Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:4b-14 (NRSV)

⁴If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

⁷ Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

In Philippians 3:4b-14, Paul continues his warning against some errors. In the process, we learn some personal spiritual biography that illustrates why his opponents are going down the wrong path. His life is testimony to the conclusion he has drawn that Torah is not the path to right standing with God. We can infer that his opponents thought that at least some of the Jewish Law remained authority for Christians. Paul will offer the course of his life as a testimony of the falsity of that claim. 

The passage raises an important question for us as readers. Is there anything we have had to switch off to see the prize set before us in Christ? In fact, do we desire Christ so much that we are willing to reorder our lives around him? In what ways do we view suffering in this life as participation in the suffering of Christ? How would doing so change our view of suffering? The passage raises the question of the vision we have for our lives. It raises the question of the passion that guides our lives. It may well be that the saddest thing in the world is people who can physically see but have no vision (Helen Keller). People with vision are the people who will change the part of the world their lives touch. Such a vision or dream begins now to alter our lives (Goethe). 

         Paul begins by recounting his past religious life. Paul is describing his Jewishness, emphasizing his descent from a Jewish family in Israel.[1] In Acts 22:3, Paul says he is a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, but raised in Jerusalem and studied with Gamaliel emphasizing the strictness with which he adhered to the law and was zealous for God. He writes of his experience of Judaism as being part of a morally strict group, as if it had provisional value.[2] ^4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh (σαρκὶ), I have more. In his case, his religious life gave him much about which to boast. He had been an observant and obedient Jew. Some signs of this were the privileges of birth. He arranges in ascending order four clauses that describe the privileges inherited by the apostle apart from his own act or will. First, he received circumcision on the eighth day. This could be done as a proselyte, so Paul adds to this. Second, he was part of the people of Israel. Some Israelites might not be able to display their genealogy, so Paul adds to this. Third, he could identify himself with the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of the first king of Israel, Saul, after whom he may have had his Jewish name. He could be a Jew of the diaspora, so Paul adds to this. Fourth, he kept the languages and customs of the Jewish people as Hebrew born of Hebrews. Many scholars suggest that Paul makes this affirmation because some denied his connection with the Aramaic-speaking origins of the church.[3] However, moving on to the aspects of his past religious life that were a matter of adult choice, he even chose to be part of the most observant sect of his time, as to the law, a Pharisee, the earliest written title for “separated one.”[4] He interpreted Torah strictly and organized his life around it. He could have chosen to be a Hellenist, but he rejected that path. Further, when a dangerous teaching arose that said to Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah, he zealously protected his Pharisee sect and, in the process, protected the special place given to Torah: ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. Paul refers to this fact in other passages as well. He admits that he was unfit for God to call him to be an apostle, as in fact the least of the apostles, due to his persecution of the church of God (Romans 15:9). He admits that he violently persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. In that context, he also testifies that he was zealous for the traditions of his ancestors (Galatians 1:13-14). Further, I Timothy 1:13 also describe him as a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, and a man of violence. He concludes his reflection upon his past religious life by affirming that as to righteousness under the law, blameless, a life without fault. The pre-Christian Paul was part of a morally strict group. He was scrupulous in his obedience to Torah. Paul does not say that he considered himself "without sin" at that point - only that regarding scrupulous obedience to the law, he was "without fault." Recall that even Jesus allowed that the Pharisees were exact in their obedience to the quantitative elements in the law. This is still life in the flesh, even if it is scrupulous observance of the law, and thus, the thing one supposes is under one’s own control.[5]

Considering his devotion to this form of life, I find it genuinely amazing that his testimony now focuses on a transformation of the course of his life. People do not make such dramatic changes easily in life. To do so, we must admit we are on the wrong path. He is clearly still zealous, but he re-directs his zeal. He was a man so devoted to his brand of Judaism that defined itself by adherence to a code that be became a man of violence. The transformation he experiences will make him an apostle of reconciliation and peace. He went through an amazing transformation. In verses 7-14, he reassesses his past religious life in the light that Christ brings. ⁷ Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard (in the perfect tense, which means he has a specific moment in his past, his conversion, that dramatically changed his thinking) as loss because of Christ. His reassessment of his past religious life is with the language of commerce. When we think of the community to which he writes, we might understand why he uses the metaphor. This community provided him with financial support, more than other communities did. This may mean it was the wealthiest. In 4:10-20, he acknowledges his debt to the community as he continues to describe their relationship with the language of commerce. He is aware of his reliance upon the community for financial support. Yet, they have not become his master or lord. He reaffirms to them the spiritual value of knowing Christ as his Lord.  ⁸ More than that, I regard everything (not just his Jewish heritage) as loss. The fact that Paul is now in prison makes such a statement even weightier. He has even given up his liberty. That which he considered advantages are now nothing. While he had considered his past religious life as to his credit, he has done some rebalancing of the book of his life, as if in a dramatic moment of his life, which changed his thinking. All the things he once viewed as valuable he now considered in the loss column of the account book that is his life. This rebalancing of the book of his life, as if by an accountant, is because of Christ and the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. He has given up himself to Christ, who has become the greatest possible gain or profit for his life. If we think of the rebalancing of the scales of his life, Christ did not just tip the scales, but threw them away. His perception of what made anything a gain or loss has changed. When we consider the context of the rest of the writings of Paul, we need to exercise some care as to what Paul means. He does not repudiate his Jewish life and faith. Much of his argument, especially his reference to the Old Testament, involves a reinterpretation of the basic themes of Jewish thought and life. Part of his point is comparison. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish (or dung), in order that I may gain Christ. The intensification lies in the in the element of resolute turning aside from something worthless and abhorrent, with which one will have nothing more to do. The choice of the vulgar term stresses the force and totality of this renunciation. His point is that the law leads to self-justification and serving the flesh.[6] By going through this dramatic transformation, he has gained or won the most precious thing of all. He can treat his past as loss because he has gained so much in Christ. Paul sold his old possessions to work for a new master. 

In verses 9-11, Paul will move from the testimony of the transformation of his life to the kerygma, the basic themes of his preaching. God never ceases to make continual new beginnings with people. God is continuously effectual in the divine work. This is what it means to be before God and to know God.[7] Paul will mention his favorite theological topics. He will elaborate in II Corinthians 2-7. ⁹ And be found in him, or “in Christ,” as if a part of or member of Christ. He has a personal participation in Christ. If that is the case, then his right standing with God does not come through the scrupulous observance of Torah, as he formerly believed and lived: not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. Again, think of the dramatic transformation that must happen in his life for this to happen. According to Pharisaic interpretations, carrying out every jot and tittle of the law attained righteousness. People nurtured their communion with God through a scrupulous adherence to legal duties. Rather, he nurtures his relationship but one that comes through faith in Christ (πίστεως Χριστοῦ, even from Christ) and this means he has righteousness from God based on faith. Such faith or trust that opens one to the presence of the grace of God is the only type of righteousness that matters to Paul. For Paul, it means that Christ is worth more than anything else in existence. Such faith gives the future meaning. Such faith means that righteousness is far more about relationship than it is about following scrupulously a set of ethical, liturgical, and purity rules. He has given up on the code that bound him to the Pharisee community and led him to the arrogance and eventual violence toward those who did not value the code as did he. His contrast is between righteousness based upon blameless observance of Torah versus righteousness based upon grace from God. In this simple phrase, he summarizes the argument in Galatians and Romans. By becoming “in Christ,” the believer shares in the righteousness of Christ. Such a statement contains the basis for the doctrine of justification, of which faith is the means of justification rather than its source. This notion of an exchange of places between the innocent Jesus, executed as a sinner, means the manifestation of the righteousness of God in those whom Christ represents before God. Yet, such an exchange of places occurs only as sinners for whom Jesus died let their lives link to the death of Jesus.[8] As he continues with summarizing his kerygma in verses 10-11, he uses the language of commitment. As if in a definitive act, ¹⁰ I want to know Christ, not simply in a “knowledge about” way, of course, but in a personal relationship that transforms his life. He wants this transforming knowledge to occur in a specific way. And he wants to know the power of his resurrection, expressing the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus for the earliest Christianity.[9] He wants to experience in his life the power that raised Jesus from the dead. It will take such power to break the power of sin and death that operates in our lives. Paul identifies the gain that has happened in his life. Yet, an even more amazing gain, and the sharing (κοινωνίαν) of his sufferings (παθημάτων) by becoming like him (συμμορφιζόμενος, conformed or formed) in his death, in this case, his “sufferings” are the same as “death.”[10] He writes of the death of Christ as a pattern for the way through the fate of Adam to resurrection beyond.[11]To be in Christ involves an identity of experience with Christ. The experiences of Christ are re-enacted in the Christian. The life, death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus are living realities in the Christian. Christians appropriate the historical and risen life of Christ to their own lives.[12] Clearly, Paul is not referring to the unjust death of the cross that Christ experienced. Rather, the disciple is to conform to the humble act of self-emptying he described in 2:5-11. His life is conforming or forming to that of Christ through the suffering he presently experiences. His apostolic ministry involved much suffering. He applies the cross of suffering that led to the cross of Jesus to his experience of suffering as an apostle. His theology of the cross entails discipleship as fellowship with Christ in his suffering. Paul will expound upon the theme of baptism as union with Christ in his suffering, death, and resurrection in Romans 6:3ff. In that sense, faith and baptism belong together.[13] To engage in a discipleship process of becoming like the Son is to participate in the sufferings of Christ. Such a statement is not just a reference to persecution, although for Paul it did mean that and for many Christians in the world it still does mean that. The experience of faithful discipleship in a secular culture will have its own form of persecution, even if it is as simple as the easy dismissal of Christ, whom the follower of today considers every bit as precious as did Paul. However, Paul seems to speak broadly of the struggle against sin, Gethsemane, and Calvary. It expresses the faith/union relation between Christ and believer. The fellowship of the suffering of Christ implies a communal event. The suffering occurs together for the sake of and the name of Christ. The suffering of believers participates in the suffering of Christ. Christ is present with us in our suffering. In this discipleship of faith and union with Christ in his resurrection and suffering, Paul expresses some humility in saying that ¹¹ if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead, expressing the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus for the earliest Christianity.[14] His expectation and hope is in the direction of resurrection. The context suggests that Schleiermacher was right to say that the Christian hope of life beyond death has its basis here on the fellowship of believers with Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus means participation already in the salvation of eternal life.[15] Paul not only understands the ends of Christian faith to be superior to all else (sharing in the power of the Resurrection) but that the means of Christ's life also offer a superior model to those who proclaim their faith.

The transformation that occurs for Paul is the result of a revelation, a sudden and jarring insight into himself that led him to re-think his notion of God and the people of God. The Torah, along with the specific definition of that code through uniting with the party of the Pharisees, was the code by which Paul lived. It took a jarring revelation for him to see that his adherence to the code led him to be a man of violence, arrogantly placing himself above other Jewish sects. Thinking Torah would lead him toward become a righteous man, his revelation showed him to be a man of anger and division. His form of code adherence led him to make thick boundaries between his sect and other sects. Of course, this meant the thickest of boundary existed between Jew and Gentile. Adherence to Torah led him to become a man who missed the mark and become a man of rebellion from that which God wanted. He came to see that Christ defined who God is and whom the people of God are to become. The self-emptying and humble life of Christ meant that the people of God are to live self-emptying and humble lives, becoming people of faith, hope, and love. Paul made the transition from a person of violence, anger, and division to a man of peace, love, and reconciliation. It took him over a decade in Syria to reflect upon all this in a biblical way, but he saw that through Christ, even the Old Testament testified to the primacy of faith and to the longed for peace and reconciliation for the people of God broadly inclusive of Jew and Gentile.

We could look at the life of Paul and suggest that his adherence to Torah was the prevenient grace of God at work and that he was a seeker after genuine righteousness. Yet, I do not think Paul viewed his experience that way. He viewed it as a sudden and jarring revelation that caused him to re-direct his life toward the grace, forgiveness, and life-giving power of resurrection through the Holy Spirit. 

Further, a careful reading of how Paul uses the Old Testament suggests that the New Testament carries within itself a deep appreciation of it as the inspired word of God but critically read through the genuinely new work of reconciliation and redemption that took place and continues to take place in Christ. While we see Christ as fulfillment of the promise of God in the Old Testament toward the people of God and toward humanity, we also need to see it does so with a critical eye toward certain parts of the Old Testament. This is not the place to get into detail, but only to be suggestive that believers today do not need new theories of what to do with troublesome passages in the Old Testament. The New Testament already carries within itself a criticism of such passages, (polygamy, purity and dietary law, holy war, cursing of enemies, death penalty, thick division between people of God and world), and we need to pay attention to the basis for the criticism. In Paul, the basis for the critique of the Old Testament is simple as he focuses our attention upon the event of revelation from God found in Christ. 

In 3: 12-14, moving from a summary of his kerygma, he returns to the effect upon his life. regardless of his age at the time of this writing, it has a youthful feel.[16] He will shift the imagery from commerce to athletic competition. Such language reminds us as readers that the Christian life is goal oriented and future directed, as we will find in an athletic contest or in a successful competitor. Another variation of this theme is in I Corinthians 9:24-25. The present struggle in training and discipline prepares one for the contest. Of course, ¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal (the resurrection); but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and repeatedly and recognizing the constant challenge of straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I continually and in a determined way press on toward the goal (the mark to be aimed at as in a content) for the prize (though not named, we might think of Christ as the prize) of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. The Christian life has a mark or goal at which to be aimed.[17] Just as the winner of a contest stands on a pedestal to receive the crown or prize, so will those who are in faith relationship and union with Christ receive the prize of eternal life. Suffering is finite and temporal. No contest is infinite in duration; nor is a human life. The Christian situation is a provisional one. The Spirit is the one who sets us on the march. This radical openness to the future is surrender to the grace of God and accepting all future encounters as tokens of grace.[18]Experience in faith is a movement between no longer, the decision of faith to leave the past, a decision that needs daily renewal, and not yet, surrendering that which formerly gave security and taking up a new possession lin exchange. The forgotten past is always present in that is constantly being overcome. Such recollection is part of faith and such forgetting is a matter of no longer being entangled. The surrender of the old being is a surrender of its self-assurance which thinks it can control its own existence. Surrendering the desire to possess such self-assurance becomes a radical commitment to the grace of God.[19]

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[1] Gutbrod, TDNT III, 390.

[2] Stauffer, TDNT 361-2.

[3] (Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology, 1948) 2, adding that many modern scholars repeat the accusation, and his book is an attempt to affirm for modern scholars this connection.

[4] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971) 144.

[5] (Bultmann, Primitive Christianity in its Contemporary Setting, 1956) 192.

[6] Lang, TDNT VII, 446-7.

[7] (Barth, Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67) II.1 [25.1] 25.

[8] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991) Volume 2, 428.

[9] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 159.

[10] Michaelis, TDNT V, 932.

[11] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 127.

[12] (Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology, 1948) 88.

[13] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991) Volume 3, 232, 257.

[14] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 159.

[15] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991) Volume 3, 534, 568.

[16] (Barth, Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67) III.4 [56.2] 613.

[17] Fuchs, TDNT VII, 414.

[18] (Bultmann, Primitive Christianity in its Contemporary Setting, 1956) 184.

[19] (Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 1951) I, 322; TDNT VI, 222.