The Believers Doctrine

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Approximation

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Approximation means being close to God through Jesus Christ. In these verses, Paul shows what being close to God entails, what is necessary and what is not, and what the rewards are.

Warren Wiersby, in his account of the book of Philippians, calls this chapter, "The things that can rob us of the joy of our salvation." He says that people today become slaves to things and as a result, do not experience real Christian joy. Socrates said, "Examine your life, for the un-examined life is not worth living."

J Allen Blair, who wrote a commentary, suggests that being close to God is the sure way of guarding against being slaves to things that will keep us from living victoriously."

For Paul, being close to the Lord allowed him to rejoice even in prison, and having to spend much time in writing these letters was not "irksome" to him because of his closeness to the Lord and because it was good for those to whom he wrote. He was obviously repeating things that he had told them before, but he was making no apology for it.

First he warned them about the Judizers. Paul had little respect for these people. Even though they apparently had accepted Christ, they still sought to impose Jewish tradition upon the Gentile converts. Notice he calls them "dogs", "evil workers" and "mutilators of the flesh", (circumcision). Paul says, "Look out for these people."

The Jewish converts to Christianity were held in high esteem in the early church. Their knowledge of the scriptures and their position of long standing as God's chosen people, led to their having high positions in most of the churches. As teachers they had the opportunity to influence the Gentile believers and many used this position to place upon them the customs of the Jews.

Here in verse 3, Paul emphases that those who accept Christ and make Him their Lord and Savior, are now the "true circumcision" or the true chosen people of God. Paul says that as believers, "We worship in the Spirit, and put no confidence in the flesh." In explanation, Paul makes this comparison:

1. As Christians, we worship God in our heart and commune in spirit. The Jews observed carnal ordinances and worshipped to be seen and appreciated by man.
2. As Christians, we rejoice in a Messiah that has come. The Jews know only the Promise. The Promise came and they received Him not.
3. As Christians, we have assurance of our salvation. They have no confidence in their outward observances.

Now Paul knew what he was talking about for he had been both Jew and Christian. Notice verse 5 describes Paul's credentials, again.

1. He was a Jew first.
   1. Circumcised on the 8th. day.
   2. He was a native Israelite.
   3. He was of the Tribe of Benjamin. Why was Paul so proud of this? Benjamin was the last of the 12 sons of Jacob. His mother was Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. The Temple in Jerusalem was in that portion of Israel that belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin. The men of this tribe were rugged mountain warriors, champions of freedom, left handers and Israel's first king, Saul, was of the Tribe of Benjamin. When the tribes broke up and formed two kingdoms, only Benjamin remained true to Judah. No wonder Paul was proud to be a Benjaminite.
2. He was a Hebrew born of Hebrews. Purebred Israelite. There was no inter-marriage in his ancestors.
3. He was a Pharisee by the Law. There was two ways that a man could become a Pharisee, by the Law and by Marriage. Paul inherited his right as his father was a Pharisee.
4. He persecuted the Christians out of zeal for the Jewish tradition.
5. Having fulfilled all the Law, he was then, under the Law, blameless. Paul had fulfilled all the requirements of the Law and tradition, as well as anyone could.

But notice, Paul calls all of this garbage. This meant nothing to Paul compared to knowing Jesus Christ. Now, why did Paul tell these people all of this about himself? I'm sure they had heard it all before, why tell them again all about his heritage? He was trying to get them to see that those credentials were what they admired in the Judizers and was the reason that they had chosen them to be their leaders. Paul wanted them to know that those credentials amounted to nothing, even in his own life. It was their relationship to Christ that was important and that was what they should look for in their leadership. Their "righteousness" based on heritage and obedience to the Law, amounted to nothing. What they should look for was the "righteousness that was a gift of God and depended on faith not on works. In verse 9 Paul says, "I have no righteousness of my own based on the Law, but I do have that righteousness that is based on faith in Jesus Christ."

Thus, the believer gets close to Christ, through faith not works.

Attainment

Wiersbe, in his commentary, titles these verses, "Lets Win the Race", or lets attain the victory. He compares Paul to an athlete pressing on toward the finish line in the Christian race. We do not know what athletic event Paul was thinking about when he wrote these verses, but Wiersbe believes that he was speaking of the Roman Chariot Races which required the driver to lean forward in order to balance the two-wheeled chariot.

In studying these verses, please remember that Paul is not telling us how to be saved. This information was for people who had already accepted Christ. This was a comparison between an athlete and his efforts to excel and win to a Christian and his efforts to grow in Grace. To do this, Paul says in verse 10, we must know the power of the resurrection. Most people who read the biographies of great men do so to find out what made them great. Here, Paul tells you what his secrete was, it was the "Power of the Resurrection". This was what helped Paul to attain greatness.

Notice, this power is available to all believers. As "Children of God", we are responsible to run the "race" and attempt to achieve the goals that God sets before us. To attempt to do this in our own strength is inviting failure but to do it in the power of the resurrection, insures success. In Rome, citizenship was necessary to compete in the athletic events, for us, citizenship in Heaven is necessary if we are to attain any degree of spiritual growth.

If we loose this race, we do not loose our citizenship, we loose the joy of growing in Christ. In verse 11, Paul seems to have some doubts. "If possible, I may obtain the resurrection from the dead." Here, the death that Paul is speaking of is that condition that many inactive Christians find themselves in, those who do not live "victoriously" for Christ, those who do not know the power of the resurrection.

Paul sought this power and he sought to share in the sufferings of Christ and he did this that he might obtain the resurrection that would change him from a "dead" Christian to one alive in Christ. He is talking about "earthly" living. Paul was sure of his salvation, he was certain that he would participate in the resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of Christ, but in this world, we all need to die to the world and then be made alive, resurrected from the dead, to live for Christ.

The story is told that, in despair, John Knox cried aloud to God, "Give me Scotland or I die." The Lord replied, "Die and I will give you Scotland." John Knox died to his own wants and wishes and became a great servant for the Lord, and God gave him Scotland. Now that's the "power of the resurrection", attainable to us all if we do the following:

1. Never be satisfied with our spiritual growth.
2. Forget what has gone before.
3. Earnestly strive for what lies ahead.

Verse 14, press on toward the goal that God sets for you. Paul says, "Let all who are mature Christians, strive for these things."

Ah yes, and one more thing, "If in anything you are otherwise minded, seek God's revelation." When we differ, we should seek God's understanding, in the meantime, make Christ the center of our efforts. If we can do this, we will have attained that selfless love that is necessary to attain the power of the resurrection. The Bible is full of warnings about falsely evaluating our own spiritual condition. The church at Sardis had the reputation of being a lively church, but God in His Revelation to John said of them, "They are dead." The church at Laodicea boasted that it was rich, but in God's eyes it was wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked and worse of all, "luke warm".

So Paul is telling us to be realistic in our evaluation of self for he had no false illusions about himself. He still felt, in spite of all that Paul had done for the Lord, that he had to continue to press on, he still had to lay hold of whatever lay ahead because this was what he was ordained to do. Paul calls this "the one thing that I do...."

Have you ever noticed how many times Jesus said this "one thing..."? To the rich young ruler, Jesus said, "This one thing you lackest..." To Martha, who complained about Mary not helping her, Jesus said, "This one thing is needful..." To the Pharisees, the blind man who had been given back his sight by Jesus, said, "This one thing I know, one I was blind and now I can see."

Paul said, "This one thing I do..." "I seek after Christ." He was of a "single mind". We must be like Nehemiah who, while rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, would not listen to distracting calls from those who sought him to stop and come down and rest a while. Nehemiah replied, "I am doing a great work, I cannot come down." Paul says that we should strive to attain this kind of commitment.

Anticipation

Wiersbi calls this, "Living in the Future tense." Paul believed that he was doing this for he had no concern for the present time but look longingly to the future and he desired that they would imitate him and others that lived that way also. But there were others whose lives they should not imitate. He calls them "enemies of the cross". He describes them in 4 ways:

1. Those whose god is their belly. This might be better explained as those who think of nothing but their sensual appetites. In this group were those who made a mockery of the Lord's Supper. Those who made of it an opportunity to gorge themselves until they were sick. Other appetites were referred to here also. We can become slaves to the desires of the body, Paul suggests that we eat to live not live to eat.
2. The second thing that they do that makes them enemies of the cross is that they "glory in their shame". They take pride in their large banquets, their huge bodies and their ability to eat all night. This, they would have you believe, was the way the Lord's Supper should be observed.
3. The third thing that they did that made them enemies of the cross was that they "set their minds on earthly things". Perhaps we are all guilty of this to one degree or another. We do not realize much of our time and energies go to the obtaining of earthly things.

Notice what is going to happen to people like that. "Their end is their destruction." Again, let us remind ourselves that we are talking about Christians. Sense our salvation cannot be destroyed, what is the destruction that Paul is speaking about? It is the destruction of the "joy" of our salvation, the destruction of our "witness". The lack of communication with God and the destruction of our ability to serve God.

So much for how we should not live, the question then is how should we live if we are living for the future?

1. Imitate Paul. Paul was not boasting he believed that he and others that lived like him were examples that they should follow.
2. Observe the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in humility and in a spiritual manner.
3. Do not take pride in your observances, weather it be the Lord's Supper, or your offerings, or your attendance, or your work in the church. Be humble and do not think more highly of yourself than you should.
4. Do not be concerned about earthly things, to the extent that spiritual things are pushed out of your life. Remember that this world is only a temporary home. Our citizenship is in Heaven. We can lay up treasurers here, but they will not last. Those that we lay up in Heaven last for eternity.

Let us anticipate and life for our "new home" and look with great anticipation to our "new bodies". Verse 21 says that our resurrected bodies will be glorious bodies but recognizable, the great change will be in our hearts and minds.

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