Philippians 3:4b-14 - Don’t Look Back
Phil. 3:4b) If any one else has reason to be confident in 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. 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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Background to Philippians: This is the most personal of all of Paul’s letters. In it he tries to help his friends learn how they can live joyfully and in any circumstances of life. He tries to help them deal with difficult problems like personality disputes and power struggles, false teachers, and the danger of losing hope. While it may seem like a casual letter from friend to friend, there is much more here than meets the eye!
About Philippi: Philippi was a Roman province in what is now Greece. The town sat 8 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. It was a center of agriculture because of fresh water springs. It was wealthy because of gold mines. Philippi was founded in 360 BCE by King Philip of Macedonia. He was the father of Alexander the Great. Philippi was a cosmopolitan town on a trade route between Rome and Byzantium. It was also an army town and the site of major battles between Anthony and Octavian, and Brutus and Casius. Anthony and Octavian won the first battle and later went to war against each other with Octavian winning and becoming the Emperor Caesar Augustus. It was a town used to wealth, with a long history of armed conflict and glorious successes. It was very Roman even though in Greece. People there were citizens of Rome, even though they lived in a distant area.
The Church in Philippi: The church was founded during Paul’s second missionary journey, during which he spent a lot of time in some of the better jails all over Greece. He made everybody mad. Especially once when he cast an evil spirit out of a slave girl whose owner was making a lot of money off of her. Things turned ugly when she was healed and could no longer make the man any more money. The church began with a hand full of women who were drawn to the intimate gospel Paul preached. One of them was Lydia who was rich and took the fledgling church into her home which became the base of missionary operations for the area.
Where was Paul when he wrote to the Philippians? In jail. We don’t know exactly which jail or for what offense. He was in jail a lot. We do know that the conditions were appalling. Some reports were that he was standing up to his knees in excrement, or that he was sitting chained to a wall in his own waste. That makes the hope and joy of this text even more touching.
Immediate Context: In this unit Paul turns his attention to the false teachers that are troubling the church. They are saying that it is by keeping the law that one gains God’s favor. Paul argues from his own experience that nothing could be farther from the truth.
Word Study
Vs. 4-5 – confidence in the flesh – this refers to righteousness based on heritage and accomplishment.
Eighth day – the day on which a Jewish child is circumcised (as opposed to a convert)
Tribe of Benjamin – an elite tribe within Israel
Pharisee – a small, strict party of intensely devout Jews
Vs. 6 – zeal - a highly prized virtue among the Jews, one of the greatest qualities of the religious life. It refers to a passion for God that animates life and moral choices.
Blameless – He had observed the law to the best of his ability. Because of that he states that he is on equal footing with his critics.
Vs. 7 - Come to regard as loss – Paul uses the image of a balance sheet to make his point. What he once thought of as a posting on the profit side of the ledger (keeping the law) he now sees as a posting to the loss column.
Vs. 8 – surpassing value of knowing Christ – the only thing that has any ultimate value.
Rubbish – actually a vulgar term, it refers either to waste food bound for the garbage pit, or human excrement. Considering his circumstances, it is a powerful image.
Vs. 10 – power of his resurrection – Paul wants to experience this personally.
Sharing of his suffering – or fellowship of his suffering, he wants to experience personally all of who Jesus was and went through for him.
Becoming like him – indissolubly linked with Christ so that we become more and more like him in how we think, feel and behave.
Vs. 12 - obtained – a difficult word – It can mean to take hold, to apprehend, to comprehend, as well as to obtain. Try reading the verse with each of those meanings to get the depth.
Already reached my goal – become perfect, grasped all that Christ is
Press on – Christian life is one of constant striving to know Christ in his fullness.
Take hold – can mean to win a prize, or to understand or comprehend.
Vs. 13 – consider – to calculate precisely
Straining – the image is of a runner in a stadium straining every muscle to reach the finish line.
Vs. 14 – goal – mark on the track that indicates the end of the race
Questions for Personal Reflection
1. What do you think that Paul meant by “forgetting what lies behind?” How do we go about doing that?
2. Considering Paul’s circumstances as he writes this letter, what do you think ‘sharing Christ’s suffering’ might have meant to him? What does it mean to you?
3. Paul has lost all of the prestige of his former life. He thinks it is worth it. Have you ever lost anything due to following Jesus? If so, what were the gifts or benefits that you gained after the loss?
4. How would you express your goal in the spiritual life? What encouragement would be helpful for you to continue the ‘race’?