Because of that, righteousness nearly always for Paul has the meaning of a right relationship with God. It is no trouble to me to write the same things to you, and for you it is safe. All human achievement had to be laid aside, in order that he might accept the free grace of Christ. There is no looking at Him as Saviour on the cross merely; but when He comes for us, there will be in the filial sense (as ever in our epistle) "salvation." A better translation would be "if somehow" (NASB margin) or "and so, somehow" (NIV). Hence the conflict is never with internal evil, but rather with Satan. Quite suddenly Paul's accent changes to that of warning. Their end is destruction: their god is their belly; that in which they glory is their shame. 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. As it was a true though distressing part for Christ to judge religious evil, something akin could not be absent here; but at the same time it was by no means a prominent characteristic of Christ's task here below far from it. Here and there at strategic military centres the Romans set down their colonies. The Jew placed his confidence in the physical badge of circumcision and in the performance of the duties of the Law. Not that there were not difficulties; there were many. What some people wouldn't give for the opportunity of gathering with us.He said. No; it is practical. 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. It seems strange that if Paul wanted to distinguish between faithful and unfaithful believers here he would use the resurrection to do so. Let us be humbled on account of our sins. 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. 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. Beware of dogs ( Philippians 3:1-2 ). Jesus roamed the earth as an outcast, didn't seek to possess any things of the earth. Sit at my feet and learn." Because He was interested in the heavenly kingdom. So, then, Paul is saying, "I found the Law and all its ways of no more use than the refuse thrown on the garbage heap to help me to get into a right relationship with God. If then, matter is essentially evil, the body is essentially evil and will remain evil whatever you do with it. 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." It is not sentiment, but a genuine feeling, thus "looking not each at his own things, but each also at the things of others." (3.) In a certain sense too he could not, and in another he would not choose. "Let's not get too," Paul said, "involved in the world. but I follow after [I am pursuing], if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus ( Philippians 3:12 ). Indeed Paul did. The apostle had his heart upon heaven as his happiness: If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead,Philippians 3:11; Philippians 3:11. I just did a dumb thing, I ran through a red light and hit somebody and I am being sued for a million dollars. WebThe true people of God, whom Paul calls the true circumcision, are not those who have carried out a ceremony to put a mark in their bodies, but those who have received new life from Christ through an inward spiritual change (3:1-3). He desired to win Christ; and an unspeakable gainer he would reckon himself if he had but an interest in Christ and his righteousness, and if Christ became his Lord and his Saviour: That I may win him; as the runner wins the prize, as the sailor makes the port he is bound for. Practical Bible study on Philippians 3:1-11. The apostle drops entirely his official status in addressing the saints at Philippi. But in truth it may betray itself in doctrine and practice in various shapes. If you read any Greek, you can pick up on the play on words. He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to throw in prison those who believed in Jesus Christ. He is not condemning Judaism from the outside. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. The resurrection is the ultimate goal for all Christians. 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. 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. Whatever you desire, just ask God, insist on God, command God. Hence it may be remarked that in the epistle to the Philippians it is not a question of lusts of the flesh; the flesh is not so much as named here, except in a religious way; not in its gross sins, as man would judge, but in its pretensions to religion. Nevertheless, God will surely teach His own, and knows how to clear up what is hidden from them. And so, when He is finished with me here, this robe of flesh I will drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air. 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? The dogs were the pariah dogs, roaming the streets, sometimes in packs, hunting amidst the garbage dumps and snapping and snarling at all whom they met. Women may have gifts as well as men. 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. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. And all of my good record down the tube and the righteousness is erased. Philippians 4:1-23 is founded on both. Evidently, therefore, two glories of Jesus are referred to here. The particular, electing love of God from before the foundation of the world is the reason why anyone becomes a Christian. Their true and constant progress was what the apostle had before his own soul in prayer for them, instead of coolly giving up the saints, as if the new nature must grow feebler day by day as if the things of the world must overcome faith, and the things which are seen outweigh those which are unseen and eternal. and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. He says, "All my life I have been trying to get into a right relationship with God. So it is true with us. 3:4-7 And yet it remains true that I have every ground of confidence from the human point of view. Paul had discovered that a right relationship with God is based not on Law but on faith in Jesus Christ. "lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Self-judgment, where grace is known, is a most wholesome exercise of soul; and we shall have it in perfection even in heaven itself before the judgment-seat of Christ. This is interesting, for it must mean that Paul had written other letters to the Philippians which have not survived. 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 You listen to John Piper. 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." He forgot himself in the gospel. The words, as they stand in the best MSS., are as follow: , to that resurrection which is of the dead. "But my God shall supply all your need." He provides his own life as an example to the Philippians to follow as opposed to the false teachers. He too in love still keeps up the servant-character, and gives them as it were the Christ-character. Who, when He comes, He is going to change our bodies, that they might be fashioned like His own glorious image. Paul says to the Philippians, "Just as the Roman colonists never forget that they belong to Rome, you must never forget that you are citizens of heaven; and your conduct must match your citizenship.". WebFee's commentary on Paul's letter to the church in Philippi. The verb katavtao ("attain") means to come to, to arrive at, or to attain to something. Impossible that He could be made Jehovah. It was not because of their own personal interest, though this was great and fresh, but they loved that it should go forth. 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. 87-88; and S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "The Out-Resurrection from the Dead," Bibliotheca Sacra 110 (1953):139-46; and Lightner, "Philippians," p. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. It is not merely exalting His work, or His cross; it is not so much His blood, as Christ Himself. THE ATTAINMENTS OF PAUL ( Php_3:4-7 continued). 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? And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. 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. Had he not been God, he could not have been our righteousness; the transcendent excellence of the divine nature put such a value upon, and such a virtue into, his sufferings, that they became sufficient to satisfy for the sins of the world, and to bring in a righteousness which will be effectual to all that believe. Probably Paul meant that he hoped he would live to experience the Rapture, the "out-resurrection from among the dead," before he died. There is nothing so unaffectedly humble as real faith, and, above all, that character of faith which lives on Christ, and which consequently lives Christ. Does not our love fervently flame towards heaven? (Spurgeon). 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. Roman dress was worn; Roman magistrates governed; the Latin tongue was spoken; Roman justice was administered; Roman morals were observed. In this chapter the apostle cautions the Philippians against false teachers, whom he describes as evil men, and exhorts them to walk as they had him, and other faithful ministers for an example. There are a lot of people running the race just to say, "Well, I ran in the race." Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. There were those who distorted the principle of Christian liberty. Hence he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Therefore, says Paul, it is the Christians who are the truly circumcised. And he answered, "Who art thou, Lord that I may serve thee?" There is no epistle in the New Testament which gives so little space to the development of. What the happiness of heaven is: it is to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ. ), . He is author of. 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. 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. Energy is not the best or highest aspect of Christianity. They really mind the earthly things. i. Jesus really can subdue all things. He knew that the only way to peace was to abandon the way of human achievement and accept the way of grace. 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. The great saving truths of Christianity do not change; and we cannot hear them too often. Now, Paul said in his Roman epistle, "I know in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing." "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead. In any case, indeed, to the Christian, death is gain; but he could best say it who could say, "To me to live is Christ," who could say it not merely as the faith of Him, but as a matter of simple, unconstrained, spontaneous enjoyment of Christ in practical ways. The fitter we grow for heaven the faster we must press towards it. They are circumcised, not with the outward mark in the flesh, but with that inner circumcision of which the great law-givers and teachers and prophets spoke. It is a description that might almost do for Christ himself, so high is the standard for those that belong to Christ. Yes. Next, not only did he exhort them not to be terrified by the power of Satan, which is itself an evident and solemn sign of perdition to those that oppose the saints of God; but he calls on them to cast out the sources of disunion among themselves; and this he does in the most touching way. Observe, [1.] A Hebrew was a Jew who was not only of pure racial descent but who had deliberately, and often laboriously, retained the Hebrew tongue. "Therefore," says he, though I am in a strait betwixt two," as he had said before, "having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Paul warns that they are there, they were there in Paul's day; they are there today. It was not that he wanted more. There would be no question of his being a part of such a resurrection." Benjamin was the child of Rachel, the well-loved wife of Jacob, and of all the twelve patriarchs he alone had been born in the Promised Land ( Genesis 35:17-18). "The prize" is "the crown of righteousness" (1Co 9:24; 2Ti 4:8). Here, my entire life I have never done anything wrong, have been going by the rules, up till now. Paul was probably speaking of the Rapture. 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