Don’t Trust the Righteousness that Comes From the Law; Trust The Kind Christ Gives
In conclusion1, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don’t mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do so. Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist on cutting the body. It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies. I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way. I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault. But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life. I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above. All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you. However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.
Phil 3:1-16 [GNB]
I told you in Gem 1959 that there are splitters and joiners. Paul was the ultimate joiner. It all flowed from him as he dictated his letter to his amanuensis (scribe). He has divided Philippians chapters 3 and 4 into four sections as we have seen:
- Don’t Trust the Righteousness that Comes From the Law; Trust The Kind Christ Gives (Phil 3:1-16)
- Follow My Example; Be a Citizen of Heaven (Phil 3:17-21)
- Stand Firm, Don’t Worry, Pray About Everything (Phil 4:1-7)
- The Secret of Contentment & My Thanks For Your Support (Phil 4:8-23)
Remember those are the titles I gave to Paul’s sections; Paul didn’t give titles to his sections. Each one on these sections have been marked by a conjunction which divides that section off from the others and in turn each one is marked with Paul addressing the portion to his “brothers & sisters“, “brothers” or “brethren“. Paul simply allowed his thoughts to flow in the letter as he joined what he had to say together. In order for us to make more sense of what he wrote and to connect the pieces together we need to become splitters and section off some more elements.
So I have taken Paul’s first section Don’t Trust the Righteousness that Comes From the Law; Trust The Kind Christ Gives (Phil 3:1-16) and divided it further using the NLT text.
This is my Splitter Approach to Philippians 3:1-16
A warning against false teachers (3:1-3)
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,
Phil 3:1-3
Saul putting his confidence in his own righteousness (Phil 3:4-6)
though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
Phil 3:4-6
Counting his past achievements as dung (Phil 3:7-9)
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
Phil 3:7-9
Trusting in Christ and pressing on to maturity (Phil 3:10-16)
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
Phil 3:10-16
I have given you the translation of what Paul wrote in two different versions. Both of which are dynamic equivalence versions but the first (GNB) sticks closely to Paul’s use of literal divisions. You could add a free translation of your choosing. When we begin to analyse these sections in subsequent Gems I will on occasion use the LITV or the Greek text in order to gain a deeper understanding of what Paul wrote. The next thing to do in our typical Deeper Bible / Gems approach is to ask any questions you may have about what Paul wrote. Don’t rely on me to come up with all the questions. Your questions and my questions will be different. So now is your chance to ask whatever you like about this chunk (Phil 3:1-16) from Paul’s letter to the saints in Philippi.
Don’t forget to look at the details and keep in the mind the big picture and the flow.
Here are some questions to start you off.
- Why did Paul include the part about circumcision?
- How does this connect to what he wrote in the first part of his letter?
- What does Paul refer to all his rabbinical training as dung or garbage?
There’s no such thing as a drive-through breakthrough. There’s no such thing as microwave maturity.
Maturity has nothing to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
Sometimes problems don’t require a solution to solve them instead they require maturity to outgrow them.
Your only limitation is your past achievement!