This week we will complete our read through the book of Philippians and move on to Colossians. Please read; Philippians 3 - Monday, Philippians 4 - Tuesday, Colossians 1 - Wednesday, Colossians 2 - Thursday, and Colossians 3 - Friday.
Paul briefly addresses the "Judaisers" or those of the "Circumcision", as he called them. They were the Jewish preachers that followed Paul and tried to change the Gospel that he preached. Paul cautions the Philippians to watch out for these "dogs" and not fall for their preaching.
To show his superiority, or at least to display the vantage point from which he spoke Paul gives this description of his worldly credentials, "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." Philippians 3:4b-6 NRSV. Very impressive credentials indeed! Don't miss the last one, "under the law, blameless." it is only my opinion that this isn't boasting by Paul, but an accurate appraisal.
All of this, he says, he now counts as "rubbish", or more closely translated - dung. impressive that after all of the effort to live a seemingly righteous life Paul says it was all a bunch of - manure. He realizes that even after a lifetime of his best effort, he had no righteousness, save the righteousness given to him by Christ.
I remember when I was in college finding Philippians 3:16, "Only let us hold fast to what we have attained." It became one of my favorite verses because of it's simplicity. yet in 30 years I have been unable to live into it. Today I will try again to live up to what I have already obtained, I will live in grace.
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3 comments:
"forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." I think that's a hard task...
With Paul, what lay behind was a life of living under the laws constraints. Forgetting those rules and constraints and straining into love and grace was probably waht he means here????
I have a hard time "forgetting" but I have learned to "foresake" the debt others have incurred to me, thus forgiving their debt even when I am unable or unwilling to forget what transpired.
Does that make sense?
Bill
What a great chapter. Gotta love Paul. It's awesome that he does list his accomplishments, because it's interesting to look back and see what people held as important back then. More importantly, despite the fact that all that meant a lot to the people of the time, Paul says that it is rubbish in verse 8...or as you have translated for us---dung. Wow. It's crap. So my super degree in college, my high GPA, my money in the bank, and my car, are all rubbish, compared to what Jesus has to offer, and the greatness of knowing him. I'd give it all for him.
Verse 16-let us not keep trying to achieve, eh? It does sound so simple, yet we keep trying to do better and do more. It's never enough. What's our deal?! I pray for that too.
Verse 20 was also really interesting for me. "But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." I'm student teaching right now in the ESL (English as a Second Language) department. My students have citizenships all over the world, and have so much to offer from their cultures. However, the important thing is not where their from, or where I'm from, it's where we have a permanent position - like we're renting space now but we're buying a house in the end... None of these citizenships here matter, when we know what we have in the future - He has a place for us, and we are His. How awesome is that?
Happy Snow!
Love Marsh
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