Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 2)

In my last post, I began an expository examination of Philippians 3. My motivation for doing this was quite personal, because God had already been speaking to me out of this chapter, particularly in regards to the issue of personal transformation (see "God's Magnificent Goal" and "The Transformation of Moses"). But before you read this post, I encourage you to first read the first part of this series:

"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 1)"

In this post, we saw how a transformation in thinking -- a shift in worldview and perception of values -- must precede a transformation of behaviour. Now let's take a look at Philippians 3:10, which is the pivotal verse in the whole chapter:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

Paul here identifies his primary desires in life, expressed in three specific goals:

1. To know Christ (personally)
2. To know the power of Christ's resurrection
3. To know the fellowship of sharing in Christ's sufferings

Before I go on to explore what this really means, I want to read this same scripture from The Amplified Bible:

"[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death..."

I did a little digging in commentaries and Greek lexicons in order to understand the nuances of what Paul was seeking to communicate in this passage, and I made a remarkable discovery in the process. I discovered that the original Greek words that launch verse 10, indicate a flow-on connection with verse 9. I'd always seen these two verses as independent segments of thought, but verse 10 is grammatically connected to verse 9. In essence, I discovered, the Greek grammar is written in such a way that the basis by which Paul is able to 1) know Christ and 2) know the power of His resurrection and 3) know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings was because, as he expressed in verse 9, Paul was "found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Because, and only because, of this foundation of righteousness that "comes from God and is by faith" could Paul then be able to "know Christ, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." One flowed automatically from the other.

Surprisingly, The New Living Translation brings out this dependence of verse 10 upon verse 9 quite clearly. Here's how Philippians 3:8-10 reads in The New Living Translation:

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death..."

I was meditating on this specific passage today, seeing verses 8-10 in their context.

I love the way The New Living Translation links two concepts clearly together in verses 8-9:

1. Having Christ
2. Becoming one with him

It really couldn't be made any clearer than that. By "having" or "acquiring" Christ Himself (through faith), a believer "become[s] one with him" -- this summarises the Christian experience. And it is only on this basis that a person can then genuinely know Christ, or as The Amplified Bible puts it, to "progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly." On the basis of my clumsy attempts at righteousness I simply do not have an adequate foundation to genuinely know Christ, because my pseudo-righteousness, which Isaiah 64:6 calls nothing but "filthy rags", creates an obstacle for me to get to come close to God, let alone get to know Him better (Isaiah 59:2). This is why, as I said in my last post, personal transformation must begin with a transformation in my thinking. The old way of thinking simply will not work.

Interestingly, Albert Einstein once made a comment which I think applies very well to our lives. He said (my paraphrase): "The significant problems in our lives cannot be solved at the same level of understanding that we were at when we created them." In other words, a transformation in thinking is not a luxury; it is a necessity. And this is what the Bible is all about -- transforming our thinking so that we begin to see things the way God sees them.

So the transformation in thinking that is required is summed up in The New Living Translation's expression - "to become one with Christ." It is only when I become one with Christ, through faith, that His righteousness becomes my righteousness, as a "credit transaction" on my spiritual balance sheet (note again Romans 4:1-5). At that point, like Paul, I have been "found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9). Now, and only now, am I ready to truly discover Jesus, to genuinely "know Christ" -- "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).

My great desire, like Paul's, is to "know Christ." If you'd think there would be anybody qualified to say that he knew Christ, it would be Paul. Yet Paul recognised that there are depths which he hadn't yet explored, beyond the superficial understanding to a depth of relationship where one knows the heartbeat of the Lord. As far as I'm concerned, it is this hunger to know the Lord that is the primary driver behind spiritual transformation. There is no substitute for this hunger. Even Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). And since Jesus has become our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), then "hungering and thirsting for righteouseness" is scripturally equivalent to "hungering and thirsting for Jesus".

And this is essentially what Paul is expressing. He's not satisfied with superficially knowing the Lord, but wants to plumb the depths of His relationship with the Lord. And this is my desire too. And by "progressively becom[ing] more deeply and intimately acquainted with [Jesus], perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly", I will also begin to discover Him on two levels of experience:

1. The power of His resurrection outflowing in my life
2. The fellowship of personally sharing in His sufferings

As I've discovered, these two things can't be separated. You can't pick and choose which level of knowing Christ you want to embrace, because both are aspects of knowing Him! In short, to know the power of His resurrection means you will share in His sufferings, and to share in His sufferings means that will experience the power of His resurrection in your life!

Romans 8:17 brings this out clearly:

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

I've already written in detail on both these subjects, so I encourage you to dig a little deeper by reading the following posts:

• To know the power of His resurrection -- read "The Power of the Resurrection"

• To know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings -- read "The Fellowship of His Sufferings"

Tomorrow, I'll wrap up this three-part series on the process of personal transformation, as it's revealed in Philippians 3.