Philippians 3

Righteousness through Faith in Christ// Romans 3:21–31

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh! ³For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴though I myself could have such confidence.

• PHIL 3:2[NOTE]DOGS. Some Jews called Gentiles dogs, Matthew 15:26. Paul turns the insult on the teachers who said Gentiles must be circumcised. Mutilators is a Greek pun: katatome, cutting up, versus peritome, circumcision, 3:3. Some scholars say dogs was not yet a common insult for Gentiles.

If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

⁷But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

• PHIL 3:8[NOTE]RUBBISH. The Greek word skubala is much stronger. It meant dung or garbage, and the King James says dung. Paul calls his whole religious resume, 3:5 to 6, a pile of skubala next to knowing Jesus.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on toward the Goal

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. ¹⁶Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.

Citizenship in Heaven

¹⁷Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you. ¹⁸For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.

• PHIL 3:20[PROPHECY]We eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body → STILL TO COME
• PHIL 3:20[FIELD NOTES]See the A Little Rome Field Notes page.