The thing that
really stood out to me this morning was that Paul talks about his previous life
in Judaism as the best example anyone could find,[1]
and he talks about his life prior to Christ as the “foremost” of sinners.[2] If
being good by the law counted, Paul was the best. But if Paul was judged by the
law as a sinner, then he was the worst.
As part of his
argument as to why Christians, whether Jewish or Gentile believers, are not to
include the law in the life of the church, Paul itemizes the things that he
would have relied on prior to coming to Christ. He says, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I
have more:”[3]
He then lists these things that would have caused him to put his confidence in
the flesh,[4] to
be sure we understand that he truly meant his whole Jewish heritage.
His point is
that, if anyone should be telling the churches to add the law to the gospel, it
should be him. Instead, he refers to the Judaizers, the ones who wanted all the
Gentiles to add observance of the law to their faith, not as men who were
honoring the law’s requirement of circumcision, but as dogs who were mutilating
the flesh.[5]
So, on one
side, Paul can tell us not to rely on the law because he was the best
law-keeper going, and he would never rely on the law since he discovered the
finished work of Christ. On the other side, Paul can tell us not to rely on the
law because he was the very worst of sinners, and the law could do nothing to
help him.
Paul winds up
his testimony of good behavior under the law by declaring, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”[6] This is the contrast he wants the church to
remember: the perceived gain of keeping the law has been “counted as loss,” because it is now of no value. In fact, it is of
deadly value, like good medication that has turned bad and now would be toxic
to the system.
In fact, to the
Galatians, who had already succumbed to these false teachers of the law, Paul
wrote this stern warning (like the label on a bottle of poison):
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in
the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is
another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel
of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel
contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said
before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to
the one you received, let him be accursed.[7]
Paul’s
foundation-laying teaching for the church was that adding the law to the gospel
is “a different gospel.” It is
distorting the gospel of Christ. It is contrary to what Paul received and
taught, and that the Galatians had received and followed. Anyone who taught
that believers needed to keep the law along with the gospel deserved to be
under a curse. That is how clearly Paul denied the place of the law in the life
of the church.
He then adds
to the Philippians, “Indeed, I count
everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…”[8]
Paul is very clear that everything he once considered a help to righteousness,
he now considers a loss, like a storehouse of money he thought was gain, but
now discovered is counterfeit, and so he counts it as a loss and moves on to
the real thing.
What is clear
is that the old things of law-keeping are “rubbish,”
and the better thing is “the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Law-keeping and knowing Christ Jesus,
do not go together, and Paul was very clear in fighting against those who tried
to combine the law and the gospel. We come to know God by faith, not by works
of the law.[9]
Paul concludes
his testimony to Timothy by saying, “But
I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe
in him for eternal life.”[10]Paul
knew that what happened in his life was not for him alone. Other sinners would
look at God’s grace, and mercy, and “perfect
patience,” towards someone like Paul, and realize that his grace could
reach to them as well. And what was put on display almost two thousand years
ago, continues on display for us today.
Since Paul was both the best of law-keepers, and the
foremost of sinners, his life is an amazing testimony of God’s wisdom, that
anyone can look to Paul and know that no amount of good works will make us
righteous to God. At the same time, we also know that the gospel of Jesus Christ
has already redeemed and transformed the worst of sinners, so God can surely do
the same for any of us who come to Jesus Christ by faith.
There is much
more to say about this, both on the side of how Paul’s example shuts down any
claim that Christians need to keep the law, including the Ten Commandments, and
in displaying God’s incredible wisdom in choosing Paul to proclaim the gospel
to the Gentiles. A Gentile guy telling me why us Gentiles don’t need to keep
the law along with the gospel just wouldn’t say as much as this amazingly good,
as-Jewish-as-they-come, kind of guy telling me that the redemptive work of Jesus
Christ is so complete and perfect that the law is not only no longer necessary,
but it is in the way of the faith that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Philippians 3:1-14
[2]
I Timothy 3:15-17
[3]
Philippians 3:4
[4]
Philippians 3:5-6
[5]
Philippians 3:2
[6]
Philippians 3:7
[7]
Galatians 1:6-9
[8]
Philippians 3:8
[9]
When we combine John 3:16, that we receive eternal life by faith, with Jesus description
of eternal life in John 17:3, where he said that it is this eternal life that
is knowing God, Paul’s testimony adds another apostolic witness that we come to
know God by faith, and, rather than simply not needing the works of the law, we
now find the works of the law as a hindrance (deadly hindrance) to knowing God.
[10]
I Timothy 1:16
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