Holy Bible

Finally, my brethren Philippians 3:1-11 Prideless pride J. J. Goadby. 1. What were the things not irksome and safe? (1) Counsels in some lost Epistles. (2) Messages delivered by word of mouth through his delegates. (3) Earlier verbal communications. (4) Something in the Epistle.The latter probably referring —(a) to the main topic of the letter — rejoicing, or making their boast in Christ; or(b) to their dissentions, a reference in the making of which he was interrupted. Each supplies a good sense. In the first case he proposes to dwell once more on that which will be the sure antidote to false pride, in the other he will add some further counsels respecting their dissensions. 2. Since the apostle seems to be about to conclude, what occasioned the interruption? Probably some outbreak of Jewish proselytism respecting which he warns the Philippians in plain language. At the word "concision" he enters on a fresh line of thought which occupies the rest of the chapter. I. HE AFFIRMS THAT HE AND HIS GENTILE BRETHREN HAVE THE MOST VALID CLAIM TO WHAT THE JEWS SO DEARLY PRIZED. "We are the circumcision." He justifies his assertion by describing — 1. The nature of their worship. The one essential thing in worship is its spirit. The kind of worship the proselytizers offered rested largely on forms. If the form were only according to their pattern it was enough. The apostle, on the contrary, takes his stand on the requirement of our Lord: "God is a spirit," etc. Heart, not hand, lip, knee worship was the main thing, and in this respect they and he were more in harmony with the purpose of circumcision than those who submitted to the rite. 2. The ground of their trust. They rested in position rather than privilege. Circumcision was the sum of Jewish privilege. It was the main thing about which the Jews boasted. But their high privilege had not led them to a high morality, but had been made a cloak for sin. In contrast with this Paul puts Christian conduct. Christians rejoiced, or made their boast, in Christ Jesus, and had no confidence in the flesh. They looked to Him as the fulfiller of all righteousness for us and the example of all righteousness in us. Theirs was a prideless pride. II. HE ARGUES WITH THE JEW ON HIS OWN GROUND. The ground of their boasting might well be his as regards — 1. Inherited privileges.(1) The Jews make much of circumcision and the time of its performance. If before the eighth day it is nothing; if after, of less value. That, then, which the strictest Jews demand is true of me.(2) They also talk of the old stock. I belong to it.(3) They pride themselves on their tribe. What will compare with mine?(4) Nay, more; scattered among the Gentiles, exposed to taint, to loss of language and custom, yet my ancestors remained pure in every sense. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. 2. Personal acts.(1) What of the law? I belonged by choice to the separated sect.(2) What of zeal? These men are making much of that; but did not I persecute the Church?(3) And as for righteousness, when was I a defaulter? 3. Here surely was ground for boasting had he been so disposed. But — III. THE WHOLE OF THESE MOST COVETED THINGS HE NOW COUNTS LOSS. He relinquished them all to win Christ. He changes the figure. He had been speaking of gain and loss; he now speaks of entering on a race. 1. He divests himself of all self-righteous robes. He felt himself disqualified for the contest in any such dress. 2. He desires to lay firmest hold of Christ. 3. He seeks to feel the full meaning of the resurrection power, the propulsion to a higher and nobler purpose. 4. He asks to share the sufferings of Christ. Note this, inasmuch as many talk as though the sufferings of Christ had dispensed with their own. 5. He would be fashioned to the likeness of His death. 6. And so he would reach the goal — resurrection, i.e. , complete newness of life through Christ Jesus. Conclusion:This delineation has its practical bearing on ourselves. 1. It puts privileges in their true place. They increase our obligation to serve God. 2. External religiousness is put in its right place. 3. We are shown where we shall only find the true safeguard against modern delusions on religious questions — in Christ. ( J. J. Goadby. )

Benson Commentary Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Php 3:1 . Finally — Or rather, as ?? ?????? should be here rendered, As for what remains; or, what I have further in view in writing this epistle. For the expression cannot here signify finally, as our translators have rendered the word, since the apostle is only entering on the main subject of his letter. Properly, it is a form of transition, and is translated besides, 1 Corinthians 1:16 . It is as if he had said, Whatever may become of me, or of yourselves, so far as any worldly interest or prospect is concerned, rejoice in the Lord Christ — In the knowledge you have of him, and of the truths and promises of his gospel; in the faith you have in him; the union you have with him by that faith; the relations in which you stand to him as his friends, his brethren, his spouse; in the conformity you have to him in heart and life, and in the expectations you have from him of felicity and glory eternal. These are sufficient causes for rejoicing, whatever circumstances you may be in, and whatever your trials and troubles may be in this present short and uncertain life. Reader, hast thou these reasons for rejoicing? Then thou mayest well bear without impatience or discontent the light afflictions which are but for a moment, 2 Corinthians 4:17 . To write the same things — Which you have heard from me before, or which I have written to other churches, and which I have desired Epaphroditus to tell you; to me indeed is not grievous — Nothing was accounted grievous or troublesome by him which was for the edification of the church; but for you it is safe — It will tend to preserve you from the errors and sins in which you might otherwise be insnared. The condemnation of the errors of the Judaizers, which the apostle was about to write in this chapter, he had already written in his epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. But as they were matters of great importance, he did not grudge to write them in this letter; because, if they were only communicated to them verbally, by Epaphroditus, or others, all the Philippians might not have had an opportunity of hearing them, or they might have misunderstood them. Whereas, having them in writing, they could examine them at their leisure, and have recourse to them as often as they had occasion. St. Paul, we may observe further, wrote most of his epistles, partly at least, with a view to confute the erroneous doctrines and practices of the Judaizing teachers, who in the first age greatly disturbed the churches chiefly by their affirming, that unless the Gentiles were circumcised, after the manner of Moses, they could not be saved — But as these teachers artfully suited their arguments to the circumstances and prejudices of the persons whom they addressed, the controversy hath a new aspect in almost every epistle. And what the apostle advances in confutation of their doctrine, and for explaining and establishing the genuine doctrines of the gospel, comprehends a variety of particulars highly worthy of the attention of Christians in every age. Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Php 3:2 . Beware of dogs — Unclean, unholy, rapacious men, who, though they fawn and flatter, would devour you as dogs. He probably gave them this appellation also, because they barked against the doctrines of the gospel, and against its faithful teachers, and were ready to bite and tear all who opposed their errors. Our Lord used the word dogs in the same sense, when he commanded his apostles not to give that which is holy to dogs. Perhaps, by calling them dogs, the apostle might intend to signify likewise, that, in the sight of God, they were now become as abominable, for crucifying Christ, and persecuting his apostles, as the idolatrous heathen were in the eyes of the Jews; who, to express their detestation of them, gave them the name of dogs; a title which the apostle therefore here returns upon themselves. Revelation 22:15 , the wicked are called dogs: without are dogs. Beware of evil workers — Of those Judaizing teachers, who, while they cry up the law, and pretend to be strenuous advocates for good works, are, in fact, evil workers; sowing the seeds of discord, strife, contention, and division, among the simple, humble, and formerly united members of Christ, and acting in direct opposition, not only to the gospel, the true nature of which they do not understand, but even to the most important precepts and grand design of the law itself, for the honour of which they appear to be so zealous. Macknight renders the expression, evil labourers, in opposition to the appellation of fellow-labourers, with which the apostle honoured those who faithfully assisted him in preaching the gospel. The same false teachers he calls false apostles, and deceitful workers, or labourers, 2 Corinthians 11:13 ; because, instead of building, they undermined the Church of Christ, by removing its foundation; beware of the concision — Circumcision being now no longer a rite of entering into covenant with God, the apostle will not call those who used it the circumcision; but coins a term on purpose, taken from a Greek word used by the LXX., Leviticus 21:5 , for such a cutting of the flesh as God had forbidden. Dr. Macknight renders the word the excision: an appellation, says he, “finely contrived to express the pernicious influence of their doctrine; and perhaps also to signify the destruction which was coming on them as a nation.” He adds, “the account given of these wicked men, Romans 16:18 ; Galatians 6:12 ; Titus 1:11 , shows that they deserved all the harsh names given them in this place.” Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Php 3:3 . For we are the circumcision — The true spiritual seed of Abraham; who have the things signified by that sign, and perform that which circumcision was designed to engage men to. We are the only people now in covenant with God, who worship God in the Spirit — Not barely in the letter, or by a mere external service, in attending outward ordinances, but with the spiritual worship of reverence and fear, humility and self-abasement, adoration and praise, confidence and hope, gratitude and love, subjection and obedience; of true repentance, living faith, and genuine holiness; feeling within ourselves, and manifesting to others, those dispositions and actions which are suited to the divine perfections, and to the relations in which he is pleased to stand to us; and all this through the influence of his Spirit, which can only implant these dispositions within us, and enable us to conduct ourselves accordingly. See this spiritual worship further explained in the note on John 4:23-24 ; and rejoice — Or, glory, rather, as ?????????? signifies; in Christ Je sus — As the procuring cause of all our blessings, and the source of all our consolations; and have no confidence in the flesh — In any outward advantage or prerogative, or in any performance of our own, past, present, or to come, for acceptance with God, or justification before him. Philippians 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Php 3:4-5 . Though I — Above many others; might have confidence in the flesh — That is, I have such pretences for that confidence as many, even Jews, have not. He says I, in the singular number, because the Philippian believers, being of Gentile race, could not speak in that manner. If any other man — Gentile or Jew, private Christian or public teacher; thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh — That he has cause for so doing; I more — I have more reason to think so than he. See 2 Corinthians 11:18-22 . Circumcised the eighth day — Not at ripe age, as a proselyte, but born among God’s peculiar people, and dedicated to him from my infancy, being solemnly admitted into the visible church, according to his ordinance, in the most regular and pure way. It is certain the Jews did not only lay a great deal of stress on the ceremony of circumcision, but on the time of performing it; affirming, that circumcision before the eighth day was no circumcision; and after that time of less value. Hence they thought it necessary to circumcise a child on the sabbath day, when that day was the eighth from its birth, (though all manner of work was forbidden on that day,) rather than defer performing the rite to a day beyond that time, John 7:22 ; and made it a rule that the rest of the sabbath must give place to circumcision. And this opinion, as it agrees with the text, Genesis 17:12 , so it seems to have obtained long before our Lord’s time; for the Septuagint and the Samaritan version read Genesis 17:14 thus: “The uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised the eighth day, shall be cut off: he hath broken my covenant.” Of the stock of Israel — Not the son of a proselyte, nor of the race of the Ishmaelites or Edomites; of the tribe of Benjamin — In which Jerusalem and the temple stood, and who kept close to God and his worship when the ten tribes revolted, and fell off to idolatry; a tribe descended from the wife of the patriarch Jacob; and on that account, as Theodoret has observed, more honourable than the four tribes descended from Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids; a Hebrew of the Hebrews — Descended, by both father and mother, from Abraham’s race, without any mixture of foreign blood. “The Jews who lived among the Greeks, and who spake their language, were called Hellenists, Acts 6:1 ; Acts 9:29 ; Acts 11:20 . Many of these were descended from parents, one of whom only was a Jew. Of this sort was Timothy, Acts 16:1 . But those who were born in Judea, of parents rightly descended from Abraham, and who, receiving their education in Judea, spake the language of their forefathers, and were thoroughly instructed in the laws and learning of the Jews, were reckoned more honourable than the Hellenists; and to mark the excellence of their lineage, education, and language, they were called Hebrews; a name the most ancient, and therefore the most honourable, of all names borne by Abraham’s descendants. A Hebrew, therefore, possessing the character and qualifications above described, was a more honourable appellation than an Israelite, as that name marked no more but one’s being a member of the commonwealth of Israel; which a Jew might be, though born and bred in a foreign country.” — Macknight. As touching the law, a Pharisee — One of that sect who most accurately observe it, and maintain many of those great truths of religion which the Sadducees and some others reject. Philippians 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Php 3:6 . Concerning zeal — For the law and the Jewish religion, and for all those ritual observances which they so eagerly enforce, I myself was once so earnest, that I persecuted, and that even to imprisonment and death, those who did not observe them. Touching the righteousness which is in the law — Which is described and enjoined by the letter of it; that is, with respect to external observances; blameless — Quite unexceptionable in my conduct; so that those who knew me most intimately, could not have accused me of any wilful transgression, or of neglecting any of those expiatory rites and sacrifices, which were appointed to be used in case of involuntary errors. “The greatest part of the Jews firmly believed that the righteousness required in the law consisted chiefly in observing its ritual precepts. And therefore, if a person was circumcised, offered the appointed sacrifices, observed the sabbaths, and other festivals enjoined by Moses, made the necessary purifications, in cases of pollution, paid tithes of all he possessed, and abstained from crimes injurious to society; or if he committed any such, was punished for them according to the law, he was, as the apostle expresseth it, with respect to the righteousness which is by law, unblameable. Further, as the ritual services enjoined in the law were not founded in the nature of things, but in the command of God; and as, according to the law, atonement was made for some transgressions by these services, they were, on account of their being done from a regard to the divine will, considered as acts of piety more acceptable to God than even the performance of moral duties. In the third place, as these ritual services were both numerous and burdensome, and recurred so frequently, that they gave almost constant employment to the pious Israelites, the diligent and exact performance of them was thought equivalent to a perfect righteousness, and so meritorious, that it entitled the performer to justification and eternal life. All these erroneous opinions Paul entertained while he continued a Pharisee. But he relinquished them when he became a Christian, as he informs us, immediately.” — Macknight. Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Php 3:7 . But what things — Of this nature; were once reputed gain to me — Which I valued myself upon, and confided in for acceptance with God, supposing them to constitute a righteousness sufficient to justify me in his sight; those, ever since I was made acquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus, and embraced the gospel, I have accounted loss — Things of no value; things which ought to be readily foregone for Christ, in order that, placing all my dependance on him for justification, I might through him be accepted of God, and be saved. The word ????? , here used by the apostle, and rendered loss, properly signifies loss incurred in trade: and especially that kind of loss which is sustained at sea in a storm, when goods are thrown overboard for the sake of saving the ship and the people on board: in which sense the word is used Acts 27:10 ; Acts 27:21 . To understand the term thus, gives great force and beauty to the passage. It is as if the apostle said, In making the voyage of life, for the purpose of gaining salvation, I proposed to purchase it with my circumcision, and my care in observing the ritual and moral precepts of the law; and I put a great value on these things, on account of the gain or advantage I was to make by them. But when I became a Christian, I willingly threw them all overboard, as of no value in purchasing salvation. And this I did for the sake of gaining salvation through faith in Christ as my only Saviour. Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss 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, that I may win Christ, Php 3:8-11 . Yea doubtless — Not only when I was first converted, but I still account both these and all things else, how valuable soever, to be but loss. Having said, in the preceding verse, that he counted his privileges as a Jew, and his righteousness by the law, to be loss, or things to be thrown away, he here adds, that he viewed in the same light all the things which men value themselves upon, and on which they build their hope of salvation: such as their natural and acquired talents, their knowledge, their moral virtue, and even their good works; yea, and all the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world; all the things in which people seek their happiness. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord — In comparison of, and in order that I may attain, the experimental and practical knowledge of Christ, as my Lord, as my teaching Prophet, my atoning and mediating Priest, my delivering and ruling King, reigning in my heart by his grace, and governing my life by his laws. For the apostle evidently had a respect here to all the offices and characters of Christ, and intended what he says to be understood of sanctification and practical obedience, as much as of illumination and justification. And he accounted all the things he speaks of as worthless, not only because they were ineffectual to procure for him acceptance with God, but because in themselves they are of little value in comparison with the true knowledge of Christ, and of the way of salvation through him; blessings which the apostle so regarded, that he despised all other knowledge, and every human attainment, as things comparatively unworthy of his care, while pursuing his way to eternal life. For whom I have actually suffered the loss of all things — Which the world esteems, admires, loves, and delights in. It seems probable, from this, that he had been excommunicated by the Jews in Jerusalem, and spoiled of his goods: a treatment which some others, who were not so obnoxious to the Jews as he was, met with after they became Christians, Hebrews 10:33-34 . And I count them but dung — So far am I from repenting, that I exposed myself to the loss of them. The discourse rises. Loss is sustained with patience; but dung is cast away with abhorrence. The Greek word, so rendered, signifies any vile refuse of things, the dross of metals, the dregs of liquors, the excrements of animals, the most worthless scraps of meat, the basest offals, fit only for dogs: in such a light did the apostle view every thing that would engage his dependance for justification, or stand in competition with Christ for his affection. That I may win Christ — May have him for my Saviour and Lord; may have an interest in all the offices that he sustains, and in all he hath done and suffered for the salvation of men, and may be made partaker of the benefits which he hath procured for me. And be found in him — Vitally united to him by faith and love; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law — That merely outward righteousness prescribed by the law, and performed in my own strength; but that which is through the faith of Christ — That justifying, sanctifying, and practical righteousness which is attained through believing in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel. See on Romans 4:6-8 ; Ephesians 4:22-24 ; 1 John 3:7 . The righteousness which is, ?? ???? , of, or from God — Which is the gift of his grace and mercy, and not procured by my merit; and is from his Spirit, not effected by my own strength, through the instrumentality of faith alone; a faith, however, productive of love, and of all holiness and righteousness. The phrase in the original here, ??? ?? ???? ??????????? , the righteousness of, or from God, is used, says Macknight, “I think only in this passage. It is opposed to mine own righteousness, which is from the law, a phrase found in other passages, particularly Galatians 3:21 . Wherefore, since the righteousness from the law is that which is obtained according to the tenor of the law, the righteousness from God by faith, is that which comes from God’s accounting the believer’s faith to him for righteousness, and from his working that faith in his heart by the influences of his Spirit.” That I may know him — In his person and offices, in his humiliation and exaltation, his grace and glory, as my wisdom and righteousness, my sanctification and redemption; or, as my complete Saviour; and the power — ??????? , the efficacy; of his resurrection — Demonstrating the certain truth and infinite importance of every part of his doctrine, the acceptableness of the atonement made by him for sin, (see on Romans 4:25 ,) opening an intercourse between earth and heaven, and obtaining for me the Holy Spirit, to raise me from the death of sin unto all the life of righteousness, ( John 16:7 ,) assuring me of a future and eternal judgment, ( Acts 17:31 ,) begetting me again to a lively hope of a heavenly inheritance, ( 1 Peter 1:3 ,) and raising my affections from things on earth to things above, Colossians 3:1-2 : and the fellowship of his sufferings — Sympathizing with him in his sufferings, and partaking of the benefits purchased for me thereby; as also being willing to take up my cross and suffer with him, as far as I am called to it, knowing that if I suffer with him, I shall also be glorified with him. See the margin. Being made conformable to his death — Being dead to the world and sin, or being made willing to confirm the gospel by enduring the tortures of crucifixion as he did, should it be his will I should do so. If by any means — Having attained an entire conformity to my great Master, and done and suffered the whole will of God; I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead — Unto that consummate holiness and blessedness, which he will bestow upon all his people when the dead in Christ shall rise first, and be distinguished with honour and glory proportionable to the zeal and diligence which they have manifested in his service. Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Philippians 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Php 3:12 . Not as though I had already attained — ??? ??? ??? ?????? , literally, not that I have already received, namely, the blessings which I am in pursuit of, even that complete knowledge of Christ, of the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and conformity to his death just mentioned; either were already perfect — ??????????? , perfected, completed: or had finished my course of duty and sufferings. It appears from Php 3:15 , that there is a difference between one that is ??????? , perfect, and one that is perfected; the one is fitted for the race, the other has finished the race, and is ready to receive the prize. But I follow after — ????? , I pursue, what is still before me. The apostle changes his allusion from a voyage to a race, which he continues through the two next verses. That I may apprehend that perfect holiness, that entire conformity to the will of God, for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus — Appearing to me in the way to Damascus, ( Acts 26:14 ,) whose condescending hand graciously laid hold on me when I was proceeding in my mad career of persecuting him and his followers, and in the extraordinary manner of which you have often heard, brought me to engage in running that very different race which I am now pursuing. Philippians 3:13 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, Php 3:13-14 . Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended — To have already attained those high degrees of holiness, internal and external, of usefulness and conformity to my blessed Master, which I have in view. But this one thing I do — I make this my chief business. Or rather, (which the phraseology of the original seems to require,) this one thing I can say, though I cannot say that I have attained what I am aiming at; forgetting those things which are behind — Even that part of the race of Christian experience, duty, and suffering, which is already run; and reaching forth, &c. — Greek, ???? ?? ????????? ?????????????? , stretching forward toward those things which are before — Toward still higher attainments in grace, and the further labours and sufferings which remain to be accomplished, pursuing these with the whole vigour of my soul; I press toward the mark — Which God hath placed before me, even a full conformity to the image of his Son in my heart and life, Romans 8:29 ; for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus — The felicity, honour, and glory, which I am called of God in Christ to contend for: a noble prize indeed! The reader will easily observe, that there is all along in this passage a beautiful allusion to the foot-races in the Grecian games; and in this last clause, to that particular circumstance respecting the prize, that it was placed in a very conspicuous situation, in order that the competitors might be animated by having it still in their view. Add to this, that the judges sat on a high seat, and from thence, by a herald, summoned the contenders into the stadium, or place where they were to contend. In allusion to which elevated situation of the judges, Macknight thinks the apostle here terms God’s calling him by Christ to run the Christian race, ??? ?????? , a high calling, or a calling from above. The phrase, however, seems rather to mean a calling or invitation to very high things, even to dignity and happiness, great beyond all that we can now conceive. For to every faithful servant shall it be granted, partly at death, and more especially at the day of final judgment, to enter into the joy of his Lord, Matthew 25:23 ; to sit down with him on his throne, as he overcame and is set down with his Father on his throne; and to inherit all things, even all that God has and is, Revelation 3:21 ; Revelation 21:7 . “From the description which the apostle gives in this passage of his stretching all the members of his body while running the Christian race, and from his telling us that he followed on with unremitting strength and agility, till he arrived at the prize which was placed at the end of the course, we may learn what earnestness, diligence, and constancy, in the exercises of faith and holiness, are necessary to our faith’s being counted to us for righteousness at the last day.” Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Php 3:15-16 . Let us, as many as are perfect — As many as are genuine believers in Christ, thorough Christians, justified and regenerated, new creatures in Christ, and so fit for the Christian race of duty and suffering; be thus minded — Minded as I have said that I am, namely, inclined and determined to press forward with zeal and diligence to still higher attainments in holiness, usefulness, and patient sufferings, till as Christ was, they are made in this world. Let us apply wholly to this one thing; and if in any thing — In any of the particulars before mentioned; ye — Any of you being yet weak in faith, wavering in hope, and imperfect in love, see Hebrews 6:11-12 ; 1 John 4:17-18 ; be otherwise minded — Contented with, and resting in, past attainments, and sunk into a remiss and indolent frame of mind, destitute of zeal and Christian fervency; God — If you be sincere, and truly desire it of him; shall reveal even this unto you — Shall show you your error and your sin, and excite you to fresh zeal and diligence in your Christian calling. Nevertheless — Let us remember this is on the supposition that, whereunto we have already attained — Or, so far forth as we have already made any progress toward perfection, we walk by the same rule — By which we have hitherto walked, and take care not to lose the ground we have already gained, which, by giving way to unbelief, diffidence, and distrust of God’s love, power, and faithfulness engaged for us, or by sinking into lukewarmness and sloth, we should easily do. Macknight takes the passage in rather another sense, namely, as signifying “that such of the Philippians as sincerely feared the Lord, if they happened, from ignorance or prejudice, to think differently from the apostle concerning any important article of faith, would have their error discovered to them, not by a particular revelation, but by the ordinary influences of the Spirit, agreeably to Psalm 25:12 , What man is he who feareth the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. Php 3:17-19 . Brethren, be followers together — ?????????? , joint imitators, of me — Obedient to my directions, and following the pattern which God enables me to set before you; and mark — Observe and imitate them; who walk so as ye have us — Myself and the other apostles of Christ, for an ensample. For many — Even teachers, as they profess themselves to be, walk in a very different manner; of whom I have told you often in time past, and now tell you even weeping — While I write, for indeed well may I weep on so lamentable an occasion; that they are enemies of the cross of Christ — Unwilling to suffer any thing for him and his cause, and counteracting the very end and design of his death. Observe, reader, such are all cowardly, all shamefaced, all delicate Christians. Whose end is destruction — This is placed in the front, that what follows may be read with the greater horror; whose God is their belly — Whose supreme happiness lies in gratifying their sensual appetites. The apostle gives the same character of the Judaizing teachers, ( Romans 16:18 ; Titus 1:11 ,) and, therefore, it is probable that he is speaking here chiefly of them and of their disciples. Whose glory is in their shame — In those things which they ought to be ashamed of: and whoever glories in the commission of any sin, or in the omission of any duty which he owes to God, his neighbour, or himself; or in the gratification of those inclinations and dispositions that are contrary to the love of God and his neighbour; or in that manner of employing his money, his knowledge, his authority over others, or his time, which is contrary to the will of God, and manifests that he is not a faithful steward of God’s manifold gifts, glories in his shame: who mind — Relish, desire, seek, pursue; earthly things — Things visible and temporal, in preference to those which are invisible and eternal; for to be carnally minded is death, Romans 8:6 . Philippians 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Philippians 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) Philippians 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Php 3:20-21 . For our conversation is in heaven — We that are true Christians are of a very different spirit, and act in a quite different manner. The original expression, ????????? , rendered conversation, is a word of a very extensive meaning, implying our citizenship, our thoughts, our affections, are already in heaven; or we think, speak, and act, converse with our fellow-creatures, and conduct ourselves in all our intercourse with them, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, and as being only strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We therefore endeavour to promote the interests of that glorious society to which we belong, to learn its manners, secure a title to its privileges, and behave in a way suitable to, and worthy of our relation to it; from whence also we look for the Saviour — To come and carry us thither according to his promise, ( John 14:3 ,) namely, our spirits, at the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle; yea, and afterward to transform our vile body, ?? ???? ??? ??????????? , the body of our humiliation; which, in consequence of the fall of our first parents, sinks us so low, is subject to, and encompassed with, so many infirmities, is such a clog to our souls, and so greatly hinders our progress in the work of faith and labour of love: this body we expect he will transform into the most perfect state and the most beauteous form, when it will be purer than the unspotted firmament, brighter than the lustre of the stars, and, which exceeds all parallel, which comprehends all perfection, like unto his glorious body — Of which an image was given in his transfiguration, yea like that wonderfully glorious body which he wears in his heavenly kingdom, and on his triumphant throne. So that here, as Romans 8:23 , the redemption of the body from corruption, by a glorious resurrection, is represented as the especial privilege of the righteou

Expositor's Bible Commentary Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Chapter 10 NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH. Php 3:1-8 (R.V.) THE third chapter contains the portion of this Epistle in which, perhaps, one is hardest put to it to keep pace with the writer. Here he gives us one of his most remarkable expositions of true Christian religion as he knew it, and as he maintains it must essentially exist for others also. He does this in a burst of thought and feeling expressed together, so that, if we are to take his meaning, the fire and the light must both alike do their work upon us; we must feel and see both at once. This is one of the pages to which a Bible reader turns again and again. It is one of the passages that have special power to find and to stir believing men. Yet it seems to find its place in the letter almost incidentally. It would seem, as some have thought, that in the first verse of this chapter the Apostle begins to draw his letter to a close. Cheerful words of farewell begin to shape themselves. At the same time a closing reference is in view to some practical danger that required to be guarded against. Almost suddenly things take a new turn, and a flood of great ideas claim and take their place. "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." Rejoice, be of good cheer, was the common formula of leave-taking. The same word is translated "farewell" in 2 Corinthians 13:11 (Authorised and Revised Versions). But the Apostle, especially in this Epistle, which is itself inspired by so much of the Christian gladness, cannot but emphasise the proper meaning of the customary phrase. Rejoice, yes, rejoice, my brethren, in the Lord. The same turn of thought recurs again in Php 4:4 . What it is fitted to suggest will be equally in place when we reach that point. Now he seems to be on the point of introducing some subject already referred to, either in this or in a previous Epistle. It concerned the safety of the Philippians, and it required some courteous preface in touching on it once again; so that, most likely, it was a point of some delicacy. Some have thought this topic might be the tendency to dissension which had appeared in Philippi. It is a subject which comes up again in chap. 4; it may have been upon the point of coming up here. The closing words of Php 3:1 might well enough preface such a reference. The theme was not so pleasant as some of those on which he had written: it might be delicate for him to handle, and it might call for some effort on their part to take it well. Yet it concerned their safety that they should fully realise this element of the situation, and should take the right view of it. Therefore also the Apostle would not count it irksome to do his part in relation to it. People entangled in a fault are in circumstances not favourable to a right estimate of their own case. They need help from those who can judge more soundly. Yet help must be tendered with a certain considerateness. But at this point a new impulse begins to operate. Perhaps the Apostle was interrupted, and, before he could resume, some news reaches him, awakening afresh the indignation with which he always regarded the tactics of the Judaisers. Nothing indicates that the Philippian Church was much disposed to Judaise. But if at this juncture some new disturbance from the Judaisers befell his work at Rome, or if news of that kind reached him from some other field, it might suggest the possibility of those sinister influences finding their way also to Philippi. This is, of course, a conjecture merely; but it is not an unreasonable one. It has been offered as an explanation of the somewhat sudden burst of warning that breaks upon us in Php 3:2 ; while, in the more tranquil strain of chap. 4, topics are resumed which easily link themselves to Php 3:1 Still, even if this denunciation of Judaising comes in rather unexpectedly, it does not really disturb the main drift of the Epistle, nor does it interfere with the lessons which the Philippians were to learn. It rather contributes to enforce the views and deepen the impressions at which Paul aims. For the denunciation becomes the occasion of introducing a glowing description of how Christ found Paul, and what Paul found in Christ. This is set against the religion of Judaising. But at the same time, and by the nature of the case, it becomes a magnificent exposure and rebuke of all fleshly religionising, of all the ways of being religious that are superficial, self-confident, and wordly-minded. It also becomes a stirring call to what is most central and vital in Christian religion. If then there was at Philippi, as there is everywhere, a tendency to be too easily contented with what they had attained; or to reconcile Christianity with self-seeking; or to indulge a Christianised arrogance and quarrelsomeness; or in any other shape, "having begun in the spirit to be made perfect in the flesh," - here was exactly what they needed. Here, too, they might find a vivid representation of the "one spirit" in which they were to "stand fast," the "one soul" in which they were to "labour" together. { Php 1:27 } That "one spirit" is the mind which is caught, held, vitalised, continually drawn upwards and forwards, by the revelation and the appropriation of Christ. The truth is that a remiss Christianity always becomes very much a Judaism. Such Christianity assumes that a life of respectable conventions, carried on within sacred institutions, will please God and save our souls. What the Apostle has to set against Judaism may very well be set against that in all its forms. "Keep an eye on the dogs, the evil workers, on the concision." The Judaisers are not to occupy him very long, but we see they are going to be thoroughly disposed of. Dogs is a term borrowed from their own vocabulary. They classed the Gentiles (even the uncircumcised Christians) as dogs, impure beings who devoured all kinds of meats and were opened to all kinds of uncleanness. But themselves, the Apostle intimates, were the truly impure, shutting themselves out from the true purity, the heart’s purity, and (as Dr. Lightfoot expresses it) "devouring the garbage of carnal ordinances." They were also evil workers, mischievous busybodies, pertinaciously busy, but busy to undo rather than to build up what is good, "subverting men’s souls." { Acts 15:24 } And they were the concision, not the circumcision according to the true intent of that ordinance, but the concision, the mutilation or gashing. Circumcision was a word which carried in its heart a high meaning of separation from evil and of consecration to the Lord. That meaning (and therefore also the word which carried it) pertained to gospel believers, whether outwardly circumcised or not. For the Judaising zealots could be claimed only a circumcision which had lost its sense, and which no more deserved the name, -a senseless gashing of the flesh, a concision. All these terms seem to be levelled at certain persons who are in the Apostle’s view, and are not unknown to the Philippians, though not necessarily resident in that city. For any full statement of the grounds of the Apostle’s indignation at the Judaising propaganda, the reader must be referred to the expository writings on other Epistles, especially on those to the Corinthians and to the Galatians’ Here a few words must suffice. Judaising made the highest pretensions to religious security and success; it proposed to expound the only worthy and genuine view of man’s relation to God. But in reality the Judaisers wholly misrepresented Christianity, for they had missed the main meaning of it. Judaising turned men’s minds away from what was highest to what was lowest-from love to law, from God’s gifts to man’s merits, from inward life and power to outward ceremonial performance, from the spiritual and eternal to the material and the temporary. It was a huge, melancholy mistake; and yet it was pressed upon Christians as the true religion, which availed with God, and could alone bring blessing to men. Hence, as our Lord denounced the Pharisees with special energy-sometimes with withering sarcasm { Luke 11:47 } -so, and for the same reasons, does Paul attack the Judaisers. The Pharisees applied themselves to turn the religion of Israel into a soul-withering business of formalism and pride; and Paul’s opponents strove to pervert to like effect even the gracious and life-giving gospel of Christ. To such he would give place, no, not for an hour. Two things may be suggested here. One is the responsibility incurred by those who make a religious profession, and in that character endeavour to exert religious influence upon others. Such men are taking possession, as far as they can, of what is highest and most sacred in the soul’s capacities; and if they misdirect the soul’s life here, if consciously or unconsciously they betray interests so sacred, if they successfully teach men to take false coin for true in the matter of the soul’s dealings with God and with its own welfare, their responsibility is of the heaviest. Another point to notice is the energy with which the Apostle thinks it right to denounce these evil workers. Denunciation is a line of things in which, as we know very well, human passion is apt to break loose-the wrath of man which worketh not the righteousness of God. The history of religious controversy has made this very plain. Yet surely we may say that zeal for truth must sometimes show itself in an honest indignation against the wilfulness and the blindness of those who are misleading others. It is not always well to be merely mild and placable. That may arise in some cases from no true charity, but rather from indifference, or from an amiability that is indolent and selfish. It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing. Only, we have reason to take heed to ourselves and to our own spirit, when we are moved to be zealous in the line of condemning and denouncing. Not all who do so have approved their right to do it, by tokens of spiritual wisdom and single-hearted sincerity such as marked the life and work of Paul. The Judaisers put abroad the false coin, and believers in Christ, whether circumcised or not, had the true. "We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh." Such are truly Abraham’s children. { Galatians 3:29 } To them belong whatever relation to God, and interest in God, were shadowed forth by circumcision in the days of old. No doubt, the rite of circumcision was outward; and no doubt it came to be connected with a great system of outward ordinances and outward providences. Yet circumcision, according to the Apostle, pointed not outwards, but inwards. { Romans 2:28-29 } Elsewhere he lays stress on this, that circumcision, when first given, was a seal of faith. In the Old Testament itself, the complaint made by the prophets, speaking for God, was that the people, though circumcised in flesh, were of uncircumcised heart and uncircumcised ears. And God threatens to punish Israel with the Gentiles-the circumcised with the uncircumcised-because all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart. The true circumcision then must be those, in the first place, who have the true, the essentially true worship. Circumcision set men apart as worshippers of the true God: hence Israel came to be thought of as a people "instantly serving (or worshipping) God day and night." That this worship must include more than outward service in order to be a success - that it should include elements of high spiritual worth, was disclosed in Old Testament revelation with growing clearness. One promise on which it rested was: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." The true circumcision, those who answer to the type which circumcision was meant to set, must be those who have the true worship. Now that is the worship "by the Spirit"; on which we shall have a word to say presently. And again, the true circumcision must be those who have the true glorying. Israel, called to glory in their God, were set apart also to cherish in that connection a great hope, which was to bless their line, and, through them, the world. That hope was fulfilled in Christ. The true circumcision were those who welcomed the fulfilment of the promise, who rejoiced in the fulness of the blessing, because they had eyes to see and hearts to feel its incomparable worth. And certainly, therefore, as men who had discovered the true foundation and refuge, they must renounce and turn from the false trust, they must put no confidence in the flesh. Is this, however, a paradox? Was not circumcision "outward, in the flesh."? Was it not found to be a congruous part of a concrete system, built up of "elements of this world"? Was not the temple a "worldly sanctuary," and were not the sacrifices "carnal ordinances"? Yes; and yet the true circumcision did not trust in circumcision. He who truly took the meaning of that remarkable dispensation was trained to say, "Doth not my soul wait on God? from Him cometh my salvation." And he was trained to renounce the confidences in which the nations trusted. Hence, though such a man could accept instruction and impression from many an ordinance and many a providence, he was still led to place his trust higher than the flesh. And now, when the true light was come, when the Kingdom of God shone out in its spiritual principles and forces, the true circumcision must be found in those who turned from that which appealed only to the earthly and the fleshly mind, that they might fasten on that in which God revealed Himself to contrite and longing souls. The Apostle, therefore, claimed the inheritance and representation of the ancient holy people for spiritual believers, rather than for Judaising ritualists. But apart from questions as to the connection between successive covenants, it is worth our while to weigh well the significance of those features of Christian religion which are here emphasised. "We," he says, "worship by the Spirit of God." The Holy Spirit was not absent from the old economy. But in those days the consciousness and the faith of His working were dim, and the understanding of the scope of it was limited. In the times of the New Testament, on the contrary, the promise and the presence of the Spirit assume a primary place. This is the great promise of the Father which was to come into manifestation and fulfilment when Christ had gone away. This, from Pentecost onwards, was to be distinctive of the character of Christ’s Church. According to the Apostle Paul, it is one great end of Christ’s redemption, that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So, in particular, Christian worship is by the Spirit of God. Therefore it is a real and most inward fellowship with God. In this worship it is the office of the Holy Spirit to give us a sense of the reality of Divine things, especially of the truths and promises of God; to touch our hearts with their goodness, on account especially of the Divine love that breathes in them; to dispose us to decision, in the way of consent and surrender to God as thus revealed. He takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us. So he brings us, in our worship, to meet with God, mind to mind, heart to heart. Although all our thoughts, as well as all our desires, come short, yet, in a measure, a real consent with God about His Son and about the blessings of His Son’s gospel comes to pass. Then we sing with the Spirit, when our songs are filled with confidence and admiration, arising out of a sense of God’s glory and grace; and we pray in the Holy Ghost, when our supplications express this loving and thankful close with God’s promises. It is our calling and our blessedness to worship by the Spirit of God. Much of our worship might fall silent, if this alone should be upheld; yet this alone avails and finds God. Whatever obscures this, or distracts attention from it, whether it be called Jewish or Christian, does not aid worship, but mars it. It is true that the presence of the Spirit of God is not discernible otherwise than by the fruits of His working. And the difficulty may be raised, how can we, in practice, be secure of having the Spirit whereby to worship God? But, on the one hand, we know in some degree what the nature of the worship is which He sustains; we can form some conception of the attitude and exercise of soul towards Christ and God which constitute that worship. We do therefore know something as to what we should seek; we are aware of the direction in which our face should be set. On the other hand, the presence of the Spirit with us, to make such worship real in our case, is an object of faith. We believe in God for that gracious presence, and ask for it; and so doing, we expect it, according to God’s own promise. On this understanding we apply ourselves to find entrance and progress in the worship which is by the Spirit. All appliances which are supposed to aid worship, which are conceived to add to its beauty, pathos, or sublimity are tolerable only so far as they do not tend to divert us from the worship which is by the Spirit. Experience shows that men are extremely prone to fall back from the simplicity and intentness of spiritual worship; and then they cover the gap, which they cannot fill, by outward arrangements of an impressive and affecting kind. Outward arrangements can render real service to worshippers, only if they remove hindrances, and supply conditions under which the simplicity and intentness of the worship "by the Spirit" may go on undisturbed. Very often they have tended exactly in the contrary direction; not the less because they have been introduced, perhaps, with the best intentions. And yet the chief question of all is not the more or less, the this or that, of such circumstantials; but rather what the heart fixes on and holds by. Again, we "glory in Christ Jesus." Christians are rich and great, because Christ Jesus assumes a place in their mind and life, such as makes them partakers of all spiritual blessing in Him. They glory, not in what they are, or do, or become, or get, but in Christ. Glorying in anything implies a deep sense of its wonderfulness and worth, along with some persuasion that it has a happy relation to ourselves. So Christ is the power and wisdom of God, the revelation of the Father, the way to the Father, the centre of blessing, the secret of religious restoration, attainment, and success, and He is ours; and He sets the type of what we through Him shall be. To glory and triumph in Christ is a leading characteristic of Christian religion. And so, then, we "put no confidence in the flesh." If in Christ, under the revelation which Centres in Him, we have found the way to God arid the liberty to serve God, then all other ways must be for us ipso facto exposed and condemned; they are seen to be fallacious and fruitless. All these other ways are summoned up in "the flesh." For the flesh is human nature fallen, with the resources which it wields, drawn from itself or from earthly materials of some kind. And in some selection or combination of these resources, the religion of the flesh stands. The renunciation of trust in such ways of establishing a case before God is included in the acceptance of Christ’s authority and Christ’s salvation. This condemns alike the confidence in average morality, and that in accredited ecclesiastical surroundings. It condemns confidence in even the holiest Christian rites, as if they could transfer us, by some intrinsic virtue, into the Kingdom of God, or could accredit our standing there. The same holds of confidence in doctrines, and even of confidence in sentiments. Rites, doctrines, and sentiments have their place of honour, as lines in which Christ and we may meet. Otherwise they all fall into the category of the flesh. Many things the flesh can do, in worship as in other departments; but it cannot attain to the worship that is by the Spirit of God. Much it can boast of; but it cannot replace Immanuel; it cannot fill the place of the reconciliation and the life. When we learn what kind of confidence is needed towards God, and find the ground of it in the Christ of God, then we cease to rely on the flesh. At this point the Apostle cannot but emphasise his own right to speak. He appeals to his remarkable history. He knows all about this Judaic religion, which glories in the flesh, and he knows also the better way. The experience which had transformed his life entitled him to a hearing; for, indeed, he, as no man else, had searched out the worth of both the ways of it. So he is led into a remarkable testimony regarding the nature and the working forces of true Christian religion. And this, while it serves the purpose of throwing deserved disgrace on the poor religion of Judaising, serves at the same time a higher and more durable purpose. It sets the glory of the life of faith, love, and worship, against the meanness of all fleshly life whatever; and thus it vividly impresses on all hearers and readers the alternatives with which we have to deal, and the greatness of the choice which we are called to make. If Paul decries the Jewish glorying in the flesh, it is not because he lacked ground, that had enabled him to cherish it and might enable him still to do so. "I also have material enough of fleshly confidence:-if any other thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I more." Then comes the remarkable catalogue of the prerogatives which had once meant so much for Saul of Tarsus, filling his heart with confidence and exultation. "Circumcised the eighth day"-for he was no proselyte, but born within the fold "of the stock of Israel"-for neither had his parents been proselytes: in particular, for he was one whose pedigree was ascertained and notorious, "of the tribe of Benjamin": "a Hebrew of Hebrews" nursed and trained, that is to say, in the very speech and spirit of the chosen people; not, as some of them, bred up in a foreign tongue, and under alien influences; "concerning the law, a Pharisee"-that is, "of the strictest sect of our religion"; { Acts 26:5 } for, as a Pharisee, Saul had given himself wholly to know the law, to keep the law, to teach the law. More yet-"as to zeal, a persecutor of the Church"; in this clause the heat of the writer’s spirit rises into pathetic irony and self-scorn: "This appropriate outcome of carnal Judaism, alas, was not lacking in me: I was not a Judaiser of the half-hearted sort." The idea is that those who, trusting in fleshly Judaism, claimed also to be Christians, knew neither their own spirit, nor the proper working of their own system. Saul of Tarsus had been no such incoherent Jew; only too bloodily had he proved himself thorough and consistent. Lastly, as to "law righteousness," the righteousness of compliance with rules, he had been unchallengeable; not a pharisaic theorist only, but a man who made conscience of his theory. Ah! he had known all this; and more, he had been forced in a great crisis of his life to measure and search out the whole worth of it. "But what things were gain to me"-the whole class of things that ranked themselves before my eyes, and in my heart, as making me rich and strong -" those I have esteemed" (in a mass) "to be loss for Christ." They ceased to be valuable when they began to be reckoned as elements of disadvantage and of loss in comparison of Christ. Nor these things only, but even all things-"Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." "All things" must include more than those old elements of fleshly confidence already enumerated. It must include everything which Paul still possessed, or might yet attain, that could be separated from Christ, weighed against Him, brought into competition with Him-all that the flesh could even yet fake hold of, and turn into a ground of separate confidence and boasting. So the phrase might cover much that was good in its place, much that the Apostle was glad to hold in Christ and from Christ, but which yet might present itself to the unwatchful heart as material of independent boasting, and which, in that case, must be met with energetic and resolute rejection. "All things" may include, for instance, many of those elements of Christian and Apostolic eminence which are enumerated in 2 Corinthians 11:1-33 ; for which he thankfully received many such things, and lovingly prized them "in Christ Jesus," yet as they might become occasions to flatter or seduce even an Apostle-betraying him into self-confidence, or into the assertion of some separate worth and glory for himself-they must be rejected and counted to be loss. The difficulty for us here is to estimate worthily the elevation of that regard to Christ which had become the inspiration of the life of Paul. At the time when he was arrested on the road to Damascus, God revealed His Son to him and in him. Paul then became aware of Jesus as the Messiah of his people, against whom his utmost energies had bent themselves-against whom he had sinned with his utmost determination. That discovery came home to him with a sense of great darkness and horror; and, no doubt, at the same time, his whole previous conceptions of life, and his judgments of his own life, were subverted, and fell in ruins around him. He had had his scheme of life, of success, of welfare; it had seemed to him a lofty and well-accredited one; and, with whatever misgivings he might occasionally be visited, on the whole he thought of himself as working it out hopefully and well. Now on every side were written only defeat, perplexity, and despair. But ere long the Son of God was revealed in his { Galatians 1:16 } as the Bearer of righteousness and life to sinners - as the embodiment of Divine reconciliation and Divine hope. In this light a new conception of the world, a new scheme of worthy and victorious life, opened itself to Paul-new and wonderful. But the reason of it, the hopefulness of it, the endless worth of it, lay chiefly here, that God in Christ had come into his life. The true relation of moral life to God, and the ends of human life as judged by that standard, were opening before him; but, if that had stood alone, it might only have completed the dismay of the paralysed and stricken man. What made all new was the vision of Christ victoriously treading the path in which we failed to go, and of Christ dying for the unrighteous. So God came into view, in His love, redeeming, reconciling, adopting, giving the Holy Spirit-and He came into view "in Christ Jesus." God was in Christ. The manifold relation of the living God to His creature man began to be felt and verified in the manifold relation of Christ the Son of God, the Mediator and Saviour, to the broken man who had defied and hated Him. Christ henceforth became the ground, the meaning, and the aim of Paul’s life. Life found its explanation, its worth, its loving imperative here. All things else that once had value in his eyes fell away. If not entirely dismissed, they were now to have only such place and use as Christ assigned to them, only such as could fit the genius of life in Christ. And all new prerogatives and attainments that might yet accrue to Paul, and might seem entitled to assume value in his eyes, could only have the same subordinate place:-Christ first, whose light and love, whose power to fix and fill and attract the soul, made all things new; Christ first, so that all the rest was comparatively nowhere; Christ first, so that all the rest, if at any time it came into competition with Him, if it offered itself to Paul as a source of individual confidence and boasting, is recognised as mere loss, and in that character resolutely cast away. This had become the living and ruling principle with Paul; not so, indeed, as to meet with no opposition, but so as to prevail and bear down opposition. Enthusiastically accepted and embraced, it was a principle that had to be maintained against temptation, against infirmity, against the strong tides of inward habit and outward custom. Here lay the trial of Paul’s sincerity and of Christ’s fidelity and power. That trial had run its course: it was now not far from its ending. The opening of heart and mind to Christ, and the surrender of all to Him, had not been the matter merely of one hour of deep impression and high feeling. It had continued, it was in full force still. Paul’s value for Christ had borne the strain of time, and change, and temptation. Now he is Paul the aged, and also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Has he abated from the force or cooled from the confidence of that mind of his concerning the Son of God? Far otherwise. With a "Yea, doubtless" he tells us that he abides by his first conviction, and affirms his first decision. Good right he had to testify. This was not a matter of inward feeling only, however sincere and strong. He had been well proved. He has suffered the loss of all things; he has seen all his treasures-what are counted for such-swept away from him as the result of unflinching faith and service; and he counts all to be well lost for Christ. This passage sets before us the essential nature of Christianity-the essential life of a Christian, as revealed by the effect it has on his esteem for other things. Many of us, one supposes, cannot consider it without a sense of deep disgrace. The view here given awakens many thoughts. Some aspects of the subject must be dwelt upon for a moment. Those things that were gain, all things that can be gain, such are the objects Paul here reckons with. The believing mind concerning Christ carries with it a changed mind as regards all these. Apparently, in some deep sense, there arises for us in this world an inevitable competition between Christ on the one hand and all things on the other. If we should say some things, we might be in danger of sliding into a one-sided puritanism. But we escape that risk by saying, emphatically, all things. A decision upon this has to be reached, it has to be maintained, it is to be reaffirmed in particulars, in all particulars. For we must remember that the heart of Paul, in this burst of loyalty, is only echoing the call of Christ: "He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me. Let us repeat it, this applies to all things." Because a certain way of feeling and thinking about these things, and especially about some of them, is present with us all, which asserts itself against this principle, therefore Christian life, however rich and full, however gracious and generous its character truly is, must include a negative at the base of it. "Let a man deny (or renounce) himself, and take up his cross." That life should be subjected to this severe competition seems hard: we may repine at it, and count it needless. We may ask, "Why should it be so? Why might not Christ take His place in our regard-His first, His ideal, His incomparable place-and, at the same time, all the other things take their place too, each in due order, as the true conception of human life may imply, and as the claims of loyalty to Christ may dictate? Why should not each take its place, more prominent or more subordinate, on a principle of harmony and happy order? Why should life be subjected to conflict and strain?" We may dream of this; but it will not be. We are such persons, and the world about us is so related to us now, that the "all things" are found continually claiming a place, and striving to make good for themselves a place in our heart and life, that will not consist with the regard due to Christ. They can be resisted only by a great inward decision, maintained and renewed all along our life, for Christ and against them. The nearest approach the believer makes in this life to that happy harmony of the whole being which was spoken of just now, is-when his decision for Christ is so thorough and joyful, that the other elements-the "all things"-fall into their place, reduced into obedience by an energy that breaks resistance. Then, too, in that place, they begin to reveal their proper nature as God’s gifts, their real beauty and their real worth. But then, in the next place, though the decision cannot be escaped, yet, let us be assured, there is in this no real hardship. To be so called to this decision is the greatest blessedness of life. There is that in Christ for men, on account of which a man may gladly count all else but loss, may cou