Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:00 — 17.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | RSS | More

What do you do when you try harder and still struggle with sin?  That’s the question Paul answers in Philippians 3:12-31.  In this section, Paul clarifies what he means by perfection and the goal of the Christian life.

Review

Paul wrote this letter during his first Roman imprisonment (60-62 AD).  The Philippians have sent him a gift of financial support. Paul and the Philippians are on good terms and they have a warm and caring relationship.  As a church, they are basically doing well.  Paul is writing this letter 1) to thank them for their generosity in sending the gift; 2) assure them that he is doing well even though he is a prisoner and 3)  to encourage them to persevere in and live out their faith.

Passage

In Philippians 3, Paul shifted to a new but related topic: warning them not to follow the Judaizers.  The Judaizers were Jewish Christians who believed that you had to keep the law of Moses in order to be a true believer.  After saying in 3:8-11 that he counts all his personal accomplishments, his pedigree and his law keeping as loss in order to gain faith in Christ and to obtain the resurrection from the dead he says:

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold true to what we have attained. ¹⁷Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. – Philippians 3:12-21 ESV

• The “this” in 3:12 refers back to “the resurrection from the dead” in 3:11.
• There is both a future sense and a present sense to the resurrection.  The future sense is what we call glorification: when our physical bodies will be transformed at the second coming of Christ.
• The present sense is the fact that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us now, to mature and strengthen our faith.
• The greek word “perfect” does not mean flawless or without blemish.  Rather it means to have arrived at its intended goal and become that which it is suppose to be.
• Paul is clarifying that he does NOT believe we have the power to live a perfectly obedient life now (3:12; 3:13; 3:14).
• He uses the metaphor of an athlete running a race, and keeping his eyes focused on the finish line.
• Notice throughout chapter 3 that Jesus Christ is central to everything.

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: 10 Philippians 4:1-23 Rejoice in the Lord

Previous: 08 Philippians 3:1-11 Count it all loss

Series: Philippians: Choose Life

Study: Philippians Resources

Scripture references are from the English Standard version.

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:21 — 10.1MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | RSS | More

Philippians 1:27 begins the body of the letter.  In this section in which Paul urges his readers to live a life worthy of the gospel.  Living such a life does not mean that you will live a perfect life. Rather if we actually believe the gospel is true, we now see the world differently and, we begin to view some things as right, proper and good, and begin to view other things as wrong, selfish and evil.  And we choose accordingly.

Review

Around 60-62 AD, Paul was imprisoned in Rome, and was waiting to learn whether he will be released or executed.  The Philippian church  generously sent him financial support.  Paul wrote this letter to thank them and send back news to them.

Paul had 3 purposes in writing this letter

• to express his joy that their faith has led them to support him financially;
• to encourage them to live lives of obedient persevering faith;
• to update them on his circumstances.

In 1:1-11, we saw the first 2 purposes. Paul expressed his gratitude for their faith that led them to support him financially.  He prayed that they would have a genuine faith that manifests itself in wisdom which leads them to love one another, and that they would persevere in that faith until the end.

In 1:12-26 we saw the third purpose.  Paul said, he rejoiced that the gospel was going forward in spite of his circumstances.  The gospel was advancing in 2 ways:

1. The gospel was spreading through the elite Roman guard as they took turns guarding him and hearing him teach.
2. Others had  started proclaimed the gospel while Paul was imprisoned, some out of good motives and some out of selfish motives.

The introductory remarks end with 1:26 and 1:27 begins the first section of the body of the letter.  This section continues through the end of chapter 2.

²⁷Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,  ²⁸and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.  ²⁹For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,  ³⁰engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.  ^2:1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  ²complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  ³Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 1:27-2:4 ESV

• 1:27 is the thesis statement or main point of this section.
• Saving faith is not a theological test that you can forget once you turn in your paper.  It is a belief that should change your life.
• Some of the choices we make conform to and reflect the implications of the gospel.  We would say those choices are worthy of it.
• Some of the choices we make are contradictory to the values, principles and applications of the gospel. Those choices are not worthy of the gospel.
• This relationship between belief and lifestyle does NOT mean we will live a perfect life, without sin or failure.
• Paul urges them to stand firm in the face of persecution and remain united in their thinking, purposes and faith.
• Paul talks about unity because it was an issue his readers were struggling with at the time.
• He wants them to be unified around their fellowship in the gospel and to have the kind of unity that results from being committed to the same gospel.
• Unity does not mean sameness.  Our goal is oneness not sameness.  We can be diverse and be unified.
• Christ unifies us, not by making us the same, but by teaching us in our diversity to follow the same gospel.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

Next: 05 Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mindset

Previous: 03 Philippians 1:12-26 To Live is Christ

Series: Philippians: Choose Life

Study: Philippians Resources

Scripture references are from the English Standard version.

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash