Eyes on the Prize; Phil. 3:4b-14

"If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Introduction--On Paul and Paul Scholarship

I have written a number of essays on Paul to date because selections from his writings dominate the epistle readings. I try to add something new about our knowledge of him in each essay. I believe that we understand a particular passage best when we first try to understand him as a thinker/writer/evangelist.

Today I want to begin by saying a word about how scholarship on Paul has evolved in the last few decades. Though you don't "preach" scholarship from the pulpit, you ought to be aware of the perspectives from which scholars are coming when they write on Paul. Three things have largely occupied the scholarly discussion on Paul: (1) an attempt to write his "biography," by dissecting his letters and connecting his letters to sections of Acts; (2) an interest in identifying and trying to describe the theology of Paul's opponents; and (3) a focus on certain theological themes in Paul's writings, such as the importance of the law, or the collection, or his understanding of prophecy and other gifts of the spirit. For example, Philippians enters into the first task because scholars have tried to divide the letter into three letters (1:1-3:1 and 4:4-9; 3:2-4:3; 4:10-23) and then posit where Paul might have been imprisoned (Caesarea? Ephesus? Rome?) when he wrote one or all of them. When you realize that many scholars also try to divide the Corinthian correspondence into five or six letters, you see that they have assured their employment and publication possibilities well after the tenure decision is made.

As for the task of preaching or teaching, however, I think the starting point has to be the fact that the Letter to the Philippians comes down to us as one letter. That is, in its "canonical context," to quote Brevard Childs, it has been read and heard by the Church for two thousand years as one text. Therefore, we do best by trying to hear it as one Word of God to us, despite the curiosity we may have in reconstructing the actual movements of Paul to the extent we can. As we look at our passage for today, I would like briefly to develop two points: (A) Paul's major concerns in Philippians in general; and (B) Paul's argument in this passage. Let's turn to each.

I. Paul's Purposes in Philippians

The first thing you notice about Philippians is its tone. Contrary to Galatians or sections of the Corinthian correspondence, Philippians breathes an air of gratitude, confidence and satisfaction. At least, that is its primary tone. Paul had planted the Church in Philippi (Acts 16) and seemed to have developed an intimate and continuing relationship with the congregation. The tone of the letter is more of a "continue to do what you are doing, but even more"-tone than one of castigation or warning. Second, there are passages where Paul identifies and warns the congregation against opponents. We don't know who they are precisely, but he calls them those who would "mutilate the flesh" (3:2). Most scholars think of a Jewish-Christian party who came into Philippi after Paul departed and proclaimed the necessity of submitting to Jewish ritual (i.e., circumcision) before the Gospel could be received. In any case, because of Paul's radically creative interpretation of the Gospel (it is equally available to Jew and Greek), we can understand the continuing nature of opposition to him. Third, we see in the letter a sort of "thank-you note" for support that the Philippians had given Paul when he was in need (4:10-20).

II. Eyes on the Prize (3:4b-14)

The passage for this morning (3:4b-14) appears in the section of the letter in which Paul attacks his opponents. We see in other places in Paul (esp. II Cor. 10-13; Gal. 1-2) that when he feels attacked he "pulls rank" on his attackers. He also will do so here. That is, he will say that he is "greater" than they. They may have reason to boast in the flesh but, in fact, he has more. Then, just when you think he is going to speak at length about his reasons for being greater (he does this for a while in vv. 4-6), he changes his tone by that little word "yet" in v. 7. The word "yet" allows Paul to be at his best--to use paradox and adversatives instead of linear or logical argument. What Paul will argue in our passage is that he will not take advantage of his apparently superior position to his opponents because that would be playing the wrong game. Instead, he makes three points which still have potency in our day.

First, he says that these human systems of reckoning prestige are not the heart of the Gospel. "Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ" (3:7). In II Cor 5, last week's reading, he said that at one time he regarded people and Christ "from a human point of view," but he does so no longer. The presence of Christ in their midst means that worldly values of achievement and accomplishment, of recognition and reward, are not the focus of life. Indeed, Paul uses a very strong term (skubalon--garbage) to describe the value of his pre-Christian past in comparison with today. Paul might be overstating the point for rhetorical effect (he does that on more than one occasion), but he nevertheless makes himself clear. Being in Christ carries with it its own values.

Second, he speaks of the priority of knowing Christ. This language of knowledge of the divine is of central importance in Christian spirituality, for it implies that we don't have at this instant everything that we would want or need with regard to the divine knowledge. In other passages Paul speaks of this knowledge as a kind of "union" with Christ:

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:19-20).

Paul's language brims with desire and longing, with the sense that the knowledge of Christ is a not a static possession but a dynamic reality, not something that is learned once and for all but is appropriated in our daily lives. This knowledge of Christ is the basis of the new value system for Christians.

Finally, he speaks of his continued quest to make this knowledge his own (3:12-14). In the words of my title above, he keeps his eyes on the "prize"--Christ. Some scholars think that he is trying to defend the Gospel against a sort of Christian perfectionism in his midst, but I am not sure we need to posit such opponents to understand the quest for obedience to the heavenly call. Notice that if Paul and most of the NT authors were to be asked about the root metaphor to understand the Christian life, they would not say (as is to prevalent in our culture today), that the Chrisitan life is a "journey of discovery." Rather, their language is full of images of the Christian life as a race, a battle, or even a boxing match (I Cor. 9:25ff). It is one that we need to run, above all, with perseverance (Heb. 12:1).

So, let's join Paul in his quest to make Christ his own by renewing our own quest to know him and the power of his resurrection. We anticipate that day in two weeks; may its message shape all of our lives.

2526