Winning Tennis
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss because of Christ Philippians 3:7
Gain and Loss – Scoring in tennis is rather bizarre. With words like “love,” “deuce” and “advantage,” it’s hard to know what’s going on unless you are familiar with the vocabulary. The same is true in this verse. Paul uses two critical words: kerdos, translated “gain,” and zemia, translated “loss”. These two words are antonyms. Unless we know how they are opposites, we will not fully appreciate the power in Paul’s claim.
From the time of Homer, kerdos was used for profit, advantage and gain. Paul describes his past achievements with this term. All of his credentials were advantageous to him. They were the merit badges of success in his world. They gave him authority, respect and status. We certainly understand the scope of kerdos. We each have our own symbols of advantage. Perhaps it’s position or knowledge or certification. It might be natural skills or acquired training or inherited wealth. I am quite sure that if we gave it a moment’s thought we could come up with a healthy list of the things that give us advantages. These fall under the word kerdos.
But to see why Paul considers them “loss”, we must understand the deeper meaning of zemia. Zemia is not so much about losing something, like losing your money or your reputation, as it is about experiencing disadvantage. When you have kerdos, you have something that gives you an advantage. But when you have zemia, you still have something, but now it is a disadvantage. It isn’t lost to you. You still possess it, but now it is no longer of value. In fact, having it becomes a distinct disadvantage to you. You are injured by possessing it.
Think of a tennis match. In order to win a game, a player much have four winning exchanges. But the player must also have two more winning exchanges than the opponent. So, if both players have the same number of points, the score is “deuce” (tied). The next player to win an exchange is said to have the “advantage.” One more point in succession and the player will win. The other player still has points, but is now at a disadvantage. The opponent must win the next point or lose the game.
Paul tells us that having a life based on the accumulation of kerdos is really a disadvantage. It looks like we have accumulated points, but these points don’t provide us with any security at all. One more mistake and we lose, no matter how much kerdos we have. A life that trusts in kerdos is not what it seems. It is hopelessly disadvantaged. It counts for nothing. In light of what Christ has done, all kerdos is zemia.
What’s the score in your match play? Are you counting on your advantages or have you realized that a life based on accumulation is really a huge mistake?
