PENnED

November 7, 2011

Read: Philippians 3:8-17

What is it that the Apostle Paul is pressing on to take hold of? What is the prize he is trying to win? He tells us: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead”(vs. 11-12). Knowing Christ, which to Paul meant experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection and which in turn presupposes sharing in his suffering and death, is the thing that Paul is striving to attain. Did he mean all this to be taken literally? I think so. Further down Paul speaks of “heaven” and the transformation of our “lowly bodies” into “glorious body” (vs. 20-21).

Does “pressing on” mean that Paul worked so hard to win the eternal prize? It does appear that way, but we have to see his efforts in the context of “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (v.9). This is another instance in Philippians where we see works in response to God’s grace go hand in hand.  The other is found in 2:12-13:  ”work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.”

We’ve been saved not by works but we’ve been saved to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10).