All for Christ

Before stressing the serious danger of placing confidence in the flesh, the apostle called for a spirit of rejoicing in the Lord.

He encourages us to rejoice in the Lord! This spirit or attitude of joy permeates this entire letter. Joy comes, however, only as one lives in the Lord. He is joy’s only source. Paul consciously repeated himself, knowing repetition leads to learning. What he wrote was so important he wanted to make sure they did not miss his points.

There is a certain indestructibility in Christian joy, and it is so because Christian joy is in the Lord. Its basis is that Christians live forever in the presence of Jesus Christ. They can lose everything, and they can lose everyone, but they can never lose Christ. And, therefore, even in circumstances where joy would seem to be impossible and there seems to be nothing but pain and discomfort, Christian joy remains, because not all the threats and terrors and discomforts of life can separate Christians from the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord (Romans 8:35–9).

All three warnings in this verse point to one group—most likely to people who taught that all Christians had to follow the Jewish law

Paul taught that non-Jewish believers did not need to observe the law or become circumcised, but others promoted the opposite view. According to Paul, these opponents had severely disfigured the gospel message by trying to supplement Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Paul asserts that the sign of being God’s people—the true circumcision—is worshiping by the Spirit and boasting in the work of Christ.

Seven advantages listed in Philippians 3:5–6 demonstrate what Paul used to have in the flesh but what he later counted as loss for Christ.

Two kinds of advantages are enumerated. First are those things which the apostle had by birth, apart from his choice. Four of these are listed

If anyone had bragging rights about their status and achievement, Paul did. He had been:

1. circumcised according to the Jewish Law

2. born in the Israelite tribe of Benjamin

3. a devout Pharisee

4. faithful to the Old Testament law

His Jewish heritage and practices had been extremely important to him prior to his conversion (Acts 9:1–16), but Jesus showed him that just being Jewish did not make him righteous before God. Good works were not the means to salvation. True righteousness comes from personal faith in Christ, so Paul no longer placed his faith of winning God’s merit through heritage or good works. Knowing Christ changed everything in his life.

While these credentials and accomplishments are impressive, Paul placed no “stock” or confidence in them. Jewish observers would place him at the top of the religious elite. He placed it all in the debit or loss column. Why? Nothing belonged in the profit column except Christ.

Paul intensifies his previous statement: Not just his Jewish identity, but everything is a disadvantage compared to knowing the Messiah.

The things of the world—all human accomplishments—are viewed as rubbish or garbage in comparison to gaining Christ. Paul’s focus changed completely. No longer did personal religious ritual and obedient religious acts occupy center stage. All eyes were on Christ and on him alone. Paul wanted to know Christ.

Why such single-minded devotion to Christ? Because he is the only source of righteousness—that is, of right relationship with God. Righteousness comes as a gift from God and is by faith in Christ, the true way to God in contrast to human merit or works. Here is Paul’s doctrine of salvation and philosophy of life. In regards to eternal salvation, humans deserve nothing, can achieve nothing, and have no reason for pride or self-assurance. God has done everything: created, disciplined, had grace, given his Son Jesus on the cross for our sin, raised Jesus, declared us righteous and justified, adopted us as his children, and promised us resurrection and eternal life. The only human part in all this, in faith, is to accept what God has done

To know Christ meant much more than knowing about him in his mind.

Knowledge is a relationship term of intimacy. Paul wanted the closest possible personal relationship with Christ, a relationship pictured in baptism as buried to the old life of sin and raised to a new life of righteousness. To know Christ in this way meant he was ready to share in Christ’s sufferings, even if that meant sharing his death. Paul’s longing to share with Christ comes through strongly in Galatians 2:20:

Paul has not yet arrived at his goal. The Greek verb used here, teleioō, can refer to being perfected, being completed, or reaching a goal

Paul’s description of his desires pointed forward to a goal. He had not “arrived.” Not yet mature, he was still very much in the race of the Christian life. The perfection he would have at the future resurrection was not yet attained. He still had to deal with what in Romans 7 he calls “the flesh,” an innate pull to sin. He had to deal with his sinful body and was only too aware of the need for further spiritual growth. He purposes to press on as he had not attained the intense personal knowledge of Christ that he desired and had not become all that Christ wanted him to be. He did not press on out of personal power or will.

Paul always held God up as the source of every part of the salvation experience. A fact of the Christian life is that the more you mature the more you realize how much further you have to go to become like Christ.