^3:4—though mine too are significant.⁷ If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials,⁸ I have more: ^3:5I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.⁹^3:6In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. ^3:7But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. ^3:8More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!¹⁰—that I may gain Christ, ^3:9and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness¹¹—a righteousness from God that is in fact¹² based on Christ’s¹³ faithfulness.¹⁴^3:10My aim is to know him,¹⁵ to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings,¹⁶ and to be like him in his death, ^3:11and so, somehow,¹⁷ to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Keep Going Forward

^3:12Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.¹⁸^3:13Brothers and sisters,¹⁹ I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded:²⁰ Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, ^3:14with this goal in mind,²¹ I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God²² in Christ Jesus.

Read in Logos

Philippians 3:12: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Footnotes

7 Grk “though I have reason for confidence even in the flesh.”
8 Grk “flesh.”
9 A Pharisee was a member of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
10 The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.
11 Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pistis Christou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” 85 [1974]: 212–15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ []; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” 35 [1989]: 321–42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” 22 (1980): 248–63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” Seminar Papers, 1991, 730–44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view. , which notes that the grammar is not decisive, nevertheless suggests that “the faith/faithfulness of Christ is not a denial of faith in Christ as a Pauline concept (for the idea is expressed in many of the same contexts, only with the verb πιστεύω rather than the noun), but implies that the object of faith is a worthy object, for he himself is faithful.” Though Paul elsewhere teaches justification by faith, this presupposes that the object of our faith is reliable and worthy of such faith.
12 The words “in fact” are supplied because of English style, picking up the force of the Greek article with πίστει (pistei). See also the following note on the word “Christ’s.”
13 Grk “based on the faithfulness.” The article before πίστει (pistei) is taken as anaphoric, looking back to διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ (dia pisteōs Christou); hence, “Christ’s” is implied.
14 Or “based on faith.”
15 The articular infinitive τοῦ γνῶναι (tou gnōnai, “to know”) here expresses purpose. The words “My aim is” have been supplied in the translation to emphasize this nuance and to begin a new sentence (shorter sentences are more appropriate for English style).
16 Grk “to know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.”
17 On εἰ πῶς (ei pōs) as “so, somehow” see , εἰ 6.n.
18 Grk “that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” The passive has been translated as active in keeping with contemporary English style.
19 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
20 Grk “But this one thing (I do).”
21 Grk “according to the goal.”
22 Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”