Vital Union With Christ
VITAL UNION WITH CHRIST
PHILIPPIANS 3:8-11
Paul writes about the immense privilege of knowing Jesus Christ personally.
The union of the Christian with Christ lies at the heart of Paul’s godliness. What this involves is made clear by the present section. Paul has experienced a radical change of values. He now realizes not merely the worthlessness of what he used to value, but also the loss which he suffered through a false sense of security. For him the knowledge of Christ surpasses all other things, and for the love of Christ he has suffered the loss of “all things,” specifically, his “goodness” in which he had boasted (3:4-6). This radical reassessment of his values was a direct result of the irresistible intervention of Christ in his life when the Lord attached Paul to himself. From that moment on, Paul was aware of being entirely bound to Christ. The fanatical persecutor of the church (3:6) became the devoted disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ who now acknowledges that the one thing worth possessing is the knowledge of Christ (3:8-10).
The knowledge to which Paul refers is not intellectual but personal, intimate and practical. It flows from the vital union of the believer with Christ in which the life of Christ is given to the Christian through the Holy Spirit. Paul can speak of Christ in the believer or of the believer’s life in Christ to express this reality.
Two consequences which flow from this union are brought home to the Philippians. First, one who knows Christ in this manner has abandoned all efforts to establish their own righteousness or to achieve the status of “blamelessness” (see 3:6). Such a person is content to receive a righteousness which God gives only to those who have surrendered to God’s judgment on their goodness (3:9). This collapse of self-confidence is the essence of faith from a human point of view; it is an expression of confidence in the achievement of Jesus Christ alone.
Secondly, the intense desire to know Christ which flows from this union demands an identification with Christ in his resurrection and sufferings (3:10). The order in which Paul states these aspects of Christ’s experience is remarkable. We are to experience the power of his resurrection in order to participate in the sufferings which were laid upon Christ (see also 1 Corinthians 15:30f.; 2 Corinthians 4:10,16). Paradoxically, this preparation for sharing the experience of Christ’s death, which is achieved through the instilling of the power of his resurrection, leads full circle back to the experience of resurrection power itself (3:11). This is the mystery and the glory of life in Christ.