7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Dig Deeper
When I was younger, one of my favorite shows was "Little House on the Prairie," which was set in Minnesota in the 1890's. Okay, I admit it, I still like it. I recall one episode in which Charles Ingalls and his family were told that a rich, eccentric uncle of his that lived down south had died and left him all of his estate as an inheritance. They quickly got excited because he owned a carriage company and was reputed to be quite rich. They got excited about how rich they were soon going to be and went around town buying things on credit which, of course, everyone extended to them because of the great wealth that would soon be theirs. The excitement continued until his uncle's lawyer came to visit and tell them exactly what he had inherited. It seemed that the uncle was rather eccentric and that his business was in so much debt that it would have to be sold just to break even. All they were actually going to receive was one trunk that had been locked. As they nervously opened the trunk they quickly got excited again as they looked in and saw a trunk full of money. As his wife and children began to dance around in glee, Charles slowly realized just how eccentric his uncle was. All of the money that was in the trunk was Confederate money from the Civil War. The uncle had stubbornly refused to accept that the South had lost and had kept all of his cash in Confederate dollars. All of the inheritance that they thought was of great profit turned out to be worth nothing.
This is something of Paul's point in this passage. He had a great deal of things of which he could have been proud. His Jewish heritage was outstanding and his zeal for the law was impeccable. These were things that would put him in high standing in any Jewish community, which in fact he had been. He was a Pharisee that had been a student of the great Gamaliel. He had become a respected zealot in the tradition of Elijah and Phinehas. He had such zeal for God's law and His people that he was willing to hunt down and exterminate what he considered to be this heretical sect of Christ followers. All of those things that might have added up in Paul's column as a great profit had suddenly been turned on its head as he traveled to Damascus and was confronted by the risen Lord Jesus Christ. In an instant, everything he thought that had made his life so valuable was revealed to be worth nothing.
Paul realized at that moment and continued to work out through his life the fact that whatever was to his profit was now loss for the sake of Christ. He had spent his life valuing something that was now valueless and meaningless. In fact, in a way, he would be better without these things because they could only serve as a temptation for him to put his confidence in those things, although Paul doesn't seem to have been very tempted by that once he realized that the only thing of value in this life is the life of Christ. Paul doesn't regard his list of advantages from verses 4 and 5 as something to exploit or take advantage of, rather he has discovered that the true path to good standing before God to be in the life of resurrection and suffering; to be one who has entered into the life of Christ. Paul had said in chapter 2 that Christ could have exploited his divinity but refused to in this present age. As part of his life in Christ, Paul has come to the realization that he can longer attempt to exploit all of the vestiges of power, prestige, and heritage in his own life.
When compared to the life of the Messiah that became available to all, Paul now realizes that he has lost all things, but that doesn't bother him for a moment because he realizes that they were all worth less than that Confederate money. They were nothing more than garbage, mere rubbish. The knowledge of God was highly valued among the prophets (Hos. 6:6) and now that was truly available for those who entered into the life of the Messiah. This was the only knowledge worth having, the kind of knowledge that devalued all other brands of knowledge. Knowledge of the law, knowledge of the things of the world, none of that mattered anymore.
All Paul wants is to be found in Christ. But why would a Jew among Jews, a Pharisee among Pharisees suddenly reject the law and cling to the life of a crucified Messiah? It was, no doubt, the realization that he would have to stand before God one day and face judgment and after coming to know the truth about Jesus as the Messiah he realized what all humans must come to terms with. Paul realized that if he faced God with a righteousness of his own that comes from the law, he would be in trouble. In other words, the law that Paul followed so zealously cannot gain one a proper standing, or righteousness, before God because it was never intended to do such. The law is good if used properly (1 Tim. 1:8), but it's purpose is to teach one of their inability to meet God's standard of holiness; it exposes sin rather than dealing with it (cf. Rom. 7:7). This is instructive for our world today because, although we don't appeal to the Jewish law to justify us before God, we do tend to appeal to so many other things like being good, following other religions, or even having a mental belief that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We must realize what Paul learned so long ago. None of those things will bring us a righteousness that will stand up to God's glory (Rom. 3:23). It is only those who have died to themselves and any claim that they might have thought they had on the righteousness of God, and have entered into the life of Christ who will be accredited with God's own righteousness. This does not mean that God actually makes us righteous in this present age, it means that once we enter into Christ, we begin to be transformed into the image of God (Col. 3:10). It means that because we are hidden in Christ, when good looks at us He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thus, the only way to be in good standing before God is to enter into the body of Christ.
Because of all of this, Paul wanted to know nothing except Christ and the power of his resurrection. Paul understood that the love of God was demonstrated in its purest form at the Cross (Rom. 5:8) and that his power was fully displayed at the resurrection of Christ. Those who unite with Christ at baptism (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27) enter into the life of Christ so that we no longer live. We no longer live our own lives before God, for we chose at that baptism to be crucified (Gal. 2:20) and to cling to no other position than our status in Christ. Being in Christ, for Paul, meant that because Jesus was resurrected from the dead, so would he. That is incredibly encouraging, but for Paul there was more to it than that, although no less encouraging. Living the life of Christ meant not just sharing in the power of his resurrected life and the eventual resurrection of the righteous, but it also meant sharing in his sufferings. Paul continued to die every day (1 Cor. 15:31) and to carry the death of Jesus with him so that this power might be revealed in his body (2 Cor. 4:10). Christ suffered and was crucified and so, Paul believed, would true Christians. This might not manifest into full physical persecution and suffering for every Christian. It may just mean the mental or subtle suffering that comes from living a life that is so radically different from the world around us. Whatever the case, the one who wants to be like Christ in his death and experience the resurrection must lay down their own life and share the full life of the Messiah with all of the suffering and incredible power that comes with that life.
It will be important to note as Paul continues through the remainder of this chapter that for him, the great Christian hope to which he desired to attain someday was resurrection from the dead. Paul knew that if he lived through the power of the resurrection day-by-day that he would be part of the great resurrection when Christ returns. This might be a surprise to most Christians today who would immediately shout out "heaven" as their great and final hope, but we will see how Paul uses the concept of heaven quite differently than most Christians today, all the while holding that he might, at the great appearing of Christ, attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Devotional Thought
Paul knew the power of the life of Christ and the fact that being a part of it was the only way to be in right standing before God. He knew that there was nothing else that could accomplish that. Do you know that? Spend some time reflecting on the righteousness that comes only through the life of Christ and what that means specifically in your life.
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