The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
Commentary by Nick Boork
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October 2 – Philippians 3:4-21
Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 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: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
In this portion of Scripture, we come to understand how the apostle Paul experienced a major paradigm shift in his concept of what it meant to know and serve God. Before he was converted to Jesus Christ Paul was a very religious man in the sense that he strictly followed the Mosaic law and all the traditions that had been developed by the Pharisees. He was proud of his Jewish heritage and actually thought that he was doing the will of God by persecuting Christians that had believed in Jesus Christ. If anyone could boast of their commitment to please the Hebrew God it was Paul because he even says that according to the law he was blameless. This does not mean that he had no sin because all men are sinners but it means that he followed to the letter all the Mosaic law which included observing the Passover and receiving atonement for sins annually but this was all outward religion and Paul was not changed on the inside until he had an encounter with Jesus Christ!
This is why he says that everything that he had gained as a devoted Hebrew he counted as a total loss that he may gain Christ. This radical change in his thinking about God only came to him through experiencing the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus when he heard the voice of Jesus saying Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? This was the time that Paul had a life transforming encounter with Jesus that was alive and was raised from the dead. After being called of Jesus to preach the gospel the revelation of the Holy Spirit began to show him that Christ fulfilled all the types and shadows of the law and was the promised Messiah the Savior of the world. For this reason, Paul came to understand that everything that he lived for religiously now meant nothing at all compared to knowing the source of all life and salvation found only in the Lord Jesus Christ himself!
This became the total obsession of the apostle Paul to know Jesus Christ and be found in him obtaining a new kind of righteousness, the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Paul was persuaded that all of his own efforts to please God by living religiously were totally void an empty because Jesus Christ had paid the price of all his sins on the cross and was raised again from the dead. So now Paul’s goal was to go all the way with Jesus Christ as Lord of his life and this meant entering into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ being his servant and doing his will. The persecution that he once enforced representing the Pharisees he would now experience as a follower of Jesus and suffer he did through prison, beatings and even being stoned. But for Paul, to be able to experience the salvation that is in Jesus Christ and the promise of the resurrection and eternal life in the kingdom of God was totally worth it no matter what price he had to pay.
Paul says that one of the keys to his success as a Christian was to forget the things that are behind and reach forth to the things which are before and press on to take a hold of everything that God had called him to experience in Jesus Christ with the goal of heaven. This is super important because all of us have our ups and downs our failures and our victories as we walk with the Lord but we can’t let our defeats keep us down, no we have to get up and keep pursuing the high calling and purpose of God for our lives. Paul encourages his readers to follow his example and others that lived according to this kind of faith. He actually says that if anyone thinks otherwise that the Lord would remind them that the most important thing is to know Christ in a personal way. Now after walking with Jesus for many years and having his mind completely renewed to the new realities of this awesome relationship with Jesus Christ he was able to see that many people were living a far inferior experience, only outwardly religious and saying that they mind earthly things and that they are really the enemies of the cross of Christ.
He concludes by saying that our citizenship is in heaven and that’s where we’re ultimately going as Christians and we have this hope that when Jesus Christ appears again that he will transform our earthly body into the same kind of glorified body that Christ had after he rose again from the dead, a body that will never perish and that we will live forever in the kingdom of God. This is the ultimate hope of believers in Jesus Christ because the reality of heaven and eternal life shared with God and all his people is far superior! So it’s important we don’t get caught up just living for the here and now but rather live for Jesus Christ and his kingdom and purposes for our lives.
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) Paul had every reason to boast in his religious life as a devoted Pharisee.
2) He had a paradigm shift in his understanding when he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.
3) All of his religious works were a total and complete waste without Jesus Christ.
4) Knowing Christ and experiencing his righteousness became his obsession and should be ours as well.
5) The goal of every child of God is to know Christ and live for the eternal kingdom of God.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 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: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
In this portion of Scripture, we come to understand how the apostle Paul experienced a major paradigm shift in his concept of what it meant to know and serve God. Before he was converted to Jesus Christ Paul was a very religious man in the sense that he strictly followed the Mosaic law and all the traditions that had been developed by the Pharisees. He was proud of his Jewish heritage and actually thought that he was doing the will of God by persecuting Christians that had believed in Jesus Christ. If anyone could boast of their commitment to please the Hebrew God it was Paul because he even says that according to the law he was blameless. This does not mean that he had no sin because all men are sinners but it means that he followed to the letter all the Mosaic law which included observing the Passover and receiving atonement for sins annually but this was all outward religion and Paul was not changed on the inside until he had an encounter with Jesus Christ!
This is why he says that everything that he had gained as a devoted Hebrew he counted as a total loss that he may gain Christ. This radical change in his thinking about God only came to him through experiencing the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus when he heard the voice of Jesus saying Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? This was the time that Paul had a life transforming encounter with Jesus that was alive and was raised from the dead. After being called of Jesus to preach the gospel the revelation of the Holy Spirit began to show him that Christ fulfilled all the types and shadows of the law and was the promised Messiah the Savior of the world. For this reason, Paul came to understand that everything that he lived for religiously now meant nothing at all compared to knowing the source of all life and salvation found only in the Lord Jesus Christ himself!
This became the total obsession of the apostle Paul to know Jesus Christ and be found in him obtaining a new kind of righteousness, the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Paul was persuaded that all of his own efforts to please God by living religiously were totally void an empty because Jesus Christ had paid the price of all his sins on the cross and was raised again from the dead. So now Paul’s goal was to go all the way with Jesus Christ as Lord of his life and this meant entering into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ being his servant and doing his will. The persecution that he once enforced representing the Pharisees he would now experience as a follower of Jesus and suffer he did through prison, beatings and even being stoned. But for Paul, to be able to experience the salvation that is in Jesus Christ and the promise of the resurrection and eternal life in the kingdom of God was totally worth it no matter what price he had to pay.
Paul says that one of the keys to his success as a Christian was to forget the things that are behind and reach forth to the things which are before and press on to take a hold of everything that God had called him to experience in Jesus Christ with the goal of heaven. This is super important because all of us have our ups and downs our failures and our victories as we walk with the Lord but we can’t let our defeats keep us down, no we have to get up and keep pursuing the high calling and purpose of God for our lives. Paul encourages his readers to follow his example and others that lived according to this kind of faith. He actually says that if anyone thinks otherwise that the Lord would remind them that the most important thing is to know Christ in a personal way. Now after walking with Jesus for many years and having his mind completely renewed to the new realities of this awesome relationship with Jesus Christ he was able to see that many people were living a far inferior experience, only outwardly religious and saying that they mind earthly things and that they are really the enemies of the cross of Christ.
He concludes by saying that our citizenship is in heaven and that’s where we’re ultimately going as Christians and we have this hope that when Jesus Christ appears again that he will transform our earthly body into the same kind of glorified body that Christ had after he rose again from the dead, a body that will never perish and that we will live forever in the kingdom of God. This is the ultimate hope of believers in Jesus Christ because the reality of heaven and eternal life shared with God and all his people is far superior! So it’s important we don’t get caught up just living for the here and now but rather live for Jesus Christ and his kingdom and purposes for our lives.
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) Paul had every reason to boast in his religious life as a devoted Pharisee.
2) He had a paradigm shift in his understanding when he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.
3) All of his religious works were a total and complete waste without Jesus Christ.
4) Knowing Christ and experiencing his righteousness became his obsession and should be ours as well.
5) The goal of every child of God is to know Christ and live for the eternal kingdom of God.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll