A Work in Progress Bible Commentary
By: Chip Crush

PHILIPPIANS
CHAPTER 3

No Confidence in the Flesh

1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

We’re looking at verses v1-11 of chapter 3, in which Paul reminds us to watch out for the enemies of joy, the inhibitors of the gospel. He instructs us to be willing to lose everything for the sake of knowing Christ. Let’s take a look at this passage.

  1. Paul has offered Jesus, as well as Timothy and Epaphroditus, as examples for us to follow in godly living, self-sacrifice, and humility. Now he offers one more command: Rejoice in the Lord! It appears from v1b that Paul has written this type of letter, with the encouragements for godly living, before. He finds it no trouble to write again, reminding the Philippians of these things, as constant reminders serve as safeguards for what we already know. Just the same, it is good for us who believe the gospel to continue to hear the gospel, as it certainly serves as a safeguard for us, keeping us secure in Christ through faith.

    In v2, Paul tells the Philippians to watch out for the dogs, and he explains who the dogs are. It is suggested that the evildoing, mutilators of the flesh are the Jews who infiltrated Galatia and Greece just after Paul, proclaiming that Gentile believers in Christ (Paul’s converts) must also be circumcised and follow Jewish traditional laws to be saved. Paul sees that teaching as false doctrine, and though these particular Jews would have had no trouble with people believing in Jesus as the Christ, their addendums to true Christian doctrine was an offense to Paul’s gospel of grace. Thus he finds no room for unity with them, proving that the unity he has stressed in this letter (and apparently subsequent writings), is not absolute. Rather, as has been stated, Christian unity is based on clear and true Christian doctrine.

    Since Paul sees these dogs as denying justification by Christ through faith alone, and therefore outside the scope of possible unity with believers, he eloquently reminds the Philippians with a play on words that they, along with him and all true believers, are the true children of God in v3. They, though uncircumcised in the flesh, though Gentiles, are the circumcision. They are the ones set apart by God, not the Jews who, though claiming to be the circumcision, were actually the concision (those who rend and divide the church), claiming to be the true children of God, but failing to trust Christ alone for salvation. They worship God in Spirit and in truth – not those who merely follow religious traditions, such as circumcision. They glory in the reality, in Christ alone, not in the mere shadows of Christ or the symbols marked on the body. And they trust, not in themselves or in their abilities or in their efforts, but in Christ alone, for both justification and sanctification. This is so crucial to the Christian faith, because as soon as we embrace any sort of reliance or trust in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, we depart from true Christianity, which is centered on Christ and His works alone.

    Therefore, Paul points out that whenever someone comes along declaring falsehood as truth, such as these Jews who were adding to trust in Christ by trusting also the circumcision of the flesh, and therefore making Christ’s work to be insufficient in itself, he was prepared to remind himself that nobody – and I mean nobody – had more reason to place confidence in self than the apostle Paul, as v4 points out. Thus Paul lists his fleshy characteristics that seem valuable from the Jew’s perspective.

    Finally, in v5b-6, Paul reminds himself, and his audience, of who he was. He was circumcised on the eight day (which was far superior to delayed circumcision, as there was never a moment in his life when he wasn’t under God’s covenant), as an Israelite should be; he was a Benjamite Jew (able to prove his ancestry to a son of Jacob), a Hebrew of Hebrews (able to prove his ancestry to the title given Abraham in Genesis 14:13), a Pharisee (highly regarded as an interpreter and upholder of the Scriptures), a persecutor of the church (so zealous for God’s law that he enforced legal action against what was seen at the time as a blaspheming, false church), and faultless in regards to the law (as seen from man’s “literal” perspective (the letter of the law), for as we know, God’s “spiritual” perspective (the spirit of the law) would have regarded Paul as, in reality, a sinner; and even Paul, looking back, knows that he was the chief of sinners and no more than a merciless legalist prior to his conversion). It was those things that Paul thought earned him favor with God. But as we see in v7-8, Paul will give it all up, even acknowledging that those traits hindered him from gaining Christ.

  2. V7-9 – Paul begins here declaring that all the worldly successes from v5-6 are worthless – even worse, counted as loss, for the sake of Christ. It’s true that our own perceived righteousness is what keeps us from trusting in Jesus’ real righteousness. In other words, those things Paul thought were good and right and for his benefit apart from knowing Christ, he now considers them all to have been hindrances in regards to his coming to Christ and understanding the gospel. Talk about giving yourself a guilt trip! But it gets worse.

    Look at v8. It’s not just those things that Paul mentioned in v5-6 that are to be considered loss. Rather, everything is to be considered rubbish, or excrement – simply for the sake of knowing Christ. Consider Jesus in Matthew 13:44 and Luke 14:33. It’s all loss for His sake. It’s this renouncing of anything valuable in and of ourselves that is a sign of genuine faith in Christ. And it’s something that cannot be done apart from the grace of God. The missionary martyr, Jim Elliott, wrote, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” We ought to be more than willing to give up our righteousness, which is no righteousness at all (Isaiah 64:6), to gain Christ’s righteousness, which is the only true righteousness in all God’s creation available for us to receive by grace through faith.

    Practically, this news that Paul has for us here means four things: (1) Whenever called to choose between anything in this world and Christ, choose Christ. (2) Deal with the things of this world in ways that draw you nearer to Christ in order to gain more of Christ and enjoy more of Him while in the world. (3) Deal with the things of this world in ways that show that they are not your treasure, but rather show that Christ is your treasure. (4) If you lose any or all the things this world can offer, do not lose your joy or your treasure or your life, because Christ is all that matters, and He cannot be taken away.

    Picture sailors in a tremendous storm. They cast everything off the ship, hoping to lighten it and somehow stay afloat during the storm to find themselves alive when it passes. Paul is speaking about that. Hebrews talks about that. We get rid of everything to gain Christ – to survive the wrath of God and be found righteous in Christ when the storm passes. When we get rid of everything just to survive, it hurts. Suffering is nothing more than the taking away of bad things or good things that the world offers for our enjoyment – reputation, esteem among peers, job, money, spouse, sexual life, children, friends, health, strength, sight, hearing, success, etc. When these things are taken away (by force, circumstance, or choice), we suffer. But if we have followed Paul and the teaching of Jesus and have already counted them as loss for the surpassing value of gaining Christ, then we are prepared to suffer. If when you become a Christian you consider all the things in the world except Christ to be loss (unnecessary or worthless), then when Christ calls you to forfeit some of those things, it is not strange or unexpected. The pain and the sorrow may be great. The tears may be many, as they were for Jesus in Gethsemane. But we will be prepared. We will know that the value of Christ surpasses all the things the world can offer and that in losing them we gain more of Christ.

    And notice the transition of v8a to v8b. Paul considers “everything a loss” (preparing to suffer), and then he has “lost all things” (actual suffering). In v8, we see that knowing Christ is surpassing greatness. Not to want to know Christ is an insult to His value and a sign of spiritual stupor or deadness in us. But wanting and striving to know Him, the reward is your joy and His honor. Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:18-19 that we “may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” There is so much of Christ yet to be known! His wonders are inexhaustible to all eternity. What is the benefit of knowing Christ? V9 tells us that the benefit is assurance of justification before God – not having a righteousness of our own, but having a righteousness that comes from God by faith! By knowing Christ, we can be certain of our eternal life. Saving faith is an ongoing preference for Christ over all other values. The pursuit of Christ is the evidence of genuine faith in Christ as our treasure. What sustains Paul in suffering the loss of all things? The confidence that in his losing precious things in the world he is gaining something more precious – Christ and the intimate knowledge of Christ. Look at v10.

  3. V10-11 – Paul says everything is loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. It’s all worth it just to gain Christ. Gaining and knowing are synonyms here. Paul, who knew Christ better than any of us can ever know Him in this life, wants to know Christ. He wants more of Christ. He wants to participate more in His suffering, so that he can participate more in His exaltation and glory. Paul wraps up this section by proclaiming four specifics about what it is to know or to gain Christ: (1) The power of His resurrection. (2) The fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. (3) Becoming like Him in His death. (4) To attain the resurrection from the dead. Calvin says, “Christ therefore is rightly known, when we feel how powerful His death and resurrection are, and how efficacious they are in us.” When Paul says, “somehow,” he is not doubting that it will happen; rather, he is pointing out how difficult it is – even by the grace of God – to overcome in this world of corruption and godlessness. Thanks be to God that Jesus has overcome!

    Do we want to know Christ, to be more intimate with Him, so much that we count everything as loss to gain Him, the greatest of all treasures? May God open our eyes to the infinite worth of knowing Christ!

Pressing on Toward the Goal

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

We’re looking at verses 12-21 of chapter 3, in which Paul explains the effort required to live the Christian life. Though we have been justified, we have not reached perfection. Thus we strive to grow and rejoice in Christ for our benefit, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and for the glory of God. Let’s look.

  1. V12-14 – Grace produces genuine humility in the believer. Paul admits that he has not yet attained perfection (both eternal salvation on the positive side and permanent mortification of selfness on the negative side). Paul doesn’t know Jesus enough yet; he hasn’t gained Him enough yet. But the same grace that saves and humbles him also gives him a drive and a zeal to pursue this perfection in Christ. Rather than becoming self-satisfied or discouraged, Paul presses on. Likewise, we must strive to gain Christ, to know Him more, because we are so imperfect (v12a), and because He has taken hold of us (v12b). See Philippians 2:12-13. This is the same thing. We do not just rest in Him; rather we work in Him now so that we can rest in Him for all eternity. “Strive for…the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), for the Lord is working in you what is pleasing in His sight (Hebrews 13:21).

    How do we strive to gain Christ? Here are four ways we can come to know Him more: (1) Foster dissatisfaction in yourself (v12), especially with your spiritual life. Be saddened that there is so little of Christ in you. Be upset that you look nothing like your Savior, and strive to become like Him. (2) Focus on the prize. Paul knows he hasn’t taken hold of the prize yet, but is single-minded in its pursuit. In Psalm 27:4, David says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this alone I seek; to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Paul says, “One thing I do” (v13), and then, in going hard for Christ, he tells us two more things. (3) Forget what is behind (v13), meaning anything in your background that hinders your pursuit of God. Never substitute nostalgia for hope. Memories of successes can make you smug and self-satisfied. Memories of failure can make you hopeless and paralyzed in your pursuit of God. Never look back like that. Give humble thanks for successes; make humble confessions for failure; then turn to the future and go hard after God. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (4) Face the future; strain toward what is ahead (v13). Like an athlete, strive with discipline and diligence for spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 9:25–27). Set yourself a goal to know more of the Word of God, to grasp more of the will of God, to love more of the wonder of God; and then make a plan of prayer and study and worship and go for it with all your might. We do not run in our own strength and, all the more therefore, we can be assured that going hard after the holy God will bring us to know Him deeply and enjoy the blessed assurance of our salvation.

    One of the very best indicators of the reality and depth and vitality of our relationship with Christ is the issue of our contentedness. Be content with the gifts God has given you. Be discontent with the current state of your spiritual life. Be content, with any and every gift that our sovereign God has chosen to give you in His wisdom and love. Be discontent with your knowledge and experience of God – with the intensity with which you worship His majesty, with the depth and breadth with which you understand His truth revealed in Scripture, with the purity and holiness with which you seek His righteousness in your life, and with the zeal and determination with which you pursue His kingdom and its advance.

  2. V15-17 – Paul wants all maturing believers to take this view of his. We are certainly saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. We are saved by a faith that leads to obedience and good works. Those whose “faith” produces obedience are truly saved, but many are deceived about their spiritual condition, because they do not understand the gospel message, or because their minds have been hardened against it. Elsewhere Paul says, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness” (2 Timothy 2:19).

    Paul has emphasized the importance of uniting around the gospel, and we have seen that this gospel has some very specific content. Uniting around the gospel means agreeing on justification by faith and rejecting all false doctrines. Then, on the basis of this theological unity, we press on to pursue complete sanctification. Although it seems that we will never attain it in this life, we forget what is behind and press forward to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of us. We do this not by our own power, since we have no such power in ourselves (John 15:4-5), and we do this not so that we may be justified before God; rather, we pursue sanctification because we have already been justified, and because the power of God now works in us to produce sanctification. And as we do so, we will increase in the assurance of our calling and election (2 Peter 1:10).

    V16 declares that we need to live up to what we have already attained. It’s an “already but not yet” perspective. Our hope of eternal life, of glorification and perfection is already attained if we are united to Jesus Christ by faith. But we’re not there yet. That’s why we need to strive to get there. God will bring us there, so let’s get there. The ending of the story of our life has a certain conclusion. We’re just not sure what chapter we’re in right now. We see this reality again in v20. As Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” If we follow Paul’s example, we will live with “pure zeal, fear of the Lord, modesty, self-renunciation, docility, love, and desire for gospel unity.”

  3. V18-21 – It saddens Paul that there are enemies of the gospel. He has told us about the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh. But this group is not even pretending to be Christian. This group saddens Paul, because they are so far from the truth, so self-serving. Their god is their stomach, and they glory in their shame. Their destiny is destruction, because their mind is on earthly things. This group that so saddens Paul things nothing of spiritual things. They, as other New Testament writers acknowledge, deliberately forget the truth, suppress the truth, by living in complete unrighteousness. They exchange the glory of God for idols. Notice that Paul is not saddened because of their violence to themselves. His concern here is not their destruction. He is not burdened by hopelessness for their salvation. Rather, he wants to see the Church glorify Christ, and it saddens him that these destructive pests harm the Church in this goal. But he switches gears, returning to joyous thoughts, in v20.

    Our citizenship is in heaven. They mind earthly things. We are citizens of heaven. We are sojourners, here for time, a short time; our life is but a vapor. We don’t cling to this earthly life while we are here. Enjoy it? Yes! Work hard for God’s glory? Yes! Covet it? Never. Calvin says, “On the one hand, we must pass quietly through this life, and, on the other hand, we must be dead to the world that Christ may live in us, and that we, in our turn, may live to Him.”

    In v20-21, Paul makes a very grand assumption – if he hadn’t witnessed it for himself – and the assumption is this: Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is now in heaven with a resurrected physical body waiting to return for His Church. In 2 Thessalonians 1:10, Paul writes that Jesus “comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” Notice, though, that marveling without understanding is of no value. It makes us look foolish, and the one at whom we’re marveling is reduced to a trickster. When we see a magic trick and marvel, it’s because we don’t know how it was done. The magician gets our applause, but only because he has tricked us. But when we marvel at Jesus, it needs to be on account of our understanding that He alone deserves glory for who He is, for His eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:18), for His sovereign, resurrection power. We are not made out to be fools when we marvel in understanding this about our God; and Jesus gets genuine glory, based on a slight of hand, but on His flawless character and impeccable work on earth and authentic, permanent resurrection from the dead.

    Hebrews 2:10 says, “For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” The Lord and Judge and Savior over the entire universe was tested and found perfect through human suffering. Now He is doubly suited for his role as Lord of the universe: He is God with natural rights, and He is Redeemer with purchased rights. He can put His foot on Satan’s neck not just because of raw divine power – which would have been enough – but also because He exposed Himself to Satan’s temptations and to His final weapon, death, and broke it on Easter Sunday morning. So He is doubly suited to rule. He has Creator rights and Redeemer rights.

    Notice three marvelous things about Jesus from v20-21: (1) Marvel at the power of the risen Jesus to bring everything under His control (the scope, the process, the pervasiveness, the triumph, the finality for man in judgment, the duration, and the fact that this power will be revealed on the earth when He returns). (2) Marvel that on the day of His coming, He will use this power to transform our bodies into a body like His. We will have real, physical, incorruptible bodies – like His was revealed in John 21. (3) Marvel that our citizenship is in heaven where Christ rules. We can know for sure that we will be with Him forever! It is by grace through faith in Christ that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8).


Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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