But
what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I
also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as
rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own
righteousness, which is from
the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I
may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already
perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus
has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended;
but one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if
in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Nevertheless, to the degree
that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us
be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who
so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed
to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to
subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:7-21)
The crucial part of this text has already been
discussed in this document (pp86-87). Paul’s motivation for rejecting his Pharisaical
traditions and serving Christ was that he may ‘attain to the resurrection from the dead’. His not attaining to the
resurrection to life is, I believe, also referred to in 1st
Corinthians 9:27:
But
I discipline my body and bring it
into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become
disqualified.
This striving of Paul’s for a goal not yet gained is a
far cry from the hope of Heaven that is today presented as certain to all of
the people of God. Here in Philippians chapter three Paul emphasised that he
had not yet been sufficiently perfected to have attained to this resurrection,
which should prompt us to question the nature of this resurrection and who will
take part in it (will it be every genuine professing Christian?). This resurrection
was also clearly a desire that God’s Son had for His people – or at least for
Paul (‘that I may lay hold of that for
which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me’). Following this passage
closely it seems clear to me that, once Paul mentions this resurrection, it
becomes his sole focus; he must
attain to it.
Brethren,
I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (vv.13-14)
Following Paul’s train of thought back from these
verses ‘the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus’ is the ‘resurrection from the
dead’.
For
our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body
that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by
which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (vv20-21)
In encouraging the Philippian saints to likewise focus
upon the resurrection, Paul did say that ‘our
citizenship is in heaven’ (v20), but, crucially, he did not state Heaven as
his or their destination. It was ‘from’ Heaven that they awaited
their Saviour (He is returning, they were not ‘going’). The emphasis upon
Heaven being their place of citizenship is set in contrast to those ‘who set their minds on earthly things’
(v19). Such ‘citizenship’ therefore is of the mind – strongly suggesting that
one ought to be constantly contemplating the present work of the heavenly High
Priest Jesus Christ, and acting upon this by faith.
If we were in Heaven from the point of death, why
would we be waiting for God’s
Son? We would already be with Him. Why
would we long for anything? And if Paul were speaking from the perspective of
one who had not yet died (which he was obviously doing) why could he not
foresee a problem with the doctrine of physical resurrection? Why could he not
foresee that once his soul had ascended to Heaven there would be no more need
to long for anything? In other words, the resurrection from the dead is a
needless goal if happiness and peace is realised the moment our ‘immortal soul’
enters Heaven.
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