Philippians 3:10

“that. may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death”

“That. may know Him”: “For my determined purpose is that. may know Him” (Amp). Obviously, this means more than just knowing about Him, rather it is. knowledge that is intimate and personal. “In the Old Testament to know Jehovah means to revere Him, to be consecrated to Him (Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 2:2; Habakkuk 2:14)” (Hendriksen p. 167). “He wishes to become entirely ‘wrapped up' in Christ, so that Jesus will be ‘all the world' to him” (p. 167). Compare with John 17:3; 1 John 2:4; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 5:20. Paul longed for as much of Christ as he could get. He never reached the point of "satisfaction" in his knowledge of Christ, and then, wanted more of Christ after this life (Philippians 1:21-23).

“And the power of His resurrection”: This involves something more than Paul's own resurrection from the dead at the last day. “He wishes to know Him alive and creatively at work to save him from himself, to transform him from bad to good, to propel him forward toward. life of service to others, to resurrect him from death in sin to life in God (Romans 6:4)” (Hawthorne pp. 143-144). The resurrection of Jesus Christ proclaims:. can be forgiven and. new life is. reality (Colossians 2:12). One can die to self (Galatians 2:20). One can put off the old man (Romans 6:6). One can cease being. slave to sin (Romans 6:6). One can serve God effectively (Romans 6:13; Romans 6:16). One can be released from the preoccupation with this earthly life (Colossians 3:1). “And the fellowship of His sufferings”: “All that it means to share His sufferings” (TCNT). See Colossians 1:24. “Nor does he show any spirit of self-pity in speaking thus: it was an honor to share in the sufferings of Christ” (Bruce p. 116). Compare with Acts 5:41. “This does not mean sharing the atoning and redemptive suffering of Christ on the cross, but it means. personal dying to sin, the crucifying of the flesh, and suffering for the sake of Christ and His cause” (Muller p. 116). “To use the words of the Master, to ‘take up his cross daily' (Luke 9:23)” (Erdman p. 119). “Becoming”: Present tense. “Conformed”: “Sharing the likeness of His death” (Con). Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:5). Paul is saying that Jesus unselfishly died for our sins (Philippians 2:5-8), and so he was willing to long and strive for. conformity with that kind of death, by being willing to die to sin and to unselfishly give up oneself for His cause (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Hawthorne puts it this way, “Paul..strives to make the effects of that death an ever-present reality within himself by his own constant choice to consider himself in fact dead to sin and alive to God (cf. Romans 6:11), to conform his practice in the world to his position in Christ, to renounce his own selfish desires and say ‘yes' to Christ who calls him to take up his cross daily” (p. 145).