Section 10
to the all-inclusive Christ. Christ existed as the all-extensive One, but Paul was totally ignorant of Him. At that time, Paul had a thorough and excellent knowledge of the law. But one day, as he was on the road to Damascus, Christ appeared to him, called to him, and said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). Although Paul did not know Christ and was blind to Christ, he was nevertheless persecuting Him. After the Lord was revealed to him and he was converted, scales fell from his eyes. His eyes hav ing been opened, he began to see Christ and to know Him. The more he saw Christ, the more he received the knowledge of Him. This is the reason he speaks in Philippians 3:8 of the excel lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
There surely is such a thing as the excellency of knowing Christ. If you testify that Christ is excellent but do so without having the knowl edge of Him, you will be speaking merely ac cording to tradition. Actually your word will be uttered in ignorance. You will be speaking something you do not know, because you your self have not received the excellent knowledge concerning Christ. Unless we have the excellent knowledge of Christ, we cannot say that Christ is excellent. We urgently need the excellent