Holy Bible - Obsidian Study Guide

Pressing Toward the Goal

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Pressing Toward the Goal

Overview

  • Testament: New
  • Book: Philippians
  • Chapters: Philippians 3:4-16
  • Summary: Paul’s spiritual autobiography in reverse — counting all religious credentials as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, then pressing forward with athletic intensity toward the prize.

Details

Philippians 3 contains one of the most theologically charged autobiographical passages in all of Paul’s letters. He begins by warning against those who insist on circumcision and legal righteousness (3:2-3), then offers his own credentials as a benchmark — not to boast, but to demolish. He had more to boast in than any of his opponents: “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (3:5-6). By every Jewish standard of religious achievement, Paul stood at the top.

The reversal is total and deliberate. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (3:7). The accounting language (kerdos, gain; zemia, loss) is commercial — Paul is recalculating the entire ledger of his life. The climax comes with a word of startling vulgarity: he counts his credentials “as dung” (skubala, 3:8) — the word refers to excrement or table scraps thrown to dogs. The contrast is not between bad things and good things, but between the best of human religious achievement and “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” which renders everything else refuse by comparison.

The positive desire that replaces his former pursuit is expressed in 3:10: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” The goal is not achievement, safety, or even doctrinal correctness — it is personal knowledge of Christ, which encompasses both the power of resurrection and participation in suffering. Paul does not separate the glory of resurrection from the cost of the cross. To know Christ fully is to share in both.

The athletic image then takes over: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (3:14). The Greek word dioko means to pursue intensely, even aggressively — the same word used elsewhere of persecution. The secret of the forward press is forgetting: “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (3:13). The past — even a past of remarkable religious accomplishment — cannot be carried into the race. Only Christ’s worth qualifies as currency for the finish line. This passage stands alongside the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11-12 as a call to abandon what lies behind and run toward what God has set before.

Important Verses

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” — Philippians 3:8

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” — Philippians 3:10

“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:13-14

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