 |  |
A | 8-. The knowledge of Christ.
B | -8-. Loss of all things (consequence).
C | -8, 9. So that I may gain Christ (goal).
A | 10-. The knowing of Him.
B | 10. Suffering and death (consequence).
C | 11. If by any means I may attain resurrection (goal).
In chapter 1: is recorded the apostle's prayer for the Philippians:--
"And this I pray that your love may abound in knowledge and in all discernment, so
that ye may test the things that differ, and that ye may be sincere and without offence
unto the day of Christ" (9, 10).
It will be seen that the apostle does not pray that the Philippians may know Him, and
the hope of His calling; he does not pray that they may be taught their glorious position
as members of the one body; he goes further, he prays that their knowledge may be
accompanied by discernment, for things lie ahead that demand distinguishing. The
prayer of Philippians is in harmony with the theme of the epistle, which is not the setting
out of the grace of God as exhibited in Ephesians, but the call to those who have been
thus blessed to "work out their own salvation with fear and trembling." This prayer has
in view their sincerity and inoffensive character "in view of the day of Christ." The
exhortation to "work out" their own salvation in chapter 2: is followed by the words,
"that ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without reproach." The apostle
raises no query regarding their "sonship" (indeed the words "son" [huios] and "adoption"
[huiothesia] do not occur in the epistle), but his concern is, that being children of God,
they should be such "without reproach." In other words, the whole epistle revolves
around the idea of "walking worthy of the calling," of "working out" the salvation, or
as it is expressed in Phil. 1: 29:--
"Because to you it hath been given as a privilege on the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but also to suffer on His behalf."
This is something beyond the state of believing unto salvation, this is the stepping-out
of faith in union with the Lord in a world that knows Him not, "a crooked and perverse
generation." When the apostle says, therefore, in chapter 3: 10, "that I may know Him,"
we must remember how far and how deeply he had already progressed in the knowledge
of his Lord. Evidently there was more before the apostle to know, and what that involved
is immediately indicated by the words that follow, "and the power of His resurrection."
Paul does not require knowledge as to the FACT of the resurrection of Christ, neither
does he need an explanation as to HOW it was accomplished, his great concern is to
know the POWER of it.
This cannot mean that he desire to penetrate into the mysteries of the unseen, and to
know either the measure or the manner of the power that was needed to raise Christ from
the dead, as a speculative knowledge; he desired it as something intensely practical. In
Eph. 1: 19, 20 the apostle prays that the saints may know the power exerted in the raising
of Christ, but not as an isolated event, for his words are:--