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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Philippians 3 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/philippians/3.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/philippians/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/philippians/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../philippians/">Philippians</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../philippians/2.htm" title="Philippians 2">◄</a> Philippians 3 <a href="../philippians/4.htm" title="Philippians 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-1.htm">Philippians 3:1</a></div><div class="verse">Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed <i>is</i> not grievous, but for you <i>it is</i> safe.</div><span class= "bld">III.</span><p>[<span class= "bld">6.Original Conclusion of the Epistle </span>(<a href="/philippians/3-1.htm" title="Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.">Philippians 3:1</a>).<p>“FINALLY BRETHREN, FAREWELL IN THE LORD.”]<p>(1) <span class= "bld">Finally.</span>—The same word is used in <a href="/2_corinthians/13-11.htm" title="Finally, brothers, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.">2Corinthians 13:11</a>; <a href="/ephesians/6-10.htm" title="Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.">Ephesians 6:10</a>; <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-1.htm" title="Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:">2Thessalonians 3:1</a> (as also in this Epistle, <a href="/philippians/4-8.htm" title="Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.">Philippians 4:8</a>), to usher in the conclusion. Here, on the contrary, it stands nearly in the middle of the Epistle. Moreover, the commendation above of Timothy and Epaphroditus is exactly that which, according to St. Paul’s custom, would mark the final sentences of the whole. Again, the words “rejoice in the Lord” may, according to the common usage of the time (although certainly that usage is not adopted in other Letters of St. Paul), not improbably signify <span class= "ital">farewell in the Lord;</span> and even if not used in this formal and conventional sense, yet certainly hold the position of final good wishes, which that sense implies. The resumption of them in <a href="/philippians/4-4.htm" title="Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.">Philippians 4:4</a>, where the actual conclusion now begins, is striking. It seems, therefore, highly probable, that in this place the Letter was originally drawing to an end, and that some news was at that moment brought which induced the Apostle to add a second part, couched in language of equal affection, but of greater anxiety and more emphatic warning. Of such a break, and resumption with a far more complete change of style, we have a notable instance at the beginning of the tenth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; as also of the addition of postscript after postscript in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.<p>[<span class= "bld">7.Words of Warning </span>(<a href="/philippians/3-1.htm" title="Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.">Philippians 3:1</a> to <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Philippians 4:3</a>).<p>(1) AGAINST THE JUDAISERS.<p>(<span class= "ital">a</span>)<span class= "ital">Warning against confidence</span> “<span class= "ital">in the flesh,”</span> illustrated by his own renunciation of all Jewish privileges and hopes, in order to have “the righteousness of Christ” (<a href="/context/philippians/3-1.htm" title="Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.">Philippians 3:1-9</a>).<p>(<span class= "ital">b</span>)<span class= "ital">Warning against confidence in perfection as</span> <span class= "ital">already attained, </span>again illustrated by his own sense of imperfection and hope of continual progress (<a href="/context/philippians/3-10.htm" title="That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death;">Philippians 3:10-16</a>).<p>(2) AGAINST THE ANTINOMIAN PARTY.<p><span class= "ital">Contrast of the sensual and corrupt life of the flesh with the spirituality and hope of future perfection which become citizens</span> <span class= "ital">of heaven</span> (<a href="/context/philippians/3-17.htm" title="Brothers, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensample.">Philippians 3:17-21</a>).<p>(3) AGAINST ALL TENDENCY TO SCHISM (<a href="/context/philippians/4-1.htm" title="Therefore, my brothers dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.">Philippians 4:1-3</a>).<p><span class= "bld">To write the same things to you.</span>—These words may refer to what goes before, in which case the reference must be to “rejoice in the Lord.” Now, it is true that this is the burden of the Epistle; but this interpretation suits ill the following words, “for you it is safe,” which obviously refer to some warning against danger or temptation. Hence it is far better to refer them to the abrupt and incisive warnings that follow.<p>These, then, are said to be a repetition; but of what? Hardly of the former part of this Epistle, for it is difficult there to find anything corresponding to them. If not, then it must be of St. Paul’s previous teaching, by word or by letter. For the use here of the word “to write,” though it suits better the idea of former communication by writing, cannot exclude oral teaching. That there was more than one Epistle to Philippi has been inferred (probably, but not certainly) from an expression in Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians (sect. 3), speaking of “the Epistles” of St. Paul to them. It is not in itself unlikely that another Epistle should have been written; nor have we any right to argue decisively against it, on the ground that no such Epistle is found in the canon of Scripture. But however this may be, it seems natural to refer to St. Paul’s former teaching as a whole. Now, when St. Paul first preached at Philippi, he had not long before carried to Antioch the decree of the council against the contention of “them of the circumcision;” and, as it was addressed to the churches “of Syria and Cilicia,” he can hardly have failed to communicate it, when he passed through both regions “confirming the churches” (<a href="/acts/15-41.htm" title="And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.">Acts 15:41</a>). At Thessalonica, not long after, the jealousy of the Jews at his preaching the freedom of the gospel drove him from the city (<a href="/acts/17-5.htm" title="But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took to them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.">Acts 17:5</a>). When he came to Macedonia on his next journey, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, written there and probably at Philippi, marks the first outburst of the Judaising controversy; and when he returned to Philippi, on his way back, he had just written the Epistles to the Galatians and Romans, which deal exhaustively with the whole question. Nothing is more likely than that his teaching at Philippi had largely dealt with the warning against the Judaisers. What, then, more natural than to introduce a new warning on the subject—shown to be necessary by news received—with the courteous half-apology, “To write the same things to you, to me is not grievous (or, <span class= "ital">tedious</span>) but for you it is safe,” making assurance doubly sure?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-2.htm">Philippians 3:2</a></div><div class="verse">Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Beware of</span> (<span class= "ital">the</span>) <span class= "bld">dogs.</span>—In <a href="/revelation/22-15.htm" title="For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.">Revelation 22:15</a> “the dogs” excluded from the heavenly Jerusalem seem to be those who are impure. In that sense the Jews applied the word to the heathen, as our Lord, for a moment appearing to follow the Jewish usage, does to the Syro-Phœnician woman in <a href="/matthew/15-26.htm" title="But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.">Matthew 15:26</a>. But here the context appropriates the word to the Judaising party, who claimed special purity, ceremonial and moral, and who probably were not characterised by peculiar impurity—such as, indeed, below (<a href="/context/philippians/3-17.htm" title="Brothers, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensample.">Philippians 3:17-21</a>) would seem rather to attach to the Antinomian party, probably the extreme on the other side. Chrysostom’s hint that the Apostle means to retort the name upon them, as now by their own wilful apostasy occupying the place outside the spiritual Israel which once belonged to the despised Gentiles, is probably right. Yet perhaps there may be some allusion to the dogs, not as unclean, but as, especially in their half-wild state in the East, snarling and savage, driving off as interlopers all who approach what they consider their ground. Nothing could better describe the narrow Judaising spirit.<p><span class= "bld">Of evil workers.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/11-13.htm" title="For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.">2Corinthians 11:13</a>, describing the Judaisers as “deceitful workers.” Here the idea is of their energy in work, but work for evil.<p><span class= "bld">The concision.</span>—By an ironical play upon words St. Paul declares his refusal to call the circumcision, on which the Judaisers prided themselves, by that time-honoured name; for “we,” he says, “are the true circumcision,” the true Israel of the new covenant. In <a href="/ephesians/2-11.htm" title="Why remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;">Ephesians 2:11</a> (where see Note) he had denoted it as the “so-called circumcision in the flesh made by hands.” Here he speaks more strongly, and calls it a “concision,” a mere outward mutilation, no longer, as it had been, a “seal” of the covenant (<a href="/romans/4-11.htm" title="And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also:">Romans 4:11</a>). There is a still more startling attack on the advocates of circumcision in <a href="/galatians/5-12.htm" title="I would they were even cut off which trouble you.">Galatians 5:12</a> (where see Note).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-3.htm">Philippians 3:3</a></div><div class="verse">For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">We are the circumcision.</span>—So in <a href="/context/colossians/2-11.htm" title=" In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:">Colossians 2:11-12</a>, evidently alluding to baptism as the spiritual circumcision, he says, “In whom ye were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.” Comp. <a href="/romans/2-20.htm" title="An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which have the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.">Romans 2:20</a>, “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;” and passages of a similar character in the Old Testament, such as <a href="/deuteronomy/10-16.htm" title="Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff necked.">Deuteronomy 10:16</a>, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts;” <a href="/deuteronomy/30-6.htm" title="And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.">Deuteronomy 30:6</a>, “The Lord God will circumcise thine heart.” Hence the spirit of St. Stephen’s reproach, “Ye uncircumcised in heart and ears” (<a href="/acts/7-51.htm" title="You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you.">Acts 7:51</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Which worship God in the spirit . . .</span>—The true reading here is, <span class= "ital">who worship by the Spirit of</span> <span class= "ital">God, </span>the word “worship,” or <span class= "ital">service, </span>being that which is almost technically applied to the worship of the Israelites as God’s chosen people (<a href="/acts/26-7.htm" title="To which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.">Acts 26:7</a>; <a href="/romans/9-4.htm" title="Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;">Romans 9:4</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-1.htm" title="Then truly the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.">Hebrews 9:1</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-6.htm" title="Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.">Hebrews 9:6</a>), and which, with the addition of the epithet “reasonable,” is claimed for the Christian devotion to God in Christ (see <a href="/romans/12-1.htm" title="I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.">Romans 12:1</a>). Such “worship by the Spirit of God” St. Paul describes in detail in Romans 8, especially in <a href="/context/romans/8-26.htm" title="Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.">Romans 8:26-27</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And rejoice</span> (or rather, <span class= "ital">glory</span>) <span class= "bld">in Christ Jesus.</span>—Comp. <a href="/romans/15-17.htm" title="I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.">Romans 15:17</a>, “I have therefore whereof I may glory in the Lord Jesus Christ,” and the Old Testament quotation (from <a href="/context/jeremiah/9-23.htm" title="Thus said 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:">Jeremiah 9:23-24</a>) twice applied to our Lord, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (<a href="/1_corinthians/1-31.htm" title="That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.">1Corinthians 1:31</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/10-17.htm" title="But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord.">2Corinthians 10:17</a>). In <a href="/galatians/6-14.htm" title="But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.">Galatians 6:14</a> we have a still more distinctive expression, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To glory in Christ is something more than even to believe and to trust in Him; it expresses a deep sense of privilege, both in present thankfulness and in future hope.<p><span class= "bld">In the flesh.</span>—The phrase is used here, as not unfrequently, for the present and visible world, to which we are linked by our flesh (see <a href="/john/8-15.htm" title="You judge after the flesh; I judge no man.">John 8:15</a>, “to judge after the flesh;” <a href="/2_corinthians/5-16.htm" title="Why from now on know we no man after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now from now on know we him no more.">2Corinthians 5:16</a>, “to know Christ after the flesh,” &c.) We have an equivalent phrase in an earlier passage, which is throughout parallel to this (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-18.htm" title="Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.">2Corinthians 11:18</a>), “Many glory after the flesh.” The particular form of expression is probably suggested by the constant reference to the circumcision, which is literally “<span class= "ital">in</span> the flesh.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-5.htm">Philippians 3:5</a></div><div class="verse">Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, <i>of</i> the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;</div>(5, 6) The comparison with the celebrated passage in <a href="/context/2_corinthians/11-18.htm" title="Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.">2Corinthians 11:18-23</a> is striking, in respect not only of similarity of substance, but of the change of tone from the indignant and impassioned abruptness of the earlier Epistle to the calm impressiveness of this. The first belongs to the crisis of the struggle, the other to its close. We have also a parallel, though less complete, in <a href="/romans/11-1.htm" title="I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.">Romans 11:1</a>, “I also am an Israelite, of the stock of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”<p>(5) <span class= "bld">Circumcised the eighth day</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>a Jew born, not a proselyte.<p><span class= "bld">Of the stock of Israel</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, emphatically, a true scion of the covenanted stock, the royal race of the “Prince of God.”<p><span class= "bld">Of the tribe of Benjamin</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, the tribe of the first king, whose name the Apostle bore; the tribe to whom belonged the holy city; the one tribe faithful to the house of Judah in the apostasy of the rest.<p><span class= "bld">An Hebrew of the Hebrews.</span>—Properly, <span class= "ital">a</span> <span class= "ital">Hebrew descended from Hebrews.</span> The Hebrew Jew, who retained, wherever born, the old tongue, education, and customs of his fathers, held himself superior to the Grecian or Hellenist, who had to assimilate himself, as to the language, so to the thoughts and habits, of the heathen around him. St. Paul united the advantages both of the true Hebrew, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and of the Hellenist of Tarsus, familiar with Greek language, literature, and thought. Compare his own words to his countrymen from the steps of the Temple as illustrating the whole passage: “I verily am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous before God . . . and I persecuted this way unto the death” (<a href="/context/acts/22-3.htm" title="I am truly a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.">Acts 22:3-4</a>).<p><span class= "bld">As touching the law, a Pharisee.</span>—Comp. <a href="/acts/23-6.htm" title="But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.">Acts 23:6</a>, “I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees;” and <a href="/acts/26-5.htm" title="Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most strait sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.">Acts 26:5</a>, “according to the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.” In these words St. Paul passes from his inherited Judaic privileges, to the intense Judaism of his own personal life.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-6.htm">Philippians 3:6</a></div><div class="verse">Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.</span>—The word “zeal” (as in <a href="/acts/22-3.htm" title="I am truly a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.">Acts 22:3</a>) is probably used almost technically to describe his adhesion to the principles of the “Zealots,” who, following the example of Phinehas, were for “executing judgment” at once on all heathens as traitors, ready alike to slay or to be slain for the Law. He shows how in this he departed from the teaching of Gamaliel, when he was “exceedingly mad against” the Christians, and “persecuted them even unto strange cities.”<p><span class= "bld">Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.</span>—The “righteousness in Law,” which our Lord called “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” (<a href="/matthew/5-20.htm" title="For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.">Matthew 5:20</a>), is the righteousness according to rule, in which a man, like the rich young ruler, might think himself “blameless,” and even hope to go beyond it in “counsels of perfection”—not the righteousness according to principle, which can never fulfil or satisfy itself. While St. Paul confined himself to the lower form of righteousness, he could feel himself “blameless;” but when he began to discern this higher righteousness in the Law, then, he felt the terrible condemnation of the Law, on which he dwells so emphatically in <a href="/context/romans/7-7.htm" title="What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, You shall not covet.">Romans 7:7-12</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-7.htm">Philippians 3:7</a></div><div class="verse">But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">I counted loss . . .</span>—Not merely worthless, but worse than worthless; because preventing the sense of spiritual need and helplessness which should bring to Christ, and so, while “gaining all the world,” tending to the “loss of his own soul.” St. Paul first applies this declaration to the Jewish privilege and dignity of which he had spoken. Then, not content with this, he extends it to “all things” which were his to sacrifice for Christ.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-8.htm">Philippians 3:8</a></div><div class="verse">Yea doubtless, and I count all things <i>but</i> 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 <i>but</i> dung, that I may win Christ,</div>(8) <span class= "bld">For the excellency of the knowledge.</span>—The word “excellency” is here strictly used to indicate (as in <a href="/context/2_corinthians/3-9.htm" title="For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.">2Corinthians 3:9-11</a>) that the knowledge of Christ so surpasses all other knowledge, and, indeed, all other blessings whatever, as to make them less nothing. As Chrysostom says here, “When the sun hath appeared, it is loss to sit by a candle.” The light of the candle in the sunlight actually casts a shadow. How that knowledge is gained we learn in <a href="/context/ephesians/3-17.htm" title="That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,">Ephesians 3:17-18</a>, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith: that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may . . . know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.”<p><span class= "bld">Dung.</span>—The word appears to mean “refuse” of any kind. The sense adopted in our version is common. Dr. Lightfoot, however, quotes instances of its use for the fragments from a feast, and remarks on the old derivation of the word from that which is “thrown to dogs,” which, however etymologically questionable, shows the idea attached to the word. This use would suit well enough with the ideas suggested by the retort of the name “dogs” on the Judaisers.<p><span class= "bld">I suffered the loss of all things.</span>—There seems to be here a play on words. These things were (he has said) loss; he suffered the loss of them: and the loss of a loss is a “gain.”<p><span class= "bld">That I may win</span> (properly, <span class= "ital">gain</span>) <span class= "bld">Christ, and be found in him.</span>—The line of thought in these two clauses is like that of <a href="/galatians/4-9.htm" title="But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage?">Galatians 4:9</a>, “Now that ye have known God, or rather are known of God.” The first idea suggested by the context is that of “gaining Christ,” finding Him and laying hold of Him by faith; but this, if taken alone, is unsatisfactory, as resting too much on the action of man. Hence St. Paul adds, and “be found (of God) in Him,” drawn into union with Him by the grace of God, so that we may “dwell in Him, and He in us,” and be “found” abiding in Him in each day of God’s visitation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-9.htm">Philippians 3:9</a></div><div class="verse">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:</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law.</span>—This is not the same as “righteousness in the Law,” that is, defined by law. It is a righteousness resulting from the works of the Law (<a href="/galatians/2-16.htm" title="Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.">Galatians 2:16</a>), earned by an obedience to the Law, which is “mine own”—“not of grace, but of debt” (<a href="/romans/4-4.htm" title="Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.">Romans 4:4</a>)—such as St. Paul declares (in <a href="/context/romans/10-3.htm" title="For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.">Romans 10:3-6</a>) to have been blindly sought by Israel, which he there defines as “life by doing the things of the Law.” We have here, and in the following words, a remarkable link of connection with the earlier Epistles of the Judaising controversy, corresponding to <a href="/context/ephesians/2-8.htm" title="For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:">Ephesians 2:8-10</a>, but cast more nearly in the ancient mould. Yet it is, after all, only the last echo of the old controversy, which we trace so clearly in the Galatian and Roman Epistles. The battle is now virtually won, and it only needs to complete the victory.<p><span class= "bld">But . . . the righteousness which is of God by</span> (<span class= "ital">on condition of</span>) <span class= "bld">faith.</span>—This verse is notable, as describing the true righteousness; first imperfectly, as coming “through faith of Jesus Christ,” a description which discloses to us only its means, and not its origin; next, completely, as “a righteousness coming from God on the sole condition of faith”—faith being here viewed not as the means, but as the condition, of receiving the divine gift (as in <a href="/acts/3-16.htm" title="And his name through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yes, the faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.">Acts 3:16</a>). It may be noted that in the Epistle to the Romans, we have righteousness “through faith,” “from faith,” “of faith;” for there it was needful to bring out in various forms the importance of faith. Here, now that the urgent necessity has passed, we have the stress laid simply on the opposition of the gift of God through Christ to the merit of the works of the Law; and faith occupies a less prominent, though not less indispensable, position. (See <a href="/context/ephesians/2-8.htm" title="For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:">Ephesians 2:8-10</a>, and Note thereon.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-10.htm">Philippians 3:10</a></div><div class="verse">That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;</div>(10) Inseparably connected with the possession of this “righteousness of God” is the knowledge of Christ, or more exactly, the gaining the knowledge of Christ (see <a href="/philippians/3-8.htm" title="Yes 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,">Philippians 3:8</a>), by conformity both to His suffering and death, and also to His resurrection. This “conformity to the image of Christ” (<a href="/context/romans/8-29.htm" title="For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.">Romans 8:29-30</a>)—with which compare the having “Christ formed within us” of <a href="/galatians/4-19.htm" title="My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,">Galatians 4:19</a>)—is made by St. Paul the substance of the gracious predestination of God, preceding the call, the justification, the glorification, which mark the various epochs of Christian life.<p>(10, 11) The order of these verses is notable and instructive. (1) First comes the knowledge of “the power of the Resurrection.” What this is we see by examining it as historically the main subject of the first apostolic preaching. There it is considered, as in St. Peter’s first sermons, as giving the earnest of “forgiveness,” or “blotting out of sins,” and the “gift of the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/2-38.htm" title="Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 2:38</a>; <a href="/acts/3-13.htm" title="The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.">Acts 3:13</a>; <a href="/acts/3-26.htm" title="To you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.">Acts 3:26</a>), or, as St. Paul expresses it, of “justification from all things” (<a href="/context/acts/13-38.htm" title="Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:">Acts 13:38-39</a>). This same idea is wrought out fully in his Epistles. Thus, for example, without it (<a href="/1_corinthians/15-17.htm" title="And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.">1Corinthians 15:17</a>) “we are still in our sins.” It is the pledge of our justification (<a href="/romans/5-1.htm" title="Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:">Romans 5:1</a>), and the means of our being “alive unto God” (<a href="/romans/6-11.htm" title="Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.">Romans 6:11</a>). Hence “the power,” or <span class= "ital">efficacy, </span>“of His resurrection” is the justification, and regeneration inseparable from it, which lie at the entrance of Christian life. (2) Next comes the “partaking of His sufferings” and “conformity to His death,” which are the “taking up the cross, and following Him,” in the obedience even unto death. This “fellowship of sufferings,” coming partly from the sin of others, partly from our own, is the constant theme of the New Testament. (See <a href="/1_peter/4-13.htm" title="But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.">1Peter 4:13</a>; <a href="/romans/8-17.htm" title="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.">Romans 8:17</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/1-5.htm" title="For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.">2Corinthians 1:5</a>; <a href="/colossians/1-24.htm" title=" 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:">Colossians 1:24</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/2-11.htm" title="It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:">2Timothy 2:11</a>.) The “conformity to His death” is the completion of the death unto sin, described as “mortification” of sin (<a href="/colossians/3-5.htm" title=" Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:">Colossians 3:5</a>); “as bearing about in the body the dying (or, properly, <span class= "ital">mortification</span>) of the Lord Jesus” (<a href="/2_corinthians/4-10.htm" title="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.">2Corinthians 4:10</a>); or more frequently as being “crucified with Christ,” “the world to us and we to the world” (<a href="/galatians/2-20.htm" title="I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.">Galatians 2:20</a>; <a href="/galatians/5-24.htm" title="And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.">Galatians 5:24</a>; <a href="/galatians/6-14.htm" title="But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.">Galatians 6:14</a>). (3) Lastly comes the “attainment to the resurrection of the dead,” properly, “the resurrection <span class= "ital">from</span> the dead,” which is (see <a href="/luke/20-35.htm" title="But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:">Luke 20:35</a>) the resurrection unto life and the glorification in Him, so nobly described below (<a href="/context/philippians/3-20.htm" title="For our conversation is in heaven; from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:">Philippians 3:20-21</a>). “If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (<a href="/romans/6-5.htm" title="For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:">Romans 6:5</a>). For of our resurrection (see <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-12.htm" title="Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?">1Corinthians 15:12-23</a>) His resurrection is not only the pledge, but the earnest. Note how in <a href="/context/1_thessalonians/4-14.htm" title="For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.">1Thessalonians 4:14-18</a>, and <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-51.htm" title="Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,">1Corinthians 15:51-57</a>, the whole description is only of the resurrection unto life, and compare the first resurrection of <a href="/revelation/20-6.htm" title="Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.">Revelation 20:6</a>. This is the completion of all; St. Paul dared not as yet anticipate it with the confidence which hereafter soothed his dying hour (<a href="/context/2_timothy/4-7.htm" title="I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:">2Timothy 4:7-8</a>).<p><a href="/context/philippians/3-12.htm" title="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.">Philippians 3:12-16</a> lead us from the warning against trust in human merit to deprecate the supposition of a perfection here attained even in Christ. The transition is natural. The same spirit which shows itself undisguisedly in the one pretension, comes out half-concealed in the other.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-12.htm">Philippians 3:12</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Not as though . . .</span>—The tenses are here varied. <span class= "ital">Not as though I ever yet attained, or have been already made perfect.</span> To “attain,” or <span class= "ital">receive</span> (probably the prize, see <a href="/philippians/3-14.htm" title="I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.">Philippians 3:14</a>), is a single act; “to be perfected” a continuous process. Clearly St. Paul has no belief, either in any indefectible grasp of salvation, or in any attainment of full spiritual perfection on this side of the grave. We may note our Lord’s use of the word “to be perfected” to signify His death (<a href="/luke/13-32.htm" title="And he said to them, Go you, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.">Luke 13:32</a>), and a similar application of the word to Him in <a href="/hebrews/2-10.htm" title="For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.">Hebrews 2:10</a>; <a href="/hebrews/5-9.htm" title="And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him;">Hebrews 5:9</a>; also the use of the words “made perfect” to signify the condition of the glorified (<a href="/hebrews/11-40.htm" title="God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.">Hebrews 11:40</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-23.htm" title="To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,">Hebrews 12:23</a>).<p><span class= "bld">If that I may apprehend that for which also I am</span> (rather, <span class= "ital">was</span>) <span class= "bld">apprehended of Christ Jesus.</span>—The metaphor throughout is of the race, in which he, like an eager runner, stretches out continually to “grasp” the prize. But (following out the same line of thought as in <a href="/context/philippians/3-7.htm" title="But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.">Philippians 3:7-8</a>) he is unwilling to lay too much stress on his own exertions, and so breaks in on the metaphor, by the remembrance that he himself was once grasped, at his conversion, by the saving hand of Christ, and so only put in a condition to grasp the prize. The exact translation of the words which we render “that for which,” &c., is doubtful. Our version supplies an object after the verb “apprehend,” whereas the cognate verb “attained” is used absolutely; and the expression as it here stands is rather cumbrous. Perhaps it would be simpler to render “inasmuch as” or “seeing that” (as in <a href="/romans/5-12.htm" title="Why, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed on all men, for that all have sinned:">Romans 5:12</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/5-4.htm" title="For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed on, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.">2Corinthians 5:4</a>). The hope to apprehend rests on the knowledge that he had been apprehended by One “out of whose hand no man could pluck” him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-13.htm">Philippians 3:13</a></div><div class="verse">Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but <i>this</i> one thing <i>I do</i>, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,</div>(13) <span class= "bld">I count not myself . . .</span>—The “I” is emphatic, evidently in contrast with some of those who thought themselves “perfect.” (See <a href="/philippians/3-15.htm" title="Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you.">Philippians 3:15</a>.) Not only does St. Paul refuse to count that he has ever yet “attained;” he will not allow that he is yet in a position even to grasp at the prize. (Comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/9-27.htm" title="But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.">1Corinthians 9:27</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Forgetting those things which are behind . . .</span>—The precept is absolutely general, applying to past blessings, past achievements, even past sins. The ineradicable instinct of hope, which the wisdom of the world (not unreasonably if this life be all) holds to be a delusion, or at best a condescension to weakness, is sanctioned in the gospel as an anticipation of immortality. Accordingly hope is made a rational principle, and is always declared to be, not only a privilege, but a high Christian duty, co-ordinate with faith and love (as in <a href="/1_corinthians/13-13.htm" title="And now stays faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.">1Corinthians 13:13</a>; <a href="/ephesians/4-4.htm" title="There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling;">Ephesians 4:4</a>). St. Paul does not scruple to say that, if we have it not, for the next life as well as this, we Christians are “of all men most miserable” (<a href="/1_corinthians/15-19.htm" title="If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.">1Corinthians 15:19</a>). Hence past blessing is but an earnest of the future; past achievements of good are stepping-stones to greater things; past sins are viewed in that true repentance which differs from remorse—“the sorrow of this world which worketh death” (<a href="/2_corinthians/7-10.htm" title="For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.">2Corinthians 7:10</a>)—in having a sure and certain hope of the final conquest of all sin. The “eternal life” in Christ is a present gift, but one test of its reality in the present is its possession of the promise of the future.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-14.htm">Philippians 3:14</a></div><div class="verse">I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">The high calling of God.</span>—Properly, the <span class= "ital">calling which is above</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span> (much as in <a href="/colossians/3-12.htm" title=" Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;">Colossians 3:12</a>), “the heavenly calling,”—which is “of God,” proceeding from His will, for “whom He predestinated, them He also called” (<a href="/romans/8-30.htm" title="Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.">Romans 8:30</a>); and is “in Christ Jesus” in virtue of the unity with Him, in which we are at once justified and sanctified.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-15.htm">Philippians 3:15</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Perfect.</span>—The word is apparently used with a touch of irony (as perhaps the word “spiritual” in <a href="/galatians/6-1.htm" title="Brothers, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.">Galatians 6:1</a>), in reference to those who hold themselves “to have already attained, to be already perfect.” It is, indeed, mostly used of such maturity in faith and grace as may be, and ought to be, attained here (<a href="/matthew/5-48.htm" title="Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.">Matthew 5:48</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/2-6.htm" title="However, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing:">1Corinthians 2:6</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/14-20.htm" title="Brothers, be not children in understanding: however, in malice be you children, but in understanding be men.">1Corinthians 14:20</a>; <a href="/ephesians/4-13.htm" title="Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:">Ephesians 4:13</a>; <a href="/colossians/1-28.htm" title=" Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:">Colossians 1:28</a>; <a href="/colossians/4-12.htm" title=" Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.">Colossians 4:12</a>; <a href="/hebrews/5-14.htm" title="But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.">Hebrews 5:14</a>). But, strictly speaking, this life, as St. Paul urges in <a href="/context/1_corinthians/13-10.htm" title="But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.">1Corinthians 13:10-11</a>, is but childhood, preparing for the full manhood, or “perfection” of the next; and his disclaimer of perfection above suggests that this higher meaning should in this passage be kept in view. The prospect of being “perfect” in indefectible faith or grace is the Christian’s hope; the claim to be already “perfect” is always recurring in various forms—all natural but unwarrantable anticipations of heaven on earth. St. Paul, by a striking paradox, bids those who hold themselves perfect to prove that they are so by a consciousness of imperfection. If they have it not, he says, they have something yet to learn. “God will reveal even this unto them.” The conviction of the Holy Ghost unites inseparably the “conviction of sin” and the “conviction of righteousness.” The “judgment” of absolute decision between them is not yet.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-16.htm">Philippians 3:16</a></div><div class="verse">Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Let us walk . . .</span>—In this verse the last words appear to be an explanatory gloss. The original runs thus: <span class= "ital">Nevertheless</span>—<span class= "ital">as to that to which we did attain</span>—<span class= "ital">let us walk by the same.</span> The word “walk” is always used of pursuing a course deliberately chosen. (See <a href="/acts/21-24.htm" title="Them take, and purify yourself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law.">Acts 21:24</a>; <a href="/romans/4-12.htm" title="And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.">Romans 4:12</a>; <a href="/galatians/5-25.htm" title="If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.">Galatians 5:25</a>.) The nearest parallel (from which the gloss is partly taken) is <a href="/galatians/6-16.htm" title="And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of God.">Galatians 6:16</a>, “As many as walk by this rule, peace be upon them.” In this passage there seems to be the same double reference which has pervaded all St. Paul’s practical teaching. He is anxious for two things—that they should keep on in one course, and that all should keep on together. In both senses he addresses the “perfect;” he will have them understand that they have attained only one thing—to be in the right path, and that it is for them to continue in it; he also bids them refrain from setting themselves up above “the imperfect;” for the very fact of division would mark them as still “carnal,” mere “babes in Christ” (<a href="/context/1_corinthians/3-1.htm" title="And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ.">1Corinthians 3:1-4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-17.htm">Philippians 3:17</a></div><div class="verse">Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.</div>(17-21) In these verses St. Paul turns from the party of Pharisaic perfection to the opposite party of Antinomian profligacy, claiming, no doubt, to walk in the way of Christian liberty which he preached. The co-existence of these two parties was, it may be remarked, a feature of the Gnosticism already beginning to show itself in the Church. He deals with this perversion of liberty into licentiousness in exactly the same spirit as in Romans 6, but with greater brevity; with less of argument and more of grave condemnation. It stands, indeed, he says, self-condemned, by the very fact of our present citizenship in heaven, and our growth towards the future perfection of likeness to Christ in glory.<p>(17) <span class= "bld">Followers together of me.</span>—The word is peculiar. It signifies <span class= "ital">unite in following me.</span> In accordance with the genius of the whole Epistle, St. Paul offers his example as a help not only to rectitude but to unity. For the simple phrase “followers of me,” see <a href="/1_corinthians/4-16.htm" title="Why I beseech you, be you followers of me.">1Corinthians 4:16</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/11-1.htm" title="Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.">1Corinthians 11:1</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/1-6.htm" title="And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.">1Thessalonians 1:6</a>; <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-9.htm" title="Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample to you to follow us.">2Thessalonians 3:9</a>. In <a href="/1_corinthians/11-1.htm" title="Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.">1Corinthians 11:1</a>, a passage dealing with the right restraints of Christian liberty, we have the ground on which the exhortation is based, “Be ye followers of me, <span class= "ital">even as I also am of Christ.”</span> In that consciousness, knowing the peculiar power of example, both for teaching and for encouragement, St. Paul will not allow even humility to prevent his bringing it to bear upon them. Yet even then we note how gladly he escapes from “followers <span class= "ital">of me”</span> to the “having <span class= "ital">us</span> for an example.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-18.htm">Philippians 3:18</a></div><div class="verse">(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, <i>that they are</i> the enemies of the cross of Christ:</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Even weeping.</span>—The especial sorrow, we cannot doubt, lay in this, that the Antinomian profligacy sheltered itself under his own preaching of liberty and of the superiority of the Spirit to the Law.<p><span class= "bld">The enemies of the cross of Christ.</span>—Here again (as in the application of the epithet “dogs” in <a href="/philippians/3-2.htm" title="Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.">Philippians 3:2</a>) St. Paul seems to retort on those whom he rebuked a name which they may probably have given to their opponents. The Judaising tenets were, indeed, in a true sense, an enmity to that cross, which was “to the Jews a stumbling-block,” because, as St. Paul shows at large in the Galatian and Roman Epistles, they trenched upon faith in the all-sufficient atonement, and so (as he expresses it with startling emphasis) made Christ to “be dead in vain.” But the doctrine of the Cross has two parts, distinct, yet inseparable. There is the cross which He alone bore for us, of which it is our comfort to know that we need only believe in it, and cannot share it. There is also the cross which we are “to take up and follow Him” (<a href="/matthew/10-38.htm" title="And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.">Matthew 10:38</a>; <a href="/matthew/16-24.htm" title="Then said Jesus to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.">Matthew 16:24</a>), in the “fellowship of His sufferings and conformity to His death,” described above (<a href="/context/philippians/3-10.htm" title="That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death;">Philippians 3:10-11</a>). St. Paul unites both in the striking passage which closes his Galatian Epistle (<a href="/galatians/6-14.htm" title="But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.">Galatians 6:14</a>). He says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!” but he adds, “whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I to the world.” Under cover, perhaps, of absolute acceptance of the one form of this great doctrine, the Antinomian party, “continuing in sin that grace might abound,” were, in respect of the other, “enemies of the cross of Christ.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-19.htm">Philippians 3:19</a></div><div class="verse">Whose end <i>is</i> destruction, whose God <i>is their</i> belly, and <i>whose</i> glory <i>is</i> in their shame, who mind earthly things.)</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Whose end is destruction. . . .</span>—The intense severity of this verse is only paralleled by such passages as <a href="/context/2_timothy/2-1.htm" title="You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.">2Timothy 2:1-5</a>; <a href="/context/2_peter/2-12.htm" title="But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;">2Peter 2:12-22</a>; <a href="/jude/1-4.htm" title="For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.">Jude 1:4</a>; <a href="/jude/1-8.htm" title="Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.">Jude 1:8</a>; <a href="/context/jude/1-12.htm" title="These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit wither, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;">Jude 1:12-13</a>. All express the burning indignation of a true servant of Christ against those who “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,” and “after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are again entangled therein and overcome.”<p><span class= "bld">Whose God is their belly.</span>—A stronger reiteration of <a href="/romans/16-18.htm" title="For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.">Romans 16:18</a>, “They serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.” Note the emphasis laid on “feasting and rioting” in <a href="/2_peter/2-13.htm" title="And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;">2Peter 2:13</a>; <a href="/jude/1-12.htm" title="These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit wither, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;">Jude 1:12</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Whose glory is in their shame.</span>—As the preceding clause refers chiefly to self-indulgence, so this to impurity. Comp. <a href="/ephesians/5-12.htm" title="For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.">Ephesians 5:12</a>, “It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” “To glory in their shame”—to boast, as a mark of spirituality, the unbridled license which is to all pure spirits a shame—is the hopeless condition of the reprobate, who “not only do these things, but have pleasure in those who do them” (<a href="/romans/1-32.htm" title="Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.">Romans 1:32</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Who mind earthly things.</span>—This last phrase, which in itself might seem hardly strong enough for a climax to a passage so terribly emphatic, may perhaps be designed to bring out by contrast the glorious passage which follows. But it clearly marks the opposition between the high pretension to enlightened spirituality and the gross carnal temper which it covers, grovelling (so to speak) on earth, incapable of rising to heaven.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-20.htm">Philippians 3:20</a></div><div class="verse">For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Our conversation.</span>—The original may signify either “our city” or “our citizenship” is in heaven. But both the grammatical form and the ordinary usage of the word (not elsewhere found in the New Testament) point to the former sense; which is also far better accordant with the general wording of the passage. For the word “is” is the emphatic word, which signifies “actually exists”; and the reference to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ is obviously suggested by the thought that with it will also come the manifestation of the “Jerusalem which is above . . . the mother of us all” (<a href="/galatians/4-26.htm" title="But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.">Galatians 4:26</a>); as in <a href="/revelation/21-2.htm" title="And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.">Revelation 21:2</a>, “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven.” The force of the passage would, however, in either case be much the same. “Their mind is on earth; our country is in heaven,” and to it our affections cling, even during our earthly pilgrimage. It is impossible not to remember the famous words of Plato of his <span class= "ital">Divine Republic, </span>“In heaven, perhaps, the embodiment of it is stored up for any one who wills to see it, and seeing it, to claim his place therein” (<span class= "ital">Rep.</span> ix., p. 592B). But the infinite difference between the shadowy republic of the philosopher, to which each has to rise, if he can, by his own spiritual power, and the well-centred “kingdom of God,” is suggested by the very words that follow here. The kingdom is real, because there is a real King, who has given us a place there, who will one day be manifested to take us home. It should be noted that the city is spoken of as ours already. As all the citizens of Philippi, the Roman colony, were citizens of the far distant imperial city, so the Philippian Christians even now were citizens of the better country in heaven. (See <a href="/ephesians/2-19.htm" title="Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;">Ephesians 2:19</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">We look for.</span>—Properly, <span class= "ital">we eagerly wait for.</span> The word is a peculiar and striking expression of longing, found also in <a href="/romans/8-19.htm" title="For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.">Romans 8:19</a>; <a href="/romans/8-28.htm" title="And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.">Romans 8:28</a>; <a href="/romans/8-25.htm" title="But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.">Romans 8:25</a>, “The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (where see Note).<p><span class= "bld">The Saviour.</span>—The title is emphatic in relation to the hope of perfected salvation which follows. But we note that the use of the word “Saviour” by St. Paul is peculiar to the later Epistles, and especially frequent in the Pastoral Epistles. It is found also again and again in the Second Epistle of Peter.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/philippians/3-21.htm">Philippians 3:21</a></div><div class="verse">Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.</div>(21) W<span class= "bld">ho shall change . . .</span>—This passage needs more accurate translation. It should be, <span class= "ital">who shall change the fashion of the body of our humiliation, to be conformed to the body of His glory.</span> (1) On the difference between “fashion” and “form,” see <a href="/context/philippians/2-7.htm" title="But made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:">Philippians 2:7-8</a>. The contrast here signifies that humiliation is but the outward fashion or vesture of the body; the likeness to Christ is, and will be seen to be, its essential and characteristic nature. This “humiliation” marks our condition in this life, as fallen from our true humanity under the bondage of sin and death. The body is not really “vile,” though it is fallen and degraded. (2) “His glory” is His glorified human nature, as it was after the Resurrection, as it is now in His ascended majesty, as it shall be seen at His second coming. What it is and will be we gather from the sublime descriptions of <a href="/context/revelation/1-13.htm" title="And in the middle of the seven candlesticks one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.">Revelation 1:13-16</a>; <a href="/context/revelation/19-12.htm" title="His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.">Revelation 19:12-16</a>; <a href="/revelation/20-11.htm" title="And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.">Revelation 20:11</a>. What is here briefly described as change to conformity with that glory is worked out in <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-42.htm" title="So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:">1Corinthians 15:42-44</a>; <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-53.htm" title="For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.">1Corinthians 15:53-54</a>, into the contrast between corruption and incorruption, dishonour and glory, weakness and power, the natural (animal) body and the spiritual body. In <a href="/2_corinthians/3-18.htm" title="But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.">2Corinthians 3:18</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/4-16.htm" title="For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.">2Corinthians 4:16</a>, we read of the beginning of glorification in the spirit here; in <a href="/context/2_corinthians/4-17.htm" title="For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;">2Corinthians 4:17-18</a>; <a href="/context/2_corinthians/5-1.htm" title="For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.">2Corinthians 5:1-4</a>, of the completion of “the exceeding weight of glory” in the hereafter, as glorifying also “our house which is in heaven. St. John describes that glorification with brief emphatic solemnity, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” and draws out explicitly the moral which St. Paul here implies, “Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”<p><span class= "bld">According to the working . . .</span>—Properly, <span class= "ital">in virtue of the effectual working of His power to subject all things to Himself.</span> Comp. <a href="/ephesians/1-19.htm" title="And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,">Ephesians 1:19</a>; <a href="/ephesians/3-7.htm" title="Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power.">Ephesians 3:7</a>, and Notes there. Here, as there, St. Paul speaks of His power as not dormant or existing in mere capacity, but as energetic in working, unhasting and unresting. Here briefly, as more fully in the celebrated passage of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (<a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-24.htm" title="Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.">1Corinthians 15:24-28</a>) he describes it as “subduing all things unto Himself,” till the consummation of this universal conquest in the Last Judgment and the delivery of “the kingdom to God, even the Father . . . that God may be all in all.” Of that power the primary exhibition, in which He is pleased to delight, is in salvation, gradually preparing His own for heaven; the secondary exhibition, undertaken under a moral necessity, is in retributive judgment. 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