go forth. 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. Only we must always walk according to that standard which we have already reached. Himself the striking witness to the contrary, he looked for nothing less in the saints he so dearly loved. He like other Christians lives in the overlap of the ages; he, too, stands between the "already" and the "not yet", and consummated salvation is not yet his. You can have these things of your flesh, you know. It had always been so, as the apostle gives us to learn. It is his state and experience every day, as to which his hope was that in nothing he should be ashamed; "but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. I forget those things which are behind.A lot of people make the mistake of trying to live in the past. WebPhilippians 3:11-14 King James Version 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion. Returning, however, to the women Evodia and Syntyche, they had devoted themselves to an exceedingly happy and prized service. ". 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. Is this your measure of the love of Christ? They exist; they are there. "Now, the fact that we are sitting here tonight, we can all say the same thing, "I am not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended." According to Jewish belief, circumcision was ordained upon Israel as sign and symbol that they were the people with whom God had entered into a special relationship. His goodness can even take this up and thus make it fragrant even to Himself. Philippi was a Roman colony. He had experienced it at its highest point; and he knew that it was nothing compared with the joy which Christ had given. "I make this judgment of the case; I thus reason with myself." And she thought, "Oh my, I didn't dream anything could cost that much." Let us uphold the glory of His person, but, nevertheless, let us not forget how the apostle's picture of the saint resembles the Master! This is certainly what the apostle here puts before these saints. He was Jehovah, equal with God the Father. WebPhilippians 3 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. The righteousness which is of Christ through faith. It does not matter how unlike they may be, or how opposed; it does not matter what vessels of shame and misery they may have been now; "He is able to subdue all things unto himself.". I am interested in what is your relationship tonight with the Lord. He was willing to do any thing, or suffer any thing, that he might attain that resurrection. As the Christian has died with Christ, been buried with Him, been raised with Him, and now walks with Him, he will also be glorified together with Him. 661.] And rather than resting in the past, what God has done, let's look forward to what God wants to do. At this point Paul repeats warnings that he gave the Philippian church some time earlier concerning Judaisers. I am rejoicing here, in the Lord." "Let your requests be made known unto God." "You know, it is what I used to be, what I used to do. The doctrine of the resurrection was, in his view, that which distinguished the true religion, and which made it of such inestimable value Acts 26:6-7; Acts 23:6; 1 Corinthians 15:0; and he sought to participate in the full honor and glory of such a resurrection. Had He not been God in His own being and title, it would have been no humiliation to be a servant, nor could it be indeed a question of taking such a place. You can get into a right relationship with God only by taking Jesus Christ at his word, and by accepting what God himself offers to you.". There is a sinful forgetting of past sins and past mercies, which ought to be remembered for the exercise of constant repentance and thankfulness to God. I just" And living in the past, and being destroyed in the past, and can't go ahead because they are looking backward. All rights reserved. Heaven is called here the mark, because it is that which every good Christian has in his eye; as the archer has his eye fixed upon the mark he designs to hit. The story of the beginning of that sign is in Genesis 17:9-10. There are a lot of people running the race just to say, "Well, I ran in the race." Paul warns that they are there, they were there in Paul's day; they are there today. but so it was that thus the gospel, the glad tidings of His grace, should reach the highest quarters. Jesus roamed the earth as an outcast, didn't seek to possess any things of the earth. When I have been upset (because that is against my rules, never be upset) and so I am upset, I have to lie to myself and say, "I really wasn't upset, I was just indignant." You watch his pen draw out meaning. All Commentaries Videos Images Devotionals Other Translations Sermons Related Scriptures Podcasts Blogs. And this puts the doctrine, as far as there is doctrine in the epistle, in a very clear light. This was precisely what he desired when a Jew. In Philippians 3:1-21 it is not the display of intrinsic affection in Christ, or the gracious dispositions of Christ in the saints. Not the passive side of the Christian as being in the world, but the active comes before us. The tribe of Benjamin had the place of honour in Israel's battle-line, so that the battle-cry of Israel was: "After thee, O Benjamin!" In short, he was so living Christ, that it was only a question of Christ here, and of Christ there. ", And now there is the most lovely picture of Christ again; for it is always Christ here, and this again practically. He can lose all things, and he can lose all people, but he can never lose Christ. ", "The spiritual resurrection view posits that the out-resurrection refers to the attainment of Christlike character in this life." This is the great value of Christian experience. I. 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). . He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to throw in prison those who believed in Jesus Christ. Observe, A Christian's calling is a high calling: it is from heaven, as its original; and it is to heaven in its tendency. Who can understand why it should be "suitable to the persons addressed," on Dr. B's showing? All human achievement had to be laid aside, in order that he might accept the free grace of Christ. Nor was he in that which he was about to write without deep feeling; but he had learned Christ for all; and this is the key-note of the epistle from the first, though only uttered distinctly at the last. This is salvation in truth. But he said those things which were so important to me, those things for which I lived. "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Peritemnein ( G4059) means to circumcise; katatemnein means to mutilate, as in Leviticus 21:5, which describes forbidden self-mutilation, such as castration. WebPhilippians 3 Leaving Law and Pressing On to Jesus A. It was so as to the Corinthians; nay, it was not wholly wanting for the Galatians, though that which they allowed imperilled the foundations of grace and faith. "That I may win Christ, and be found in him" where not a vestige of self remains, but all will be Christ, and nothing but Christ. The new body, the building of God not made with human hands, the eternal house that God has created for my spirit. They really mind the earthly things. I had it made as far as the law was concerned." 2. 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. His worship is love of God and service of men. It was to Israel that they in the most special sense traced their heritage. the dead. ] 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? Here, my entire life I have never done anything wrong, have been going by the rules, up till now. 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? So he could settle now about his life and death. The Jew in essence trusted himself ; the Christian in essence trusts God. In Php_3:21 it speaks about our vile body. 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. WebHe was naturally grateful to the Philippians, but more so to God who had worked such kindness through the Philippians. 1Pe 5:4, "a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Paul does not want his readers to misunderstand what he has just said. And now she was in her senior year. You will never get into a right relationship with God by your own efforts in keeping the Law. They were looking for the eternal kingdom of God. Now, having seen Christ, if he could even bring his own righteousness into heaven, he would not. It can be a very dangerous thing.On the other hand, I can recognize that I have a problem with sin, with myself, with my flesh. WebMatthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Philippians 3:9-14. But it was by this consolatory truth, `` the spiritual resurrection posits! 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