Phil.
3:1-9: “To Know Him / The Righteousness That Comes By Faith In Christ”
By
1.
In our last study,
we looked verses 9-30 of chapter 2.
1.1.
We discussed why
the Lord exalted Jesus Christ to the great extent that He did.
1.2.
We discussed how
that Paul showed his unselfish love that he had for the Philippians as seen in
his planning to send Timothy and Ephaphroditus to them.
1.3.
We looked further
at what was involved in Jesus’ humbling of Himself to take on the form of man,
and we considered why God highly exalted Him as a result of His obedience. We considered again the “kenosis”
(humbling) and “hypostatic union” (joining together of the two natures
of Christ, human and divine) in Christ described in chapter 2 of the book.
2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 1-9 of chapter 3.
2.1.
Paul will tell
the Philippians to beware of the dogs, or evil workers, those who mutilate the
flesh, and then he tells the Philippians that we are the true circumcision who
worship in the Spirit of God and put no confidence in the flesh.
2.2.
We will discuss
what true knowledge of God involves, knowledge that is not just knowledge about
God, but that which truly partakes of Christ and is a knowledge that comes
through faith in Christ not by trying to work to make ourselves righteous in
God’s sight through our own effort.
2.3.
We will see that
Paul is trying to get the Philippians to understand that the Judaisers, men who
were going around to the churches and telling the believers that there is more
that a person has to do in order to be saved than just have faith in Christ,
were actually by their own working and righteousness based upon self, hindering
true knowledge of God, and coming to saving faith in Christ.
2.4.
Paul will show
that if any Jew had a right to have confidence in his own righteousness before
God that it would be him, since he was a Pharisee of the highest order. However, Paul was counting all of his
achievements and pedigree to be dung in order that he might gain Christ, and
find in Him a righteousness that is not his own, but a righteousness that is in
Christ and based not upon work but faith.
2.5.
We will discuss the
fact that it is when we cease trying to be righteous and trust in Christ to
make us righteous, that we will gain Christ and be able to know Him.
2.6.
When Paul writes
this chapter and speaks of “knowing” Christ, he is speaking of knowing
Him intimately (using the Greek word “gnosko”), and refers to a personal
relationship with Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.
2.7.
One of the things
that I have come to learn as a Christian is that just because someone is doing
a lot of work for Christ, trying to obey His commandments, and is very zealous
for the Lord, that this doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she knows the
Lord. The motive for the things that we
do for the Lord is key to whether the Lord accepts us and the things we do for
Him. If we are doing those things in order
to gain His acceptance rather than because we know we are accepted in Christ
and love Him, then these things actually get in the way of knowing the Lord.
3.
VS 3:1 - “1
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again
is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” – Paul tells
the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord, and that it is no trouble for him to
write the same things again to them
3.1.
Paul is
continually repeating this theme of the “joy of the Lord” that must be a
focus in our lives as Christians. The “joy
of the Lord is our strength” and we need to always have the Lord as the
source of our joy in life. You could
look at our spiritual growth as a growth in the joy of the Lord.
3.2.
Polycarp, an
early church father pastor wrote in a letter to the Philippians of “epistles”
(plural) that Paul had written to them.
So, it could be that here Paul is actually speaking of things written in
previous letters to the Philippians, when he speaks of repeating the same
things to them.
3.3.
We do not know
what specifically Paul is referring to when he speaks of yet again writing the
‘same things’ to them. Which ‘same
things’ is he repeating in this letter?
3.3.1. It could be his exhortation to unity and being of the
same mind which occupied the previous chapter.
3.3.2. It could be his exhortation to them here to rejoice in
the Lord.
3.3.3. It could be to beware of the Judaisers who were false
teachers and deceivers in the church.
3.4.
As Christians, we
must never get tired of hearing the same stories and teachings from the
scriptures. We need to remember the
things we have learned before, and be reminded of them from time to time. We tend so easily to forget the things that the
Lord has taught us that this is imperative to our faith to hear and read these
things over and over.
3.4.1. I once heard of a pastor who took over a church and
preached the very same sermon to his congregation two weeks in a row. When a parishioner asked him after the second
Sunday why he didn’t preach a different sermon he replied that they still
hadn’t applied what he preached the Sunday before. Repetition is important because we need to
apply what we are taught from God’s lives to our life, and we are slow to put
into action what we hear and learn.
3.4.2. Repetition is a ‘safeguard’ for the church Paul
says.
4.
VS 3:2 - “2
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false
circumcision;” – Paul tells the Philippians to beware of the dogs,
or evil workers, those who mutilate the flesh
4.1.
Dogs were unclean
animals in
4.2.
The Jews
considered the Gentiles to be unclean and thus they called them ‘dogs.’ However, Paul reverses this here and calls
the Judaisers ‘dogs.’ The
Judaisers who were relying upon their own righteousness and teaching others to
add Jewish rituals and rites to their faith in Christ if they wanted to be
saved, they were the ones who were truly ‘unclean’ before the Lord.
4.3.
These Judaisers
were “dangerous” dogs however for they threatened believer’s faith. Thus, Paul tells the Philippians to ‘beware’
of the Judaisers, and, he calls the Judaisers ‘evil workers.’
4.4.
Some translations
render the second half of this verse, ‘beware of those who mutilate the
flesh,’ as the word that is translated
here ‘false circumcision’ can also mean “to cut up or mutilate.” The Judaisers believed and taught that in order for a
person to be saved they had to be “circumcised” in addition to believing
in Christ. However, this act did nothing
of value for them. Therefore, Paul tells
the Philippians that these ones were “mutilating the flesh.”
4.5.
Like the Judaisers,
it seems that some Christians feel that they need to add certain things to
their faith in Christ in order to be saved, as if they are trying to cover all
of the bases. Some churches teach that a
person must be baptized if he/she wants to be saved. Some teach that unless you have a certain
spiritual gift you can’t have assurance that you are saved. All of this is adding to what is required to
be saved.
5.
VS 3:3 - “3
for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God
and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,” – Paul tells
the Philippians that we are the true circumcision who worship God in the
Spirit, glory in Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh
5.1.
This is a
different word that is translated ‘circumcision’ here than the word used
in the previous verse. This is the
typical word that is used for circumcision.
5.2.
The Judaisers had
lost the meaning and intention of the rite of circumcision by seeing it as a
mere rite, the completion of which was able to make a person righteous before
God. These ones didn’t understand Jesus’
teaching about righteousness being internal and based upon the state of a
person’s heart, not mere external observances.
They didn’t realize that a person could do all manner of observances and
righteous deeds, and yet not know God personally or be righteous in God’s
sight.
5.3.
Paul explains
that true circumcision of the heart that pleases the Lord occurs not for the
Jew in their rites, but for the Christian, the one who will ‘worship in the Spirit
of God’, ‘glory’ (or can be translated as “boast”) not in
themselves and their own righteous deeds and observances but ‘in Christ
Jesus’, and ‘put no confidence in the flesh’ and the works done in
the power and motives of the flesh.
5.4.
Being righteous
before God cannot come by a person’s efforts, no matter how hard they may true
to be obedient to God, because we “have all sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The only
righteous one is Jesus Christ, and it is only when we are resting and trusting
in Him and His work on the cross in dying for our sins, that we can be
righteous. We then are made righteous in
Him. Jesus Christ becomes our
righteousness. His righteousness is
imputed to us.
6.
VS 3:4-6 - “4
although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else
has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a
Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of
the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” – Paul
describes all his personal merits by which he could prove that as far as a Jew
was concerned, he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, and had every accolade that a Jew
could have to base a righteousness upon
6.1.
In order to
illustrate to the Philippians the fact that a person could never be righteous
before God based upon his own righteousness and works, Paul brags about his own
achievements:
6.1.1. As a baby, he was ‘circumcised the eighth day’
of his life, exactly as the law required.
6.1.2. He was of the direct lineage of
6.1.2.1.Though Paul was born and grew up in the Gentile city
of
6.1.3. He was ‘of the tribe of Benjamin’, the tribe
that delivered the first king, contained the city of Jerusalem within its
territory, and which was the only tribe to align itself with Judah and be part
of the southern kingdom of Judah.
6.1.4. He was ‘a Hebrew of Hebrews’, indicating the
fact that he was of the highest echelon of leaders in
6.1.4.1.A member of the seventy leaders in
6.1.4.2.Educated under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) in
6.1.4.2.1.Gamaliel was a member of the Sanhedrin and a doctor of
the Law of the
6.1.4.2.2.He is also the man in Acts chapter 5 to whom the
apostles were brought in Jerusalem after they had been arrested for preaching,
and Gamaliel told them to be careful what they did to those men because if what
they were doing was not of God nothing would come of it, but if it was of God
then they might be found to be fighting against God Himself.
6.1.4.2.3.The New Bible Dictionary quotes the Mishnah as saying
the following about Gamaliel, (Soṭa 9. 15): “Since Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died
there has been no more reverence for the Law, and purity and abstinence died
out at the same time.”
6.1.4.2.4.The standard of Greek that Paul wrote using was the
highest form of usage of his day, and today beginning Greek students do not
translate his books until they have translated a few earlier and simpler books,
beginning probably with 1 John. This
book of Philippians is one of the most complicated books to translate because
of how Paul used the Greek.
6.1.5. He was ‘as to the Law, a Pharisee’, that party
that was known for its being those who most strictly sought to interpret and obey
the Law of Moses.
6.1.6. He was ‘as to zeal, a persecutor of the church’,
indicating that his great zeal for the Lord was demonstrated by his arresting
and murdering the rebellious sect known as Christians, whom the Jews considered
to be a dangerous, aberrant, and blasphemous cult.
6.1.6.1.In Acts chapter 22, Paul tells his conversion story
and how that he was en route to Damascus to persecute Christians when the Lord
Jesus appeared to Him: Acts
22:4-11, “I persecuted this Way to the
death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, 5 as also the high priest and all the Council of the
elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and
started off for
6.1.6.2.We Christians must recognize that not all zeal is
godly or desirable in a believer’s life.
There is such a thing as misguided zeal, just as Paul had misguided zeal
as a Jew and was persecuting Christians out of his zeal for the Lord.
6.1.7. He was ‘as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found
blameless’, indicating that if any Jew felt that he had achieved righteousness based
upon his own works and deeds, it was Paul.
6.1.7.1.When Paul says here that
he was ‘found blameless’ by the keeping of the Law, he is speaking only
about external observances. We know this
because he writes in the seventh chapter of Romans about how that he eventually
became convicted of his sinfulness and inability to keep the Law because he was
not able to stop “coveting” all of the things that the Lord had
prohibited for his life: “Romans 7:7-8: “What shall we say then?
Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know
sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the
Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is
dead.”
6.2.
Paul is not
attempting to brag about his achievements for the sake of showing how great and
deserving of God’s approval he was.
Instead, he is intending to show that in spite of his perfect pedigree
and flawless external law observance that he did not in any way rely upon his
achievements or righteousness as being able to secure him any special place
before the Lord. He knew he was a sinner and saved only by the grace of God,
and this in spite of his unworthiness for being saved.
6.2.1. If Paul could not be made righteous by his own works and
deeds done according to the strictest obedience to God’s Law, then the rest of
us need to give up trying to work to gain the Lord’s favor. Instead we ought to just trust that Christ
shall be our righteousness and by faith in Christ be made righteous in God’s
sight.
7.
VS 3:7-9- “7 But whatever things were gain to
me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in
view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through
faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith” – Paul writes that whatever things were gain to him in
his pedigree and achievements he has counted as loss so that he might gain
Christ and be found in Christ not having a righteousness of his own based upon
the Law, but one which comes through faith in Christ
7.1.
Paul speaks of
the past, when he had ‘counted’ all of his achievements as unable to
make him righteousness before God. Then,
he speaks of the present and says, ‘More than that, I count all things to be
loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.’ It has
usually been the case that the church has interpreted this chapter as teaching
how that external righteousness cannot yield eternal salvation to a person, but
rather this comes only by faith in Christ.
This is definitely a true statement.
But, Paul in this chapter is speaking of his present activities, and
coming to “know” the Lord personally in relationship. He was still counting all of his external
deeds as not enabling him to growing in his knowledge and relationship with
Christ.
7.2.
A person may have
been born in a Christian home, have been taught the Bible from youth, had godly
parents that disciplined you consistently, and even been baptized as a youth,
etc., but these things can all be a hindrance to your “knowing” the Lord
if you are depending upon your own righteousness or are trying to be good
enough so that the Lord will accept you.
A person raised in a Christian home still has to come to the place of
personally resting and trusting in Christ, and His righteousness and death upon
the cross for their sins, if he/she wants to grow in their knowledge of the
Lord.
7.3.
In the New
Testament, we read that Abraham was the forefather of those who have their
faith in God reckoned to them as righteousness.
He believed what God had said and acted upon it, and his faith was
reckoned to him as righteousness. In the
22nd chapter of Genesis, the Lord tells Abraham that the son of
promise that is finally born to he and Sarah, he must sacrifice. Abraham tells Isaac to come with him, and he
gathers wood for a sacrifice and they head up the mountain for the sacrifice. When Isaac asks him about where they are
going, Abraham tells his son that God will provide Himself a lamb for
sacrifice. Abraham takes Isaac up to the
mountain top and then ties his son to the altar and raises his knife to kill
his son. The Lord stops him before he
goes through with this and shows him a lamb caught in a thicket, and tells him
that this is the lamb that he is to sacrifice.
Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord provided a lamb for the
sacrifice. This pointed forward to Jesus
who is the lamb of God. When Jesus
walked up to John the Baptist who was with his disciples, John said of Jesus, “Behold
the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus is the lamb who was illustrated in the
lamb that God brought to Abraham on
7.4.
Paul writes here
that his own achievements and deeds he has not trusted in but rather he ‘suffered the loss of all
things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ’. Paul turned his back upon Judaism and party of the
Pharisees so that he might come to know Christ and have salvation in Him, and
thus he ‘suffered the loss’ of all of his achievements. Further, he counted them but “rubbish”
(IOW ‘a big cow pie’) so that he might ‘gain’ Christ as His Lord
and Savior.
7.5.
We in our own
righteousness could never please God, just as Isaiah wrote: Isaiah 64:6:
“For
all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us
away.” But, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ
alone to forgive us and make us righteous before God, then we can know Him and
be pleasing in His side, just as Paul wrote in several of his epistles, for
example:
7.5.1. 1 Corinthians 1:30:
“But
by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
7.5.2. Romans 4:5: “But to the one who does
not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited
as righteousness.”
7.5.3. 2 Corinthians 5:21:
“He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.”
7.5.4. Galatians 2:16:
“nevertheless
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith
in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be
justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the
works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
8.
CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
Faith
Illustration:
This
is a true story which I verified on the internet. On March 31, a man in
Then,
as the teller was attempting to hand to the man a bundle of notes, Mr. Stewart
calmly walked over to the robber and said, “It’s April the 1st isn’t
it mate? It’s April Fool’s Day.”
The
bank robber then said, “I’ve got a gun I will shoot you.” Mr. Steward then replied, “Go on then shoot
me,” and he grabbed the bag from the man’s hands. He opened the bag in front of the staff and
after seeing it was empty he calmly sat back down and continued reading his
newspaper.
The
bank robber fled the scene at that point but was later caught.
Mr.
Stewart was mistaken and could have been shot that day, but it was faith that
caused him to take the action he took. I
would ask you to consider what action the Lord would have you to take today if
you really believe that you can only be made righteous and acceptable in God’s
sight by placing your faith in Christ and the work that He performed on your
behalf on
8.2.
Do you recognize
that salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ, plus nothing? In Acts chapter 15 when the Philippian jailer
asked Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”
That is really all that is required, believing upon Him as your Lord and
your Savior and trusting that His death upon