Philippians 3

Read Philippians 3 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.

The Greek Testament does not contain paragraph markers.

The central axis reads,

Not that I have already obtained or have already been perfected, but I press on, if indeed I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Messiah Yeshua. Phi 3:12

The elegant Greek construction, with its reciprocal language (I lay hold, He lays hold) is challenging to fully convey in English.

Messiah Yeshua has laid hold of Paul for a purpose, referring back to the moment of his conversion. Paul was happily going about his life as a Hebrew of Hebrews, and a Pharisee persecuting believers, when Yeshua knocked him off his donkey on the road to Damascus (Act 9:1-19) and dramatically changed the course of his life. From that day he established and built up what he once tore down.

And now Paul is pressing on to also lay hold of that same purpose …

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua. Phi 3:14

… the upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua; to gain Messiah and be found in Him.

More than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Messiah and be found in Him … Phi 3:8-9a

Everything else Paul hopes to attain – righteousness, resurrection – is found in Him. If he gains Messiah, then he has the whole kit and kaboodle.

Everything else he had previously attained did not even begin to balance the scales when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua Messiah whom You have sent. Joh 17:3

That he continues to press on to that goal, not having yet attained it, Yeshua explains:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Mat 7:21-23

Incidentally, to know in Phi 3:8, Joh 17:3, and Mat 7:23 are all from the same word in Greek, Strong’s G1097, γινώσκω ginosko, “to know;” tracing back (Septuagint) to the same word in Hebrew, Strong’s H3045, ידע yada, “to know.” It is by doing or experiencing that we enter into knowing. (He who does enters the kingdom, he who does lawlessness, Yeshua doesn’t knows.)