From Philippians: Gaining Christ and Being Found in Him (3:12-15)
Orientation
Christian spirituality is often misunderstood as a blend of Christ and self-effort, leading to confusion and division.
- The 'flesh' includes not just sin, but our best virtues, intelligence, and religious pedigree when we rely on them.
- Confidence in these things obstructs true fellowship with Christ and produces self-exaltation.
- God presents Christ as the sole alternative to the Law, Temple, and all human righteousness.
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
— Philippians 3:3
Clarification
Gaining Christ is not self-improvement or law-keeping, but a total repudiation of self as the ground of acceptance before God.
- Paul counted his impeccable religious achievements as 'loss' and 'dung' to gain Christ.
- The righteousness that justifies and sustains is not our own from law-keeping, but God's through faith in Christ.
- This is not about progressive moral attainment, but a faith-driven process where Christ is wrought into us by the Spirit.
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, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
— Philippians 3:8-9
Structure
True Christian life is a participation in Christ's death and resurrection, lived by faith in the indwelling Christ.
- We are conformed to Christ's death through the fellowship of His sufferings, dying to self and fleshly confidence.
- We live by the power of His resurrection, with Christ Himself as our life and righteousness.
- This leads to transformation by the Spirit as we behold Him, becoming living epistles of God's New Testament ministry.
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
Weight-Bearing Prose
Pauline theology establishes an absolute antithesis: flesh versus Spirit, self-righteousness versus the righteousness of God through faith. The ‘flesh’ (sarx) is the entire old self, including its religious virtues and zeal. To have confidence in it is to be aligned with the ‘concision’—the mutilation—and to build with wood, hay, and stubble. The only valid ground before God is to be ‘found in him, not having mine own righteousness.’ This righteousness is alien—it is God’s own, credited through faith in Christ. Justification is therefore inseparable from gaining Christ as our portion. Sanctification is not a separate process of incremental improvement in the flesh, but the Spirit’s work of impressing Christ’s image into believers as they behold Him. The tension in Philippians 3 is not between justification and sanctification, but between two competing confidences: in the flesh or in Christ. To revert to fleshly measures is to make Christ of no effect, falling from the experiential grace of sonship and inheritance. The believer’s hope is a confident expectation of abundant entrance into God’s kingdom, the opposite of shrinking back in shame due to reliance on self.
Integration
Your standing is not in your pursuit, but in Christ who has been gained. The pressure to measure progress by fleshly standards is removed because you are already found in Him, without your own righteousness. Christ is your righteousness, your life, and your confident hope. The Spirit’s work is to transform you by revealing Christ, not by highlighting your lack. Forget what lies behind—not to strive harder, but to press on because you are apprehended by Christ. His acceptance is your resting place. The Bema seat is a celebration of what is of Christ, not a fearful examination of what is of you. Abide here. Christ is your treasure, and in Him you are complete.