Monthly Archives: February 2025

PARTNER WITH SUFFERING

Bible Study, ,

Philippians 3:9-11 NLT
[9]”…I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. [10] I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, [11] so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”

By misunderstanding and mistranslating one original Greek word in this text, most translators have introduced an unfortunate misrepresentation of Paul’s statement at the end of this quote.

[10] “I WANT to know Christ…” in place of … “… by FAITH to know Christ…”

They missed the link between faith and knowing Christ. Instead of making a statement of fact…

Philippians 3:9-10 NLT
[9]… “For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith, (“epi”, on the basis of faith), (“to)
[10] know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead…”

…translators have rendered Paul’s statement as the expression of a desire (“I want to know Christ”). There is no “I want to” in the Greek text. It’s a misinterpretation injected into the text!

How could Paul have contradicted everything he had written in every other letter about knowing Jesus and experiencing salvation and living by faith, by expressing a desire to know Him and His power which he already knew by faith? This makes no sense to me.

I found an accurate translation of this one Greek word in only one version so far.

Philippians 3:9-10 RSV
[9]”…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God THAT DEPENDS ON FAITH (epi); 10 THAT I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”

Let’s look at its use here, “epi” meaning “on the basis of”, i.e., “based on”.

What is Paul saying? His argument so far has been that we experience salvation through Jesus alone, by faith in what He has done through His death and resurrection. Paul had to learn this lesson when he met Jesus on the Damascus road. All his efforts to please God came to nothing. He had to trade his self-righteousness for Jesus’ righteousness, and it happened by faith.

Now, if we are to understand his statement here, it is on the basis of faith that we know Jesus and experience the power of His death and resurrection by dying to our old selves. This is the place where Paul’s statement about suffering fits in. In the same way, by believing what God has done through Jesus, we have risen to a new life and can experience suffering through Jesus’ power working in us, disciplining and perfecting holiness in us.

Hebrews 12:10 NLT
[10] “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.”

Paul said that this is a process. The more we identify with Jesus’ death and resurrection by faith, the more we are able to share in His suffering. The more we share in His suffering, the more God deals with sin in our lives through the discipline of suffering.

Just as Jesus was qualified to be our Saviour and High Priest through His suffering…

Hebrews 2:10 NLT
[10] “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”

… so we, too, are being prepared through suffering, for our eternal life with Him as His children, perfected in the image of Jesus. All this happens bit by bit, by faith, as we trust in Him.

Do you get the picture?

Paul is not writing about his longing to be perfected. He is telling us that it was happening and how it was happening. He had identified suffering as a partner which would take him towards Jesus’ goal for him.

The way to participate in God’s work in us is also to embrace suffering as a partner so that we work with the Father in His way of purifying our hearts from self to live under Jesus’ authority as Lord.

It’s not WHAT we suffer but HOW we suffer that prepares us for eternity. With Jesus as our example and mentor, we learn…

1 Peter 2:21-23 NLT
[21] “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. [22] He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. [23] He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”

Our identity with Jesus by faith not only saves us from hell. It also saves us from ourselves in a process of dying with Jesus by faith so that we live in Him by faith, as Paul stated in Romans 1, salvation is “by faith from start to finish”.

Suffering, then, is not an intrusion but a tool through which, if we embrace it with the same faith that saved us, the Father prunes and purifies us in preparation for our participation with Jesus in glory.

Just as Jesus was qualified to be an atoning sacrifice for sin through suffering, so we too, through suffering with Him, are prepared for our role in eternity.

A PARTNER WITH FAITH

Bible Study, ,

Philippians 3:7-9 NLT
[7] “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”

In Paul’s great “light bulb moment”, he made the exchange, Jesus for himself, grace for self-effort, surrender for pride, Christ’s righteousness for his “filthy rags”. He saw his heart for what it was, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”

Paul’s “old self” died, and a new man rose through the power of God’s Spirit, a new creation, to a new life. Jesus Himself confirmed Paul’s transformation in unusual words to Ananias…

Acts 9:11 NIV
[11] “The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for HE IS PRAYING”.

Praying? Yes, for the first time in his  life, Paul was really praying.

Do you remember Jesus’ story about the Pharisee and the tax collector?

Luke 18:9-14 NIV
[9] “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: [10] “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ [13]  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ [14]  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus could have been telling Paul’s story.

What kept Paul so steadfastly on  track with his new life? Was it that moment when the whole sand castle of his life crumbled around him? He saw Jesus! Never would he forget the instant when the True Light pierced his darkness. Every word he preached thereafter, every thought he write, hinged on that second when Jesus crashed into his life and took over.

Faith! That was the key. Not faith itself but faith in the authentic the real, the true. His faith had been firmly embedded in what he could do, what he had achieved, what he thought was the real thing. Jesus showed him that his misplaced faith was leading him to destruction. Faith wasn’t the problem. The object of his faith was his error. He believed in himself…and he was not authentic. He was as fickle as the wind.

Paul’s great discovery…Jesus, the only real, true-blue object of faith, took him in the opposite direction. From that moment, Paul engaged in a lifelong partnership of faith in a faithful Saviour. Everything in his life flowed from faith in that union. What Jesus said about Himself and Paul was true, and he believed it!

Paul was saved by faith, made righteous by faith, reconciled to the Father by faith, knew Jesus by faith, walked in the Word by faith, suffered with Jesus by faith, anticipated glory by faith…by faith…by faith alone.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

No more going it alone for Paul! No more self-effort. Paul had been “born again”. He had become like a little child, no longer dependant on himself but on the Father through Jesus, the Son.

What dominated his life? Let him tell it in his own words…

Galatians 2:19-20 NIV
[19] “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

That’s it! Implicit, childlike, unwavering trust in the trustworthiness of the Son of God…all solidly based on a broken figure on a Roman cross and an empty tomb, the most timelessly true fact of human history.

Let this old hymn tell the story.

1. In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

2. When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me.
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

3. When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

5. In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

(Author: John Bowring b.1792
https://hymnary.org)

A PARTNER OF DECEPTION

Bible Study, ,

Philippians 3:4-6 NLT
[4] “… I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! [5] I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. [6] I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

What Paul thought and what was the truth were poles apart. Until the moment that he met Jesus, he thought he was okay. He was doing well. He had every reason, so he decided, to be confident in his efforts to find favour with God. How deceived he was!

Paul had the right parents. He was born into the right family. His parents did the right thing to make him a part of God’s covenant with the Jews…took him to the rabbi to be circumcised on the eighth day…spot on! Tick that box!

Paul was born into the right tribe…Benjamin, one of Rachel’s sons, Jacob’s favourite wife. He was a descendant of a beloved and privileged group. There’s no question about his ancestry. Tick box number two!

Paul had the right career…a Pharisee, and an over-zealous one at that. He did his best, worked his hardest, outdid his peers in obedience to the law. He ticked every box in his effort to please God. Surely, he must be at the head of the queue when it comes to God’s approval.

To crown it all,  Paul thought he had the right attitude. He did everything he could to protect God’s commandment, “No other gods…” by trying to exterminate all the blasphemers who followed the Jesus who said He was God! This topped the list of his achievements!

Paul’s confidence in his flawless life was unshakeable until he came face-to-face with one he was up against. Suddenly, his pack of cards collapsed around him. His standard of judgment, himself, the measure he used to test himself, his achievements, didn’t work. Everything he hid behind fell apart and the real Paul was exposed, naked, defenseless. He had nothing to cover his pride…the thing Jesus hated most and the one thing of which he, Paul, was most guilty. His outside looked okay until his inside was exposed.

Paul had no option but to surrender. Since all his defenses were gone, he collapsed at Jesus feet, busted and finished, to bow to Jesus as Lord…and bow he did!

From that moment on, Paul took all the lies he had ever believed with such pride, and tossed them onto the garbage heap, his “righteousness… filthy rags, his” obedience”…dung, his “good works”…rotten, stinky self-effort, his pride…the stench of his very being. For the first time, he was honest with himself. He saw it all clearly, a package of lies he to which he had entrusted his eternal destiny.

Philippians 3:7 NLT
[7] “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”

What did Paul see in that moment of revelation? Did he see, in the Spirit, a torn and bloodied figure hanging on a Roman cross? Did he have a flashback of a smashed and broken man, surrounded by an angry mob hurling stones at him? Did he hear him whisper with his final breath, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them”? Did he feel the pain of those he dragged back to Jerusalem to be tried and condemned for following the humble Nazarene?

Something inside turned him the right way up. At last, he knew the truth, deep in his soul. Jesus is Lord! From that moment, he bowed to a new Master. For the first time, he saw all the lies he ever believed, all the false ideas he tenaciously followed, all the  hypocrisy he had hidden behind, for what they were…the GREAT DECEPTION. He had fallen headlong into the devil’s trap.

All his life, he had been feeding and nuturing his pride. Self, with all its ugly tentacles, had captured his heart…self-worth, self-esteem, self satisfaction, self-effort, self-will…and all the other sins of selfishness, had turned him into a helpless slave to himself… until he met Jesus.

In the matchless words of Charles Wesley, Paul could sing…

1. And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

2. ‘Tis mystery all! Th’Immortal dies!
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine!
‘Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.

3. He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

5. No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
(Author: Charles Wesley (1738)
https://hymnary.org)

Paul came alive, a new man!