Pastor's Sermon Notes: Philippians (series), Part 19: "The Doubled Motivation" (Phil. 3:4-14), Part 2 (3:8e-10)

Sermon Series: Philippians, Part 19

The Doubled Motivation

Philippians 3:4-14, Part 2 (3:8e-10)

[Audio file on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/Philippians34-14Part2]

that I may win Christ, 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: ¹⁰ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Outline:

I. The Carnal Confidence Challenge (3:4)

II. The Apostle Paul’s Curriculum Vitae (3:5-6)

III. The Eternal Balance Sheet (3:7-8d)

IV. The Two Main Motivations (3:8e-10)

V. The Ongoing Singular Task (3:11-14)

Introduction:

This is another example of where a verse division may not be helpful. Considering what is to follow in the next verse, and the way these verses are phrased, I believe that the end of verse 8 would be better included as the beginning of verse 9.

But, let us back up for just a few moments to reconsider something Paul wrote in the previous verse that is directly connected to what we read in verses 9-10, that is “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”

The two purpose clauses that are the focus of these verses — beginning at the end of verse 8 and running to the end of verse 10 — are “that I may win Christ” and “that I may know him.” Verse 9 unpacks what it means to “win” Christ, and the rest of verse 10 does so for what Paul intends by to “know him.”

IV. The Two Main Motivations (3:8e-10)

1.  The Gain of Christ (3:8e-9)

2. The Knowledge of Christ (3:10)

1.  The Gain of Christ (3:8e-9)

that I may win Christ, 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:

1) The Reality of the Gain of Christ (3:8e-9a)

2) The Righteousness of the Gain of Christ (3:9b-e)

1) The Reality of the Gain of Christ (3:8e-9a)

that I may win Christ, ⁹ And be found in him

There are two sides or aspects to this first motivation.

This is expressed as both an active and a passive desire, and as both a Person and a presence.

(1) that I may win Christ

The word here rendered as “win” in modern translations is “gain” almost without exception.

This includes the NKJV, NASB, HCSB, ESV, NIV, NLT, MLB, NRSV, RSV, ASV, Darby and YLT.[1]

cp. gain in vs. 7

What is more precious than silver, or of more value than the whole world?

To be able to say with assurance, “I am His, and He is mine!”

“To win Him is to have Him—the idea of gain being suggested by the previous mention of loss. Nor can we say that the verb is explained by the following clauses, or by any one of them in particular. They are elements indeed of this gain; but the term “Christ” seems to denote Him in every aspect, and to win Him is to enjoy Him in every aspect. It is to have Him as mine, and to feel that in comparison with such a possession all else may be regarded as truly loss. To the apostle Christ was so identified with the truth, that when he gained Him he gained the highest knowledge; so identified with life, that when he gained Him he was endowed with the noblest form of it; and so identified with spiritual influence, that when he gained Him his whole nature was filled with power and gladness. The name of Christ, so used, covers His entire work and relations…”

— J. Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, 2nd ed., ed. W. Young (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1884).

(2) And be found in him

This is expressed as a passive, and adds a dimension to the idea of gain that is at once personal, precious, and profound.

2) The Righteousness of the Gain of Christ (3:9b-e)

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:

What the Apostle Paul expresses in these words concerning the gain of Christ is couched first as as a negative, defining it by first excluding what it is not, indeed, what it cannot be. Then the contrast is seen in the positive statement which follows. Both are joined to explanatory clauses which leave no doubt about what the Apostle means here.

(1) The Loss of Legal Righteousness — not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law

(2) The Gain of God’s Righteousness — but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

(1) The Loss of Legal Righteousness —

not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law

This is the negative. Legal righteousness, that which is earned by works, is excluded. Gaining Christ requires losing any pretense to merit.

Rom. 10:3 — For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Rom. 10:5 — For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Phil. 3:6 — Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

(2) The Gain of God’s Righteousness —

but that which is through the faith of Christ,[2] the righteousness which is of God by faith

Here in the positive statement we first have the contrast to what immediately preceded. There is no more doubt that this is what Paul intends here than there was that he was negating his own righteousness in the previous clause since he introduces this with the adversative conjunction “but.” Therefore, what we are confronted with is a “not this…but that” scenario in the very nature of the case. This righteousness is not of the law, but through the faith of Christ. The works of the law, and the faith of Christ could not be opposed any more plainly, and as elsewhere in Paul’s epistles, this is a doctrine that he wants understood in no uncertain terms.

Then as Paul develops what he means by this righteousness in this positive expression in this explanatory clause he contrasts “mine own righteousness” with “the righteousness which is of God.” He emphatically repeats the issue of a faith righteousness with a different expression adding “by faith” to the previous “through the faith of Christ.”[3]

Rom. 1:16-17 — ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Rom. 3:21-26 — ²¹ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Rom. 4:3 — For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

[Gal. 3:6 — Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.]

Rom. 5:17 — For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Rom. 5:1 — Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rom. 9:30 — What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

1 Cor. 1:30 — But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

This is not my righteousness. This is not your righteousness. This is not our righteousness. This is God’s righteousness. And there is only one way to gain God’s righteousness. The only way is by faith, and by faith alone. There is only one way to gain God’s righteousness, The only way is to gain Christ, and to gain Him alone.

In reality that is the only righteousness that the righteous Judge of all acknowledges. There is no other righteousness. Legal righteousness is an impossibility, since the violation of even one commandment dooms a soul for eternity.

“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.”

“Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.”[4]

2. The Knowledge of Christ (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;

There is a “triple knowledge” here (to borrow Herman Hoeksema’s title[5]) when it comes to Paul’s knowledge goals. This “triple knowledge” is then seen as rooted in a singular reality.

1) The Reality of the Knowledge of Christ (3:10a)

2) The Essence of the Knowledge of Christ (3:10b-d)

1) The Reality of the Knowledge of Christ — That I may know him (3:10a)[6]

Paul’s motivation to know Christ is inextricably coupled with what this means, and how it happens. That is exactly what we find in his words that follow.

Jn. 17:3 — And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Eph. 4:13 — Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Jer. 9:23-24 — ²³ Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: ²⁴ But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

 “The “excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” is still before his mind, and he does not revert formally to what he had stated as to the superior excellence of this knowledge, for the idea has never left him; and now he avows the design of being in Christ, and of being justified by faith in Him, and that is, to know Him. Not that to this knowledge two prerequisites are asserted to be equally necessary—union to Christ, and the possession of the righteousness of faith. No: union with Christ is the great qualification, that union giving righteousness, and both leading to the knowledge of Christ. The realization of this union to Christ, and the possession of this righteousness, bring one to the inner knowledge of Him in whom we are, and by faith in whom this righteousness is received.

            From this statement, and from the following clauses, it is plain that this knowledge is that of a deep and deepening experience. It is not historical insight, nor general and theoretic information. The apostle aimed to know Him as being in Him. Such knowledge is inspired by the consciousness—not elaborated by the intellect. It rises up from within—is not gathered from without. It does not accumulate evidence to test the truth—it “has the witness” in itself. It needs not to repair to the cistern and draw—it has in itself “a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” It knows, because it feels; it ascertains, not because it studies, but because it enjoys union, and possesses the righteousness of God through faith.”

— J. Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, 2nd ed., ed. W. Young (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1884).

2) The Essence of the Knowledge of Christ (3:10b-d)

(1) and the power of his resurrection

(2) and the fellowship of his sufferings

(3) being made conformable unto his death

There are three aspects to this knowledge of Christ which follow, and they are seen as coordinate with the actual knowing of Him in His person. This has to do with power and fellowship; the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. This also has to do with death; conformation to His death. His resurrection, His sufferings, and His death as the essence of what must be known about Christ. However, to know these is to know power, fellowship, and conformity to His image.

There is a development here, and the development involves a reversal of the expected order of events. Putting resurrection first rather than last is intentional. There is movement here, but it is not in the direction that would make sense to the natural man, or normal human desires.[7]

Do you know Him? Do you desire to know Him? Then you must know the power of His resurrection? Do you know that power? Do you desire to know the power of His resurrection? Then you must know the fellowship of His sufferings? Have you experienced that fellowship? Would you know the fellowship of His sufferings? Then you must be conformed to His death. There is no other way. The pathway of power, the experience of the power of Christ’s resurrection requires being joined to Him in suffering, and being conformed to Him in His death. Of course death must precede resurrection. But knowing the power of His resurrection is something that is joined here to our experiences as believers in Christ even this side of death. Paul’s motivation to know Christ is inextricably coupled with what this means, and how it happens, and that is exactly what we find here.

(1) and the power of his resurrection

Rom. 1:4 — And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

(2) and the fellowship of his sufferings

Rom. 8:17 — And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Rom. 8:36 — As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

1 Pet. 4:13 — But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

2 Cor. 1:5 — For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Col. 1:24 — Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

(3) being made conformable unto his death

Rom. 6:3-5 — ³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Phil. 1:20-23 — ²⁰ According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. ²³ For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Gal. 6:17 — From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

2 Cor. 4:7, 10-11 — ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us….¹⁰ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. ¹¹ For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

““The agony of Gethsemane, not less than the agony of Calvary, will be reproduced however faintly in the faithful servant of Christ” (Lightfoot). “In this passage we have the deepest secrets of the Apostle’s Christian experience unveiled” (Kennedy).”

— Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1932).

Conclusion:

Ira D. Sankey: “While I was at­tend­ing the World’s Fair in Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois], Hen­ry Var­ley, a lay preac­her from Lon­don, said to Ma­jor Whit­tle: “I do not like the hymn ‘I need Thee ev­ery hour’ ve­ry well, be­cause I need Him ev­ery mo­ment of the day. Soon af­ter Ma­jor Whit­tle wrote this sweet hymn…[He] brought the hymn to me in man­u­script a lit­tle lat­er, say­ing that he would give me the co­py­right of both the words and mu­sic if I would print for him five hund­red co­pies on fine pa­per, for dis­trib­ut­ing among his friends. His daugh­ter, May Whit­tle, who lat­er be­came the wife of Will R. Moo­dy, com­posed the mu­sic. I did as Mr. Whit­tle wished; and I sent the hymn to Eng­land, where it was co­py­right­ed on the same day as at Wash­ing­ton.

In Eng­land the hymn be­came ve­ry pop­u­lar. Fall­ing in­to the hands of the well-known Rev. An­drew Mur­ray, of South Af­ri­ca, then vi­sit­ing Lon­don, he adopt­ed it as his fa­vo­rite hymn. A year lat­er Mr. Mur­ray vi­sit­ed North­field [Mas­sa­chu­setts], and while hold­ing a meet­ing for men in the church he re­marked, “If Sank­ey on­ly knew a hymn which I found in Lon­don, and would sing it, he would find that it em­brac­es my en­tire creed.”

I was very anx­ious to know what hymn it was, and when he had re­cit­ed it I said to him: “Doc­tor, that hymn was writ­ten with­in five hun­dred yards of where we are stand­ing.”

For years Dr. Mur­ray had his wife sing this hymn in near­ly all his meet­ings. It al­so be­came a great fa­vo­rite in South Af­ri­ca dur­ing the war.”[7]

“Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;

Living with Jesus, a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a trial that He is not there,

Never a burden that He doth not bear,

Never a sorrow that He doth not share,

Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

Never a heartache, and never a groan,

Never a teardrop and never a moan;

Never a danger but there on the throne,

Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Never a weakness that He doth not feel,

Never a sickness that He cannot heal;

Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,

Jesus my Savior, abides with me still.”

Refrain

“Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;

Moment by moment I’ve life from above;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.”[9]

[Sermon preached 30 APR 2017 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]

Complete Outline:

IV. The Two Main Motivations (3:8e-10)

1.  The Gain of Christ (3:8e-9)

1) The Reality of the Gain of Christ (3:8e-9a)

2) The Righteousness of the Gain of Christ (3:9b-e)

2. The Knowledge of Christ (3:10)

1) The Reality of the Knowledge of Christ (3:10a)

2) The Essence of the Knowledge of Christ (3:10b-d)

---

End Notes:

[1] Exception: “so that I may abound in Christ.”

— George M. Lamsa, The Holy Bible From Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated from the Peshitta, The Authorized Bible of the Church of the East (Nashville: A. J. Holman, 1968), pg. 1175.   

      

[2] “tn Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

sn ExSyn 116, which notes that the grammar is not decisive, nevertheless suggests that “the faith/faithfulness of Christ is not a denial of faith in Christ as a Pauline concept (for the idea is expressed in many of the same contexts, only with the verb πιστεύω rather than the noun), but implies that the object of faith is a worthy object, for he himself is faithful.” Though Paul elsewhere teaches justification by faith, this presupposes that the object of our faith is reliable and worthy of such faith.”

— “NET notes” 11; on Lumina at https://lumina.bible.org/bible/Philippians+3 [accessed 22 APR 2017].

[3] “…while the apostle does not bring out the points of a contrast with the finical order of a rhetorician, he holds up two different aspects of faith—faith as the means, and faith as the foundation. The reason of the διά is to be found in the ἐπί. It is because this righteousness has faith for its ground, that faith becomes its instrument. Such is its peculiar nature, that its effect is made to depend upon faith; therefore by faith is it realized and appropriated. Physical life is dependent on respiration; therefore by respiration is it sustained.”

— J. Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, 2nd ed., ed. W. Young (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1884).

[4] Edward Mote (c. 1834), originally published in his Hymns of Praise (1836), and the account of its composition by him was documented a few years later in a letter to the Gospel Herald.

— CyberHymnal at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/y/myhopeis.htm [accessed 30 APR 2017].

[5] Herman Hoeksema, The Triple Knowledge: An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism, end ed. (Grand Rapids: Reformed Free, 1976).

[6] “The construction beginning with ἵνα is here changed into the infinitive—no uncommon change in the style of the apostle. Rom. 6:6; Col. 1:9, 10.”

— J. Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, 2nd ed., ed. W. Young (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1884).

[7] “But perhaps the phrase is in closer connection with what succeeds—fellowship with his sufferings, and conformity to His death. The idea of suffering and death naturally precedes that of resurrection. Christ suffered and died and rose again, and the apostle covets to know the participation of his sufferings, being conformed to His death. In referring to his own experience, he reverses the order of the historical facts—points to the result so dear to him, before he alludes to the previous stages…”

— J. Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, 2nd ed., ed. W. Young (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1884).

[8] Ira D. Sankey, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (Philadelphia: The Sunday School TImes Company, 1907), pp. 190-191; on CyberHymnal at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/o/momentby.htm [accessed 30 APR 2017]; and Wholesome Words at http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bwhittle4.html [accessed 30 APR 2017].

[9] Daniel W. Whittle (1893), first published in 1896. CyberHymnal at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/o/momentby.htm [accessed 30 APR 2017].