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. I can't believe what they did to me. F and G, by manifest error, read , and this seems to have been corrected (or rather corrupted) in order to make sense into (omitting ) in K and L and the mass of cursives. That was a thing which he never forgot. He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to throw in prison those who believed in Jesus Christ. Alter and Matthaei followed according to their plan the manuscripts before them; but the latter was too good a scholar not to feel the difference, though he appears to impute it to a corrector for the sake of elegance in his second edition. A better translation would be "if somehow" (NASB margin) or "and so, somehow" (NIV). Other Scripture points to the judgment seat of Christ as the time when God will make this distinction, not the resurrection. Yet these shall bow, no less than those in heaven, or on earth. B. Lightfoot speaks of "the dogs which prowl about eastern cities, without a home and without an owner, feeding on the refuse and filth of the streets, quarrelling among themselves, and attacking the passer-by.". So what do I do? "My bonds in Christ," he says, "are manifest in all the palace." But if a man is to be in special relationship with God, something far more is needed than a mark in his body. He was in prison, long shut out from that which had been his joyful service, though in constant toil and suffering for so many years. 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. "They really did me wrong. Not that all shall be delivered and centred in Him, but that all must bow. 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. There is something which ought to be made known unto men, namely, the not fighting for your rights. There were those who distorted the principle of Christian liberty. They were going to have the senior prom. But the weakest of saints (how much more this greatest of the apostles!) And one day when I am sitting, looking up in Jesus' face, just overwhelmed by His glory and love, I will turn to the fellow next to me, and I will say, "I finally have apprehended that for which I was apprehended. 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. There is therefore not the slightest ground to countenance the rather dangerous idea, that the apostle did not employ a phrase analogous to the correct one which is found elsewhere in the New Testament, and adopted "a popular and familiar mode of expression," i.e. Such did, such was, Christ. To "abound yet more and more," to have that love tempered by divinely given wisdom and divinely exercised judgment, is the very reverse of going back. Experiences are good. Beware of doers." It was a necessary duty sometimes as things are on the earth, but nothing more; and so it is still. He has a plan for your life now, and we should be as Jesus, who said, "I must be about my Father's business." Many different commentaries state that of all the groups that Paul wrote to, Phillipi was probably the best of them all. It was not because of their own personal interest, though this was great and fresh, but they loved that it should go forth. b. There is but one title, there can be no sufficient ground but the name of Christ Christ known and confessed in the Holy Ghost; and where He is simply before us, the progress is most real, if not always easy and sensible. I do not say that the fruits of the loving service of any one of them will be forgotten there; nor that even glory will not bear the impress of that which has been really of the Holy Ghost here. Another view is that Paul was hoping that he would persevere faithfully in his quest to know Christ until he died. And to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God, through faith. "Let your requests," whatever they may be, "be made known unto God;" and not only so, but "with thanksgiving." Paul could say not only, "Listen to my words," but also, "Follow my example." He has not yet reached perfection, regardless of what the Judaizing opponents may have claimed for themselves. Evidently, they made claims of perfection through obedience to the law, and Paul here refutes such a notion. Because you can drive a Cadillac, and you can live on Lido Island. (iii) As far as zeal went, he had been a persecutor of the Church. It is his own personal experience; and this is the reason why we have "I" so often here. Anastasis sometimes signifies the future state. Had he occupied himself with the persons that were so preaching the gospel, how disconsolate he must have been! Let us not mistake in this; let us not be driven from it by a too common misuse. It has the preposition ek (meaning from or out of) added to the ordinary word for resurrection" (Loh and Nida 106). It just doesn't work. (c) It is the guarantee that in life and in death and beyond death the presence of the Risen Lord is always with 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 ). The Greek phrase is ten exanastasin ten ek nekron. As far as the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Paul had it. He knew what it was to be a Jew in the highest sense of the term, and had deliberately abandoned it all for the sake of Jesus Christ. I made it myself." Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory." The hope of the Christian is that the day will come when his humanity will be changed into nothing less than the divinity of Christ, and when the necessary lowliness of mortality will be changed into the essential splendour of deathless life. Paul said, "I have not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended. The things that he had believed to be his glories were in fact quite useless. All believers will be resurrected and have joy forever. 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? It wasnt long after the time of Paul that Christians were martyred for refusing to call Caesar Lord, claiming that Jesus was the only Lord. i. Such is the sense of it here. It stays there. John Nelson was one of Wesley's most famous early preachers. Philippians 3:11 by Grant Richison| Jan 16, 1996| Philippians| 5 comments Read Introduction to Philippians If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. In English, Paul appears to doubtthat he will rise from the dead. A Hebrew was a Jew who was not only of pure racial descent but who had deliberately, and often laboriously, retained the Hebrew tongue. "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." WebPhilippians 3 Leaving Law and Pressing On to Jesus A. This is a claim that Paul makes more than once ( Acts 22:3; Acts 23:6; Acts 26:5). You think you are going to drop, but you keep going. The Old Testament uses to know of sexual intercourse. There were not very many Pharisees, never more than six thousand, but they were the spiritual athletes of Judaism. Is this the life that is practically exercised? WebPhil 3:12-14 (NIV) These verses flashed through my mind last night as I watched the intense focus of an Olympic competitor in the downhill slalom race compete for the gold. The logical progression in Pauls thought in Philippians 3:10-11 was from suffering to death to resurrection. Close. Need it be said that it has not the less its own proper office on that account? But Paul was certain that the only kind of righteousness there is comes from casting oneself freely upon the grace of God. A man must always have a care that he is not himself guilty of the sins of which he accuses others. Faithful believers only will obtain this out-resurrection and have abundance of joy forever. What is the Spirit now doing? This is where at least some of the Jews made the mistake. "Finally," says he, "my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. In affliction, in prison, everywhere. Why go in the way of crowds of soldiers or civil officers? I. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. It is something that I could have never made for myself, but it was given to me by Lady Bountiful. Such is the meaning here. He is my Lord." And they were kind to her, they said, "Oh, that is nice," but they did notice the imperfections in it. No; but "because that ye had heard that he had been sick." There is really no reason to suppose that they preached at all. Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we look for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 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. Women may have gifts as well as men. Paul does not want his readers to misunderstand what he has just said. 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. She gave it her best. "Let's not get too," Paul said, "involved in the world. This epistle is therefore eminently instructive to those who could not have an apostle with them. Jesus is Jehovah, although a man; consequently the bowing in that name to the glory of God the Father does not occur to the apostle. For there are many who behave in such a way--I have often spoken to you about them, and I do so now with tears--that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ. ", "The spiritual resurrection view posits that the out-resurrection refers to the attainment of Christlike character in this life." 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. In effect Paul is saying that the Christian must forget all that he has done and remember only what he has still to do. 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. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. Hebrews 11:35 is instructive here. Only we must always walk according to that standard which we have already reached. The Lord is at hand." all the dead, as a class. According to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself: This is possible only because the God we serve is omnipotent. The story of the beginning of that sign is in Genesis 17:9-10. At any rate they endured the conflicts of the gospel in its earlier days at Philippi. 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. A prisoner he was; and such is all that Scripture tells about him there. He had to divest himself of every human claim of honour that he might accept in complete humility the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. He was too much bent on what was before to be occupied with calling to mind what was behind him; it must have impeded him in the race. 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.". that is miserable to God, we can go on delighting in the goodness of God, as well as in its fruits. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be [not rejoicing here, but] the less sorrowful." Is He really so far from any of those that call upon Him? Generally the NASB is more literal, translating a Greek word with the same English word wherever the Greek word occurs. 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. Paul claims not only to be a pure-blooded Jew but one who still spoke Hebrew. Word Format PDF Format. Unless there were long periods when he never put pen to paper there must have been many more letters which are now lost. The trouble is not that of seeing its meaning; the trouble is that of finding one English word which covers all it includes. All Commentaries Videos Images Devotionals Other Translations Sermons Related Scriptures Podcasts Blogs. At this point Paul repeats warnings that he gave the Philippian church some time earlier concerning Judaisers. 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. 3:2-3 Be on your guard against the dogs; be on your guard against the evil workers; be on your guard against the party of mutilation; for we are the truly circumcised, we who worship in the Spirit of God; we whose proud boast is in Jesus Christ, we who place no confidence in merely human things. Christ was "without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit ( Philippians 3:3 ), Paul was constantly emphasizing that the physical rites had no value except there be a corresponding spiritual experience, that the circumcision of the flesh accounted for nothing. If right here, we are at one, so to speak, with His present purposes. If, then, they really loved him, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if there be any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies," he would venture to seek another proof of it. And any moment I could lose it. We shall see the importance of this elsewhere. As he had said elsewhere before, so he says here, "Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 165-77, for refutation of the partial rapture view.] This is wholly distinct from His own intrinsic eternal glory. Did he want more for himself? Nevertheless, God will surely teach His own, and knows how to clear up what is hidden from them. To rise with the saints; to enter with them into the blessedness of the heavenly inheritance, was an object that the apostle thought was worth every effort which could he made. Already knowing Jesus as his Savior, he now desires to know It is not simply intellectual knowledge, the knowledge of certain facts or even principles. I can't get over that. (i) He sets down what we might call the indestructibility of Christian joy. "Hey, I tried it before. The great characteristic of these colonies was that, wherever they were, they remained fragments of Rome. It was by this name that the Jews called the Gentiles. However there is no other Scripture that teaches a difference in the resurrection of faithful and unfaithful believers. [Note: See John F. Walvoord, Philippians, pp. 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. Beginning of that sign is in heaven, or on earth that is to. Done and remember only what he has still to do will be resurrected and joy... On earth See john F. Walvoord, Philippians, pp Wesley 's most famous early preachers conflicts the... Spoke Hebrew teaches a difference in the goodness of God drop, but that all must.... Paul claims not only, `` my brethren, rejoice in the way of of! Savior Jesus Christ. strife or vain-glory. many different commentaries state that of finding one English word which all... Athletes of Judaism unless there were those who distorted the principle of joy! Was from suffering to death to resurrection right here, we can go on delighting in the.. Could say not only, `` Listen to my words, '' said. 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