In the Christian life there is no room for a person who desires to rest upon his laurels. But with the Philippians there was increased jealousy for Christ. They were more obedient in his absence than in his presence. Hence he calls upon them, as one that could not be with them to help them in the conflict, to work out their own salvation. It was the natural cry of man, "Spare yourself from suffering." Christ was "without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." As far as the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Paul had it. How lovely that this it was that pained him unselfish love! a. He was born and circumcised a Jew and trained to be a zealous law-abiding Pharisee, but he found that trying to do good by keeping laws could not make the guilty sinner acceptable to God. Surely there must have been something seriously wrong to judge in him! "But my God shall supply all your need." He has not attained this "perfection" as is evident from verses 12-16. 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. "I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." The scriptures affirm clearly the assurance of salvation; yet: Paul wants to impress upon us the difficulties, struggles, and hindrances that attend the believers life. Whence our grace comes--from our being apprehended of Christ Jesus. The verb katavtao ("attain") means to come to, to arrive at, or to attain to something. It is the imbuing of the Christian with that which is life everlasting, but the life that he is now living by "the faith of the Son of God, who loved him and gave himself for him." But when I take the righteousness which is by Christ, it is an honest life, I can say, "Hey, I am not perfect, but I believe in Jesus Christ with all my heart. Hey, this is a pretty good pedigree. The resurrection of the dead. He had proved long the power and the joy of Christ for every day, and for every circumstance of it. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous ( Philippians 3:1 ). Thus the difference between reconciliation and subjection is manifest. It is the forming of the heart with the affections and the judgments of the Lord. THE ONLY TRUE CIRCUMCISION ( Php_3:2-3 continued), (iii) Lastly, he calls them, the party of mutilation. Experiences are good. And this is true from the first moment of our career as God's children. WebSunday, February 26, 2023 Living Hope Christian Church, Inc. will broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube beginning at 11:00 am. Consequently we must look for another explanation of this verse. The very language Paul uses to describe the Law--excrement--shows the utter disgust for the Law which his own frustrated efforts to live by it had brought him; and the joy that shines through the passage shows how triumphantly adequate he found the grace of God in Jesus Christ. 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 ). Will it be said that this is what the apostle felt, and did, and suffered in the freshness of his first acquaintance with Christ? Abraham and those saints of the Old Testament, the scripture said, confessed that they were just strangers and pilgrims on this earth, that they were looking for the city which hath foundations whose maker and builder is God. As far as his zeal and according to the righteousness that is in the law, he was blameless. Close. The great characteristic of these colonies was that, wherever they were, they remained fragments of Rome. Verse 11. Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. "Let your moderation be made known unto men." WebPhilippians 3 Leaving Law and Pressing On to Jesus A. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. I was so moved, I was so touched by the Spirit of God upon my life." It is the proof that his promise to be with us always to the end of the world is true. Oh, grave where is thy victory?" This epistle is therefore eminently instructive to those who could not have an apostle with them. It cannot be till the Christ is risen according to the pattern of Christ Himself. How truly he accounted himself less than the least of them! There is really no reason to suppose that they preached at all. He had got a better righteousness, and he desired nothing so much as to be found in Christ, having that which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Be of good cheer. I just can't do it. Thus, as at the beginning of the chapter, there was the energy that went out against the evil workers, with a religious mind after the flesh, so now there is the energy that bursts forth against those that were misusing Christianity, making it an earthly system, setting their mind on things here below, under the name of the Lord Jesus; and between the two, is set forth the positiveness, if one may so speak, of Christ Himself. That was a common name by which the Jews referred to the Gentiles: the gentile dogs. He is exalting Christ. But Paul is willing to follow Jesus to the cross. "Yea," said he, "and I count all things but loss." Many hence have wrongly gathered that they were preachers. Here Paul rounds upon these Jewish teachers who were seeking to undo his work. This is the unfailing secret of it all the true source of humility in service. Through the wonderful sight of the love of Christ, this answered the question to his faith, leaving all circumstances entirely aside. Does he question the assurance of his salvation? To a Jew zeal was the greatest quality in the religious life. Practical Bible study on Philippians 3:1-11. Paul had been so zealous a Jew that he had tried to wipe out the opponents of Judaism. body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." In rich measure did the apostle live thus himself it was the one thing he did; and he would have the saints to be living in it too. They regarded circumcision in itself as being enough to set them apart specially for God. The word concision comes from a Greek word, which means mutilators. What he means by forgetting the things that are behind is, that we should not think of any progress we may have made in following Christ, that we should lose sight of everything calculated to give us self-satisfaction. 3:4-7 And yet it remains true that I have every ground of confidence from the human point of view. Such is the sense of it here. But while a man is quite unfit to do a woman's work, can it be doubted that a woman brings no honour to herself, or to the Lord, by attempting to do a man's task? 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. 3:12-16 Not that I have already obtained this, or that I am already all complete but I press on to try to grasp that for which I have been grasped by Jesus Christ. I can be honest with myself. All we want is, that the eye of faith be a little open; but it is only Christ before the eye that keeps it open. Something that I could never purchase for myself, something that I could never do for myself. We can only guess who they may have been. 3:1 As for what remains, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. 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. Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Philippians 3 .Again, remember that the background of this epistle, Paul is chained to a Roman soldier in Rome, in prison, writing to the Philippians. 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. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. But Paul said. That isn't a real representative of You. (iii) It means to be so united with Christ that day by day we come more to share in his death, so that finally we share in his Resurrection. They joined with those who preached the truth and partook of their obloquy. admits that the external testimony is quite in its favour, though it is hard to see what he means by the internal evidence being in this case denied; for he suggests himself that may have been a correction proceeding from those who thought that the sense which the context requires, "the resurrection from the dead," could not be extracted from . If by any means I, might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. "Probably the best illustration I have heard of this particular passage is the story of the young girl who came from very poor circumstances, but was diligent and worked hard to work her way through college. As far as he was concerned, therefore, why could he choose? He would have one who begins with Christ to (so on with Christ, have nothing but Christ before his eyes, and pursue this path without a stumble till the day of Christ. Yet these shall bow, no less than those in heaven, or on earth. This is lost in the idea of labouring in it. The true Christian worships God, not with outward forms and observances, but with the true devotion and the real sincerity of his heart. In the Bible the dog always stands for that than which nothing can be lower. He was made Lord and Christ. . "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation" (he would turn it again to practical profit as to others): "because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.". 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. To abound in love is far from declension. Whoever they were, Paul reminds them of one great truth: "Our citizenship," he says, "is in heaven." What then are the signs of that real circumcision? And mark, it is not the anticipation of light with Christ in heaven, but His light now while He is in heaven shining on the heart, and on the circumstances of the pathway here below. "I would, then, that ye should understand, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." Dr. S. T. Bloomfield indeed (Addit. WebPhilippians 3:1214. Instead of occupying oneself with all one hears that would cast down, now that we have committed all. I speak of Christian love, of course. The moment you look at what He is made, then it is to the glory of Him who thus exalted Him. There may be sins within your heart that have long resisted control. Introduction: Born in 1909, Glenn Cunningham, when he was just 8 years old, was severely It is true that Paul frequently plotted Christs story around the motifs of death and resurrection, a scheme he most likely inherited from If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. Faith is called knowledge, Isaiah 53:11. b. "Beware of the concision.". "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain" ( Genesis 4:1). Videos. 26 December 2021 AM Philippians 3:13-14 Scott Childs. So what Paul says is, "If you have nothing to show but circumcision of the flesh, you are not really circumcised--you are only mutilated. Such did, such was, Christ. John Piper @JohnPiper. His worship is love of God and service of men. And, therefore, even in circumstances where joy would seem to be impossible and there seem to be nothing but pain and discomfort, Christian joy remains, because not all the threats and terrors and discomforts of life can separate the Christian from the love of God in Christ Jesus his Lord ( Romans 8:35-39). We may request cookies to be set on your device. Again and again Paul returns to the thought that when the Christian has to suffer, he is in some strange way sharing the very suffering of Christ and is even filling up that suffering ( 2 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10-11; Galatians 6:17; Colossians 1:24). Nothing, then, would the apostle have done in strife or vain-glory; "' but in lowliness of mind each esteeming other better than themselves." Paul has already spoken of the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ. That he might know Christ (Philippians 3:10; Philippians 3:10): That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. It has the preposition ek (meaning from or out of) added to the ordinary word for resurrection" (Loh and Nida 106). Moreover the term "out-resurrection" seems to stress separation from others at the time of resurrection rather than separation from others following resurrection. Philippians 3:1114: When Should I Forget My Past? Differences there may be among the saints, and especially when we come to the question of experience. Not only do we have the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but we have the privilege of gathering together and studying the word of God together. If Jehovah so served, it was but natural that He should be made Lord of all, and so He is. Because you can drive a Cadillac, and you can live on Lido Island. But it is better for you to lose your character, than for Christ through you to lose His; for you are responsible to display the character of Christ. worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus ( Philippians 3:3 ). Their affections were right. Now she walks back out where all of the girls are waiting, and she said, "Look girls," and as they gasp in amazement at the glory and the beauty of the dress, she said, "This is something that I could have never purchased for myself. The 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).To support this statement, Paul refers to his own experience. Of the two, the converse would be more intelligible; but my conviction is that both the Lord and His apostle used similar and correct phraseology, as did the Holy Spirit elsewhere. In Php_3:15 he again uses teleios ( G5046) and says that this must be the attitude of those who are teleios ( G5046) . Includes commentary, questions, and applications on Philippians 3:1 But so it is; and thus the food of faith becomes the poison of unbelief. Israel was the name which had been specially given to Jacob by God after his wrestling with him ( Genesis 32:28). It was the teaching of these Jews that, if a man wished to be saved, he must earn credit in the sight of God by countless deeds of the law; and, further that salvation belonged to the Jews and to no one else, and that, before God could have any use for him, a man must be circumcised and, as it were, become a Jew. WebMatthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Philippians 3:9-14. They were more obedient in his absence than in his presence. It would be the equivalent in England of saying that he came over with the Normans or in America that he traced his descent to the Pilgrim fathers. If by any means I, might attain unto the resurrection of. 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. Having died and risen with Christ, he wants to go on and experience in reality what this means - death to sin and selfish desires, and a new life of constant victory through the living power of the risen Christ within him. No; but "because that ye had heard that he had been sick." 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. The apostle would remind us that even he "must watch and pray continually to abide in the fellowship of Christs sufferingfor only in that way the glorification with Christwill be attained" (Silva 193, quoting J.J. Muller). Let us be humbled on account of our sins. The new body, the building of God not made with human hands, the eternal house that God has created for my spirit. From which we also eagerly wait for the Savior: As Philippians would eagerly await a visit from the emperor in Rome, even more so should Christians eagerly await the coming of their King Jesus Christ. He says, "All my life I have been trying to get into a right relationship with God. The word if can be translated as since: Since I will attain to the resurrection from the dead is the Such was the apostle's faith. This verse does not contain a purpose clause, as the NASB translation "in order that" implies. Who they were is not certain. Now I do count them, thirty years later, I still count them loss. The effect upon the individual is usually pride and the developing of a judgmental attitude.As the Pharisee who went in before the Lord and said, "Father, I thank you that I am not as other men. They may have been Gnostics. Far from it. He is not condemning Judaism from the outside. 2.]. And do count them but dung [as refuse], that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ( Philippians 3:8-9 ): Now, Paul had excelled in the righteousness in the law. But he said those things which were so important to me, those things for which I lived. Christ was surely blameless in the highest sense, as His ways were harmless, "holy, harmless, undefiled," as it is said elsewhere. WebJamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 14. high callingliterally, "the calling that is above" (Ga 4:26; Col 3:1): "the heavenly calling" (Heb 3:1). "Don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, so hey, I will jump this ship and get on this one and I will gladly throw overboard the old life, with the struggle and the effort in my flesh, in order to live this new life after the Spirit, believing and trusting in Jesus Christ, to do for me what I really can't do for myself. Had it been a question of his apostolic dignity, this could not have been; but an apostle even could, and did, and loved to, take the place of one that served others whom he viewed directly in their relationship to Christ. Codd. Forgetting the things which are behind, reaching forth for those things which are before, pressing towards that mark, be thus minded. shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. You know, there are many people in the world tonight who have never had the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality and then will be brought to pass the saying, Oh, death where is thy sting? And what is this but the unfolding of the truth in the heart and in the ways of the Christian? 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. 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. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things [because their minds are always on earthly things] ( Philippians 3:19 ). Not in a figurative sense, the resurrection from the death of sin to a life of grace, of which Christ is He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion. I have no confidence in the flesh. Who would have expected that the timid man Nicodemus, and the honourable councillor Joseph of Arimathea, would have been brought out at the very time when even the apostles themselves had fled trembling with fear? Paul had certain people that seemed to follow him wherever he went, trying to pervert that which he taught of the grace of God, especially the Jewish legalizers who sought to bring the people back to a legal relationship with God, putting them under the law. At the same time, God's word is to me plain as to the manner in which the gifts are to be exercised. We worship God in the spirit.Jesus said, "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.". He met Christ on the Damascus road. The only safeguard of the saints, of those that love the truth and Himself, is simple subjection to the word of God to the whole truth He has revealed in scripture. And it is an interesting period in church history where those who are indulging their flesh look upon it as spiritual superiority. It is still going on. When Christ laid hold of us, it was to bring us to heaven; and to apprehend that for which he apprehended us is to attain the perfection of our bliss. It is the only place in Scripture where the phrase means, not simply the righteousness of God in point of character, but the righteousness of God in point of source. It may be remarked here, that from an expression often misunderstood in Philippians 2:1-30 it might seem as if the apostle wished somehow to weaken their confidence. All believers will be resurrected and have joy forever. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. Why should women expose, themselves? WebComplete Concise He cautions them against judaizing seducers (v. 1-3) and proposes his own example: and here he enumerates the privileges of his Jewish state which he Of a crooked and perverse nation. verses 12-16 same things to you, to me, those things were! Bow, no less than the least of them, I still count them the... Active comes before us instructive to those who are indulging their flesh look upon as... That we have committed all epistle is therefore eminently instructive to those who are indulging their look. Concerned, therefore, why could he choose passive side of the surpassing value of the love Christ... Aware that this it was the name which had been sick. Eve his wife and. 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