Knowing Christ: righteousness, the goal and contentment

This class continues the letter to the church at Philippi, the Roman colony in Macedonia that Paul evangelised on his second journey (Acts 16). The church had supported him from the first, and Paul writes from prison, probably in Rome around AD 60-62, though Ephesus and Caesarea have been proposed (see the previous class). Timothy is joined to the greeting, and Epaphroditus has carried a gift to Paul and is being sent home.

Chapters 3 and 4 hold the sharpest turn in the letter. At 3:1 Paul seems to be closing, then warns suddenly against opponents. Some scholars think this section came from a separate note later joined to the letter; others hold that Paul simply moves on, as letter writers do. The opponents are described as 'dogs', 'evildoers' and those who 'mutilate the flesh' (3:2). The most probable identification is Jewish Christian teachers, or others, who urged Gentile believers to be circumcised and keep the law to be fully included, as in Galatians. Others suggest Jewish opponents outside the church. Paul does not name them, and the class stays with the shared point that the issue was confidence in the flesh.

Chapter 4 returns to the church's life: two women who need reconciling, a call to joy and prayer, and a thank-you for the gift. The mention of Macedonia and Thessalonica in 4:15 recalls that the Philippians sent help to Paul at Thessalonica soon after he left Philippi, and at other times (see also 2 Corinthians 11:9).

Philippians 3 is polemical writing within a letter. Paul turns from encouragement to warning, so the language is sharp and sometimes ironic. 'Dogs' was a term Jews applied to Gentiles, and Paul turns it back on those who would make Gentiles second class. He plays on words: those who insist on circumcision (peritome) are the 'mutilation' (katatome), while the true circumcision are those who worship by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus (3:3). The first rule is to read this as argument against a specific danger, not as a general statement about Jews. Paul himself is a Jew who still speaks of 'the people of Israel' with respect elsewhere (Romans 9:1-5).

The second rule concerns Paul's autobiography. Philippians 3:4-6 is not a testimony about a troubled conscience. Paul says he was 'blameless' under the law (3:6), and in a well-known 1963 essay Krister Stendahl argued that the Western tradition had read Paul as a guilt-ridden man in the manner of Augustine and Luther, while the text speaks of a clear conscience. That insight has influenced scholars on all sides. The point of the passage is not Paul's feelings but his valuation: what he counted as gain he now counts as loss compared with Christ.

The third rule is to take the two halves of chapter 4 as part of the same letter's concern for unity and partnership. 'I can do all things' (4:13) belongs to a paragraph about being content in hunger and plenty, not to a general promise of success.

3:1-6. Paul says that to write the same things is no trouble to him and is safe for them. He then names three kinds of people to watch for, and answers with the true marks of God's people: worshipping by the Spirit, boasting in Christ and not trusting the flesh. If anyone could trust the flesh, Paul could more. He gives seven credentials: circumcised on the eighth day, of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee as to the law, a zealot who persecuted the church, and blameless as to righteousness under the law. Four are inherited and three are achieved.

3:7-11. Whatever was to his profit he now counts as loss for the sake of Christ. Paul uses the language of accounting: gain, loss, and a word for what is thrown away, often translated 'rubbish' or 'dung' (skubala), and strong enough to shock. The reason is the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. He wants to be found in Christ, a righteousness not of his own from the law, but the one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. This is the closest statement in Philippians to the argument of Galatians and Romans. The Greek phrase in 3:9, usually translated 'faith in Christ', can also be read 'faith of Christ', meaning Christ's own faithfulness, and scholars are divided. In both readings the righteousness is from God and not earned.

Paul then describes what he wants: to know Christ, the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 'if somehow' he may attain the resurrection from the dead. The 'if somehow' is not doubt about the outcome but humility about the road. Knowing here is personal and relational, in the way the Old Testament speaks of knowing God.

3:12-16. Paul disclaims having already arrived. He has not already obtained it or been made perfect, but presses on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him. The image is of a runner forgetting what lies behind, straining toward the goal, for the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus. Then he speaks to the 'mature' (teleioi, the same root as 'perfect'), who should think this way. The same word is used with two senses: not finished, yet mature.

3:17-21. Paul urges them to imitate him and those who follow his pattern. Many walk as 'enemies of the cross of Christ': their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. The text does not identify them, and they may be the same group or another. By contrast 'our citizenship is in heaven' (politeuma), and from there believers await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform their lowly bodies to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

4:1-9. Paul begs Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord and asks a loyal partner to help them, since they struggled beside him in the gospel. He gives instructions: rejoice in the Lord always; let your gentleness be known; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. The peace of God, surpassing understanding, will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Then he lists what to think about: whatever is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise. These are terms known from Greek moral writing, and Paul commends them as the church's habit of mind alongside what they have seen in him.

4:10-20. Paul thanks them for renewed care, saying that he has learned to be content (autarkes) in every circumstance, knowing both need and plenty. The secret is that he can do all things through him who strengthens him (4:13). The 'all things' are the situations just named, hunger and abundance. He praises their gifts as a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God, and promises that God will supply every need of theirs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. The letter closes with greetings, including those of 'Caesar's household' (4:22).

Philippians 3 is one of Paul's main statements on justification, the doctrine that sinners are put right with God. The passage says that righteousness cannot be earned by descent, achievement or law keeping, and that it comes from God through faith in Christ. This agrees with Galatians 2:16 and Romans 3:21-26. The passage also joins that doctrine with union and transformation. Paul wants to be found in Christ, to know him, share his sufferings and be raised. Traditions stress different parts. Lutheran and Reformed theology read 3:9 as the righteousness of Christ counted to the believer. Catholic theology reads Paul as speaking of a righteousness given by God which includes being made just, and points to 3:10-14 on growth. The Orthodox tradition, which speaks of theosis or sharing in the divine life, stresses the sharing in Christ's death and resurrection. Scholars associated with the 'new perspective on Paul' stress that the opponents' issue was Gentile membership in God's people.

The second theme is the 'already and not yet'. Paul has been grasped by Christ and has not yet reached the goal. Believers are citizens of heaven and still await the transformation of their bodies. This tension is typical of the New Testament (Romans 8:23; 1 John 3:2).

The third is contentment and prayer. The call not to be anxious, with the promise of God's peace, is grounded in the closeness of the Lord (4:5). Joy in the Lord is the letter's theme and does not depend on circumstance.

The centre of the chapter is the knowledge of Christ as worth more than everything. Paul calls him 'Christ Jesus my Lord' (3:8), the same title that the hymn of chapter 2 says every tongue will confess. His death and resurrection are not only events in the past but a pattern in which believers share (3:10-11). This is fulfilment language: what Israel's Scriptures promised, a righteousness from God and a resurrection of the dead, is found in the crucified and risen Messiah.

The passage also makes Christ the Saviour who will come from heaven (3:20-21). The transformation of 'our lowly body' to be like 'his glorious body' links the future of believers to his resurrection body, which Paul describes elsewhere as the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20, 42-49). The power that does this is the power by which Christ subjects all things to himself, an echo of Psalm 8:6 and Psalm 110:1, which the New Testament applies to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:25-27; Hebrews 2:5-9).

On the Old Testament side, Paul's list of credentials points to the law, circumcision and the covenant people, which he does not despise. They are the means by which God prepared for Christ. What he counts as loss is trust in them as a ground of acceptance, not their place in the story.