They really mean, this is worth my while, a well-known phrase in Latin too. Paul was probably speaking of the Rapture. These Philippians will not be less saints in heaven, where there can be no such charges as "bishops or deacons." i. It was not some sudden fit, if one may so say, nor was it the influence of passing circumstances. (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. The particular, electing love of God from before the foundation of the world is the reason why anyone becomes a Christian. But it is working through it, but it is agonizing. His yoke is easy, and His burden light. Now the saint that has Christ Himself before him looks abroad with desires according to the activity of divine love. It is the cry of the Psalmist: "Zeal for thy house has consumed me." Paul claims that there was no demand of the Law which he did not fulfil. Yet they were the witnesses of Christ whom God had put forth at the close; for it was manifestly of Him. They weren't looking for a place, and so they roamed the earth, as outcast, not possessing of the earth. "Well, I didn't finish it, but I ran in it." They are enemies to the cross of Christ, not to Christ Himself, but to that aspect of suffering with Him,". "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed." 10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. 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. I just" And living in the past, and being destroyed in the past, and can't go ahead because they are looking backward. He is my Savior. Oh, it is a blessed thing, that in the midst of the sorrows of this world, the Holy Spirit knows how thus to blend the name of Christ, as the sweetest balm, with the sorrow, however bitter, and to make the very memory of the grief pleasant because of Christ, who deigns to let Himself into it all. Paul makes a conscious effort to keep his eyes on the prize promised to him by God. WebPhilippians 3:1214. So he says here, "For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung." Is It Ok for Christians to Follow Zodiac Signs? #1 I press on. The dogs were the pariah dogs, roaming the streets, sometimes in packs, hunting amidst the garbage dumps and snapping and snarling at all whom they met. He does so, not because he is arrogant or self-righteous, for he knows the struggles and difficulties that are inevitable to enter the kingdom. And at this point we also say, "Ya, ya, power, I want power. They may have been Gnostics. Hey, wait a minute, Paul; I want to get off at the last stop. The happiness of heaven is here called the resurrection of the dead, because, though the souls of the faithful, when they depart, are immediately with Christ, yet their happiness will not be complete till the general resurrection of the dead at the last day, when soul and body shall be glorified together. ( 1 Samuel 24:14, compare 2 Kings 8:13; Psalms 22:16; Psalms 22:20). The Philippians were extremely giving towards Paul, both when he was with them (Acts 16:15, 16:32-34) and when he was apart from them (2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:1-4, and 11:9). But to one cut off from such work it was, in appearance at least, a heavy burden and an immense trial; but Christ changes all for us. He speaks as if they were in danger of missing it, and coming short of it. (ii) To that end Paul says two things. Father, I would that those who You have given to me, to be with me here, would also share with me in the Kingdom. He is my Lord." I like the power, but I don't like the suffering. The Lord apprehended me, but when He did, He had a purpose in mind. Paul has already spoken of the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ. And did feel rather sorry for her. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. It describes the man who is going flat out for the finish. But the moment he has Christ before him thus, he judges according to the affections of Christ, and he looks at the need of saints here below. Thus we know how on approaching Rome Paul was lifted up and comforted, as he saw those who came to greet him. I found it no better than skubala ( G4657) ." For we can all understand joy in believing; we can readily feel how natural is joy to the Christian who dwells on his eternal portion. When the state or kind of resurrection is meant to be expressed, the anarthrous form is requisite, as we see in verse 24 of this very chapter, and regularly so. 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. Does not our love fervently flame towards heaven? (Spurgeon). The words, as they stand in the best MSS., are as follow: , to that resurrection which is of the dead. They are out there, there are many of them. John Gill John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Philippians 3:1. If he left this world, he would be with Christ; if he lived longer in this, world, Christ was with him. He thus takes a common place with his beloved son in the gospel. "Be anxious [or be careful] for nothing; but in everything" this is the resource "in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." 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. Moreover the term "out-resurrection" seems to stress separation from others at the time of resurrection rather than separation from others following resurrection. It would be mere independence of Christ if he could have stood without a single flaw, as blameless, in fact, as in a certain sense outwardly he was under the law, until the Spirit of God gave him to see what he was in God's mind. Let us merely take up a single point of the primary ground of fitness for fellowship, which is often a difficulty with the saints. If any other" carrying on the same thought of the flesh "if any other man thinketh that he hath matter of trust in the flesh, I more. This was very dear to him, let God use whom he would. We now heard what the apostle renounced; let us now see what he laid hold on, and resolved to cleave to, namely, Christ and heaven. Then he found himself a dead man condemned and powerless. They had so much the more to do because Christ had done all for their souls. The Lord has laid down their places respectively with distinctness. The tribe of Benjamin had the place of honour in Israel's battle-line, so that the battle-cry of Israel was: "After thee, O Benjamin!" "For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. Their gift to him was "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." His language comes from the world of war and athletics and emphasizes the strenuous nature of his efforts to fulfill his vocation. Thus fervour of desire for others is the happy index of this whenever coupled with adequate knowledge of ourselves. And is there not evidently a path of unobtrusiveness (for the veil or sign of power on the woman's head is no vain figure) which most befits a woman? It is used to mean mature in mind and therefore means one who is qualified in a subject as opposed to a mere learner. Thus he anticipates the removal of the last trace of the first Adam; he looks for our being brought fully, even as to the body, into the likeness of the Second Man, the last Adam. It is a description that might almost do for Christ himself, so high is the standard for those that belong to Christ. You see, someone else already tried that and it just doesn't work." Who they were is not certain. "That I may win Christ, and be found in him" where not a vestige of self remains, but all will be Christ, and nothing but Christ. Here, my entire life I have never done anything wrong, have been going by the rules, up till now. He adds further (Philippians 3:13; Philippians 3:13): This one thing I do (this was his great care and concern), forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before. (Compare Ephesians 1:1-23 and Colossians 1:1-29) But all, even these in hell, must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Not only was an utterly wrong spirit indulged in the work itself, and toward others engaged actually in it; but even as to the apostle, shut out from such service, a desire to pain and wound was not wanting. Such is the sense of it here. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion. 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." Then he turns, not to doctrine after this opening, but to circumstances, to circumstances, however, illumined with Christ The most ordinary details are taken out of their own pettiness (though it is really a little mind which counts them petty), and are made simple and genuine, and this through Christ Jesus intermingled with them. 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. The great characteristic of these colonies was that, wherever they were, they remained fragments of Rome. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.". 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