Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (2 volumes in 1 ESV Edition): The Fellowship of the Gospel and The Supremacy of Christ (Preaching the Word) by Hughes R. Kent

Author:Hughes, R. Kent [Hughes, R. Kent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781433536328
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2013-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Christ Alone (3:1–11)

This paragraph pulses with passion from beginning to end. It begins in verse 2 with a trio of alliterated warnings that effectively slapped Paul’s legalistic detractors with their own conceits. Then in the body of the paragraph (verses 3–9) Paul listed his seven righteous superiorities that left him “blameless” (v. 6) under the Law, only to reject them with an emotional and indelicate expletive. Paul wanted no doubt left that when he, as Saul of Tarsus, experienced the righteousness that comes through the faithfulness of Christ (the righteousness of God that depends on faith), he cast away all his accomplishments and threw himself on Christ alone.

That is why in verses 10, 11 he breathed out his matchless longing: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” For me this is the most inspiring and intimidating prayer in Scripture. Who has the temerity to pray for the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings as Paul did? Only those who (1) know and believe that suffering with and for Christ is the path to deepest intimacy with him, (2) know and believe with Paul that such sufferings are a grace (cf. 1:29), and (3) see also that such sufferings are linked with the joyous power of the resurrection, which provides the strength to endure the sufferings.

This is my greatest personal takeaway from this book and my greatest challenge—to pray daily with all my heart, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (3:10, 11). This was certainly a key longing for those bound together in the fellowship of the gospel.

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