Now we all know that when a man is carried on the top of the wave, when the winds fill the sails and all goes prosperously, when hearts are gladdened in sorrow, when one witnesses the joy of fresh deliverance from day to day, it is a comparatively easy thing. You will never get into a right relationship with God by your own efforts in keeping the Law. It means full-grown in contradistinction to undeveloped; for example, it is used of a full-grown man as opposed to an undeveloped youth. "Again I say, Rejoice." But unfortunately, since then, a lot of those things that they counted loss at that point, they picked back up, so that they are encumbered again. Strange way of God! No wonder Paul opted for the new righteousness, though he had done pretty good up until this point. Not that all shall be delivered and centred in Him, but that all must bow. "My bonds in Christ," he says, "are manifest in all the palace." It is by faith in his blood,Romans 3:25. There is nothing so high as that which we all have been made in our blessed Lord. What some people wouldn't give for the opportunity of gathering with us.He said. What might you and I have thought of such? Why, it was gain. Hence that which judged and put aside religion after the flesh, righteousness after the law, all that was now left completely and for ever behind, and the saint is set on the road that nothing can satisfy him but being in the same glorious condition with Christ Himself. In fact, I think sometimes it is impossible to rejoice in circumstances. Observe, His care to be found in Christ was in order to his attaining the resurrection of the dead. What is the point of this? #1 I press on. The question is at once settled as a matter of faith. So what do I do? We love him because he first loved us,1 John 4:19. Paul has just attacked the Jewish teachers and insisted that it is the Christians, not the Jews, who are the truly circumcised and covenant people. And this puts the doctrine, as far as there is doctrine in the epistle, in a very clear light. The word concision comes from a Greek word, which means mutilators. His being out of sight rather made the remembrance of his words and ways the more distinct, and imparted a chastened earnestness to their desires of pleasing the Lord. It is our progress then that we are to forget. He has written His word not to perplex, but to enlighten. Their sympathies, drawn out by the afflictions of the apostle in his work, were the workings of the Holy Spirit in their souls at least the instincts of a life that was of Christ, and that judged in view of Him, and not according to appearances. This were to spoil all, because it would please the flesh. Who, when He comes, He is going to change our bodies, that they might be fashioned like His own glorious image. It was to Israel that they in the most special sense traced their heritage. Whatever you desire, just ask God, insist on God, command God. Skubala has two meanings. He is at Rome, where he desired to be, no doubt, but which he had never expected to visit as one in bonds. There is no looking at Him as Saviour on the cross merely; but when He comes for us, there will be in the filial sense (as ever in our epistle) "salvation." There is really no value to say I counted those things loss for Christ thirty years ago, if in the meantime I have picked them back up and I am encumbered with them again. all the dead, as a class. . ( Judges 5:14; Hosea 5:8). ( 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 ), When Jesus comes again, we will each experience a metamorphosis. that is miserable to God, we can go on delighting in the goodness of God, as well as in its fruits. He knew well how much they might be tried by the report of his own imprisonment, and no deliverance coming as yet. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Love feels acutely nothing so much; but it triumphs. What are you going to do when you pass the guy?" Again and again Paul returns to the thought that when the Christian has to suffer, he is in some strange way sharing the very suffering of Christ and is even filling up that suffering ( 2 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10-11; Galatians 6:17; Colossians 1:24). So here at the beginning he simply takes the place of servant with Timothy, owning all the saints as well as the officials in their place: "To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." (c) It is the guarantee that in life and in death and beyond death the presence of the Risen Lord is always with us. There is His own personal glory; and this first. "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed." In other words, "Here I am, I am chained in prison, but I don't find it hard to write this to you. himself had been sick? Close. I made it myself." A holy fear of coming short is an excellent means of perseverance. This filled Paul with sunshine; and he would have others to enjoy the same bright light which the name of Christ cast on every object. Hence he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. "Jesus" is His own name, His personal name. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. They may have been Gnostics. And they are not really going ahead in life at all, because they are so involved in the past. According to Jewish belief, circumcision was ordained upon Israel as sign and symbol that they were the people with whom God had entered into a special relationship. But if not, what then? Returning, however, to the women Evodia and Syntyche, they had devoted themselves to an exceedingly happy and prized service. (a) It is the guarantee of the importance of this life and of this body in which we live. I must, first of all, set the standard: what constitutes righteousness? He would have one who begins with Christ to (so on with Christ, have nothing but Christ before his eyes, and pursue this path without a stumble till the day of Christ. It speaks of believers who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. All believers will be resurrected, but there is a better one for those who endure. And what is the true divine rule? 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. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith." We cannot know everything that Paul meant by this phrase; but the Resurrection of Christ is the great dynamic in at least three different directions. It was not a reference to a kindly family pet, but it was a reference to those mean wild dogs that roamed Israel. Hey, this is a pretty good pedigree. They identified themselves, therefore, with all who were declaring it throughout the world. WebPhilippians - (NIV Application Commentary) by Frank S Thielman (Hardcover) $26.99When purchased online Out of Stock About this item Specifications Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up Number of Pages: 256 Genre: Religion + Beliefs Sub-Genre: Biblical Commentary Series Title: NIV Application Commentary Format: Hardcover Publisher: Zondervan Academic 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. Thus then he writes, telling them, "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." Paul describes his impressive You can have these things of your flesh, you know. As it was a true though distressing part for Christ to judge religious evil, something akin could not be absent here; but at the same time it was by no means a prominent characteristic of Christ's task here below far from it. Paul was probably speaking of the Rapture. To support this statement, Paul refers to his own experience. It is perfectly possible for him to observe all the outward observances of religion and yet have hatred and bitterness and pride in his heart. He has regarded his life on earth, particularly his former life as a Pharisee, as garbage compared to the life he now attains to, the life of knowing Christ. If Paul had not attained to perfection (who had reached to so high a pitch of holiness), much less have we. And it is an interesting period in church history where those who are indulging their flesh look upon it as spiritual superiority. "All that time, Mr. Wesley and I lay on the floor: he had my greatcoat for a pillow, and I had Burkitt's notes on the New Testament for mine. They weren't looking for a place, and so they roamed the earth, as outcast, not possessing of the earth. It is not the Lord at hand to succour one now and here from time to time. When God entered into his special covenant with Abraham, circumcision was laid down as its eternal sign. 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. Is He really so far from any of those that call upon Him? Therefore he intreated them to "do all things without murmurings and reasonings, that they might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shone as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." He calls the Judaisers dogs because they like to cut the flesh of people; that is, they insist that they must circumcise Gentiles before those Gentiles can be saved. And observe, too, that the apostle felt the value of others' prayers. His own place toward them was but to serve them in love. The name of Christ Himself is the true centre of the saints; unto this the Spirit gathers. This explains the unusual word Paul employed that appears only here in the Greek New Testament. In 1756 a letter came to John Wesley from a father who had a prodigal son. And it is sad when a person is resting in the past, not pressing ahead. He knew that the only way to peace was to abandon the way of human achievement and accept the way of grace. He said he was blameless. The past has been glorious, it has been exciting to see what God has done, but you know, I am more excited about what God is going to do.So. They had been manifesting their mindful love for the apostle, who on his part was certainly not forgetful of its least token. Long before them, Mill had given his judgment in favour of the more ancient reading; and Wetstein repeated it apparently with approval. Other Scripture points to the judgment seat of Christ as the time when God will make this distinction, not the resurrection. With us the dog is a well-loved animal, but it was not so in the East in the time of Jesus. The peace which God has in everything He will communicate to keep you in everything; and not only so, but the heart, being free from care, will enter into what pleases Him. I like the power, but I don't like the suffering. But it is not so that God has written His word. It had always been so, as the apostle gives us to learn. It is ignorance and absurdity to answer such scriptures by the text, that in Christ there is neither male nor female. So Paul proves to these Jews that he has the right to speak. By calling himself an Israelite, Paul stressed the absolute purity of his descent. Does not our love fervently flame towards heaven? (Spurgeon). Christ was Son of God in a sole and supreme sense. For Paul the Resurrection was not simply a past event in history, however amazing. 1. The lad was condemned to death for his misdeeds; and the father's letter goes on: "His peace increased daily, till on Saturday, the day he was to die, he came out of the condemned-room, clothed in his shroud, and went into the cart. How could any murmur who believed they were really bonds in Christ? I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. But you will never know the life of the resurrected Christ until you have experienced the fellowship of the sufferings. He passionately longs to reach the final destination and, in no way presuming upon the grace of God, presses on towards that goal (OBrien 413). We must carefully remember throughout all this epistle that "salvation" never means acceptance. They shared the conflict of the gospel; they partook of the reproach that covered those who preached it. WebPhilippians 3:8-11 meaning Paul considers religious practices and custom meaningless compared to the far better value of serving Jesus Christ through the obedience of faith. Verse 11. But the phrase, the resurrection of the dead, also might be used, in a more limited sense, to denote the resurrection of the righteous as a most desirable object; and this might be secured by effort. I forget those things which are behind.A lot of people make the mistake of trying to live in the past. It is not merely exalting His work, or His cross; it is not so much His blood, as Christ Himself.
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