Philippians 3:10

ThatI may know him In order to know Him. For the construction, cp. e.g. 1 Corinthians 10:13. Observe the sequence of thought. He embraces "the righteousness which is of God on terms of faith," and renounces "a righteousness of his own" as a means to the end here statedthe spiritual knowledge of Christ and of His power to sanctify and glorify by assimilation to Himself. In order to that end, he thankfully "submits Himself to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3; cp. 1 Peter 1:2); accepts the Divine justification for the merit's sake of Jesus Christ alone; knowing, with the intuition of a soul enlightened by grace, that in such submission lies the secret of such assimilation. Welcoming Christ as his one ground of peace with God, he not only enters at the same time on spiritual contact with Christ as Life from God, but also gets such a view of himself and his Redeemer as to affect profoundly his whole intercourse with Christ, and the effects of that intercourse on his being.

Philippians 3:10 is thus by no means a restatement of Philippians 3:9. It gives another range of thought and truth, in deep and strong connexion. To use a convenient classification, Philippians 3:9 deals with Justification, Philippians 3:10 with Sanctification in relation to it.

"That I may know Him":the Greek seems to imply a decisive actof knowledge rather than a process. A lifelong process is sure to result from the act; for the Object of the act "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). But the act, the decisive getting acquainted withwhat Christ is, is in immediate view. A far-reaching insight into Him in His glory of grace has a natural connexion with the spiritual act of submissive faith in Him as our Sacrifice and Righteousness. Cp. John 6:56.

On this "knowledge" of recognition and intuition, cp. Philippians 3:8, and notes.

the power of his resurrection A phrase difficult to exhaust in exposition. The Lord's Resurrection is spiritually powerful as (a) evidencing the justification of believers (Romans 4:24-25, and by all means cp. 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17-18); as (b) assuring them of their own bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20, &c.; 1 Thessalonians 4:14); and yet more as (c) being that which constituted Him actually the life-giving Second Adam, the Giver of the Spirit who unites the members to Him the Vital Head (John 7:39; John 20:22; Acts 2:33; cp. Ephesians 4:4-16). This latter aspect of truth is prominent in the Epistles to Ephesus and Colossæ, written at nearly the same period of St Paul's apostolic work; and we have here, very probably, a passing hint of what is unfolded there. The thought of the Lord's Resurrection is suggested here to his mind by the thought, not expressed but implied in the previous context, of the Atoning Death on which it followed as the Divine result.

This passage indicates the great truth that while our acceptance in Christ is always based upon His propitiatory work for us, our power for service and endurance in His name is vitally connected with His life as the Risen One, made ours by the Holy Spirit.

Cp. further Romans 5:10; Romans 6:4-11; Romans 7:4; Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 4:10; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews 13:20-21.

the fellowship of his sufferings Entrance, in measure, into His experience as the Sufferer. The thought recurs to the Cross, but in connexion now with Example, not with Atonement. St Paul deals with the fact that the Lord who has redeemed him has done it at the severest cost of pain; and that a moral and spiritual necessity calls His redeemed ones, who are united vitally to Him, to "carry the cross," in their measure, for His sake, in His track, and by His Spirit's power. And he implies that this cross bearing, whatever is its special form, this acceptance of affliction of any sort as for and from Him, is a deep secret of entrance into spiritual intimacy with Christ; into "knowledge of Him." Cp. further Romans 8:17; Romans 8:37; 2Co 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Col 1:24; 2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Peter 4:13; Revelation 3:10.

being made conformable Better, with R.V., becoming conformed. The Greek construction is free, but clear. The Lord's Death as the supreme expression of His love and of His holiness, and the supreme act of His surrender to the Father's will, draws the soul of the Apostle with spiritual magnetic force to desire, and to experience, assimilation of character to Him who endured it. The holy Atonement wrought by it is not here in direct view; he is full of the thought of the revelation of the Saviour through His Passion, and of the bliss of harmony in will with Him so revealed. No doubt the Atonement is not forgotten; for the inner glory of the Lord's Death as Example is never fully seen apart from a sight of its propitiatory purpose. But the immediate thought is that of spiritual harmony with the dying Lord's state of will. Cp. 2 Corinthians 4:10.