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enumerate all the advantages which he had as an Israelite under law, and how he had
counted them all as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, he
continued:
"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" (3: 9).
On either side of this verse, he speaks of knowledge:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord . . . . . That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any
means I might attain unto the out-resurrection, out from among the dead" (Phil. 3: 8-11).
Here is something beyond salvation for sin and the gift of life; here is something
toward which the Apostle pressed as for a prize (Phil. 3: 14).
In Rom. 6: 6, there is a conformity to the death of Christ that has been accomplished
by grace, without our effort, a conformity which lies at the root of our acceptance. In
Phil. 3: 10, however, there is a voluntary association with that death, consequent upon a
fuller knowledge of the Lord, and the power of His resurrection. By using the same
word in Phil. 3: 10 and 21, translated in A.V. "conform" and "fashion", Paul links the
out-resurrection, the prize and its "conformity" with the body of His glory, with the
"conformity" of the believer here and now in the body of this humiliation, and with the
rejection for which the Cross of Christ stands in the experience of the believer.
As an extension of this added knowledge, the Apostle says in the closing chapter:
"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all
things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4: 12, 13).
So Paul adds to faith, knowledge, and knowledge of a very precious and searching
sort. An experience not to be lightly sought, and one that is fraught with many trials. He
had a goal in view, and moreover found strength in Christ for all things, and so his faith
IN Christ, led to fuller knowledge OF Christ, and, while retaining to the full his glorious
acceptance in the Beloved, he pressed on to "win Christ" and to attain unto that for which
he had been apprehended (Phil. 3: 12).