Philippians: Part 3

It's been a while since I've visited the Philippians thread on here, so I thought I would revisit and begin to round up thoughts on the letter. This post generally covers chapter 3 of Philippians.

3.1-9 Here Paul is not saying beware of the law, but beware of a certain view of the law; namely, that adhering to the law gains righteousness. Righteousness comes through faith in Christ. Interesting that he appeals not to a prodigal lifestyle but a life in pursuit of rigorous adherence to the law as his former experience. I often have heard people appeal to Paul's "rubbish" language to relate how their former lifestyle was filled with wasted things (drunkenness, drugs, you name it). Paul is not speaking of regret but of surrendering something that was highly valuable in order to gain Christ.

3.10-11 There are three P's of Christ Paul wants to know: his Person, his Power, and his Purpose. Interestingly when speaking of the events, Paul begins not with suffering or death but with resurrection, then speaks of identifying with Christ's suffering and death before returning to the hope of the resurrection. Any view of the cross or of salvation that does not take seriously the resurrection (both Christ's and our own) is insufficient at best. Craddock puts it this way: "Easter [is] God's vindication of Good Friday as the definition of God's way in the world and for the world: obedience, suffering, death."

3.12-16 Stretching, exercising, straining, running, racing. Faith is neither a checklist of what is necessary to be righteous nor merely a call to have assent to a proposed set of doctrines without having any action to give evidence for belief. What Paul calls for is, paradoxically, more possible than a total legalistic observation of the law yet also more challenging because it asks for all of you.

3.17-21 I was reminded through a blog yesterday of the weight toward his doctrine of Christian perfection that John Wesley put on the example of holy lives to whom he was connected and by whom he was influenced. Paul's example and those he alludes to are not ends in themselves but serve as a "means of grace" if you will. Their example (which we are called to imitate) are to point us toward the example of Christ (cf. 2.5-8). While the first part of this chapter warned of the dangers of belief in righteousness coming from observation of the law, here the focus is on those who apparently have no regard for the law or transformation. Those whose "end is destruction...god is their belly...glory is in their shame...minds are set on earthly things" are the "enemies of the cross." By the cross of Christ we are enabled to take part in Christ's life and death, where our minds are set on the things of God and heaven, our glory is in Christ's being honored, our call is to empty ourselves as Christ did, and our end is the resurrection.