Paul’s Apologetics (3)
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 NASB
Fellowship of His sufferings – The last thing on the list. The last thing on Paul’s list is to externally observe, to know as a public reality, the sufferings of the Messiah. And Paul got his wish, didn’t he? He got to suffer as the Messiah suffered. But for us, we want to “know” and to experience the “power,” but we probably aren’t ready for the last thing on the list.
The phrase is koinonian pathematon. You recognize the word koinonia in this phrase. That’s “fellowship.” It means the active participation in shared experience. There are no lone rangers here. This is “Three Musketeers” territory. What happens to one, happens to all. So the first thing we learn about fellowship in sufferings is that it is a communal affair. If you try to somehow isolate yourself from the sufferings of others, you act against the biblical restoration of the world. You must become more engaged, not less. Retreat to the cloister is not the direction of resurrection power. I’m terribly sorry, but a quiet island existence under the palms isn’t the objective.
Notice also that the second word in the phrase is plural. It is sufferings. What does pathematon mean? It means the multiple experiences of something from the outside, something that is usually considered bad. It is being in the crosshairs of the world’s worst. You and I are called to be peacemakers, not peace practitioners. The peacemaker is the one in the middle, being shot at by both sides. He is not the one who experiences peace. His arena of operation is war! There is no place for a peacemaker when no one is fighting. If you want to know the fellowship of his sufferings, you will have to be prepared to bleed.
The root of the term for sufferings is pascho. It’s important to recognize that this is essentially a passive experience. That doesn’t mean it isn’t intense. It means that it happens to you. You didn’t go out looking for heartache, distress, calamity and abuse. But you got it anyway. As long as you are actively engaged in the world, bad things will happen. How you respond to those things is up to you. What Paul wants is to apply resurrection power to the inevitable Job events of living.
Interestingly, Hebrew has no corresponding term for pascho. The idea of suffering does occur in the Tanakh, but because the Tanakh uniformly acknowledges YHVH as the supreme authority and ultimate controller of all that occurs, the idea of passive evil events isn’t part of Hebrew thinking. Every action has purpose. None are accidental. What happens to us is part of the divine plan. It is this Hebraic understanding that shapes Paul’s apologetics. He wishes to know the fellowship of sufferings because God is in all of it. Restoration is not a Pollyanna experience. It is blood, sweat and tears, just like the experiences of the Messiah.
Now you know what you’re in for. Bring it on!
Topical Index: fellowship of his sufferings, koinonian pathematon, pascho, Philippians 3:10-11
This type of cohesion with the Lord, is not for the weak in the faith. I would think they would also need to have an established intercessory prayer life
A question arises. Was Yeshua asking this of his disciples in the garden.? Could you not wait with me 1 hour my soul is very distressed.?
My soul has been disturbed or dejected (John 12:27 tarassō) (Mark 14:34, Matthew 26:38 perilupos from lupē)
My whole life has been bred and trained to avoid conflict, pain and suffering. However, my whole life needs to been immersed in it. That’s where growth, joy and life is . . . Going through it with my king and master. Who’d a thunk it!
Skip, your time in the valley is showing. You totally nailed it again for me!
This is the confidence of the ultimate Walking Dead: they do not fear death! Having faced death to self, the external stuff is doable. There is no way the flesh is ever going to understand this. We have to be beyond it to get it. There is joy in taking a hit that belongs to someone else. Love is, above all, a Protector: a body guard for the beloved. This was the joy of Yeshua: this is the only joy He has to share with us, and this is the only way to get it. Slain-in-the-spirit folks: eat your heart out!
When in the valley of tears and despair and you feel you cannot barely think lest walk on the road less traveled. You get a glimpse of Yeshua standing at the right hand of the Father not just sitting .He makes powerful intercession for you and me and he surely does not say ,I will be taking an hour off to sleep!! This is a Stephen moment and I have seen it.This is not just a knowing for the saints of old he is truly alive and well. If I had not been in the valley of uncertainty I would of never seen it.
Meant to add after hour off to sleep like his disciples
The loneliest place I’ve ever been, I’ve known the Lord has taken me there. Waiting for me to speak, or listen, or just rest, knowing is presents. That’s when all is silent, all is well, all is at peace, surrendering loneliness to his presence in silence.
On it agin Skip!. Was Job’s suffering for him, us or his friends? Who benifited most? “Count it all joy”…
While communal fellowship is intrinsic to faith in Christ/Messiah, this is not what Paul refers to here. Koinōnian pathēmatōn autou translates to fellowship of sufferings of Him, or, better fellowship of His (Christ’s) sufferings. This is the second accusative (direct object) of Paul’s initial clause here “that I may know Him”: That I may know Him and…the fellowship of His sufferings. This is a double accusative, which forms half of a chiasmus:
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead
The chiasmus is formed with the bolded sections “the power of His resurrection” > “the resurrection of the dead” / “the fellowship of His sufferings” > “conformed to His death”.
Importantly, this is all part of a larger context, which begins in verse 8, making one long run-on sentence (some translations break it up a bit). To get more complete context for 10-11, verse 9 is necessary (NASB):
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Does this not juxtapose ‘righteousness of the Law’ with ‘righteousness of faith in/of Christ’, the latter in apposition to “which comes from God on the basis of faith”?
Or as He phrased it if you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.
Or is take up your cross and follow me.
So what is His flesh and what is His blood?
That reveals the new covenant which is not being called into but exercising a choice?
Called into is saying come. Eating and drinking is being more involved… Or am I reading into script?
I’ll agree with you on the ‘take up your cross and follow me’, but I’m not sure on the ‘flesh and blood’ part. Clearly, this is not meant strictly literally (cannibalism), or, I believe, even semi-literally (the RCC). It’s metaphorical. I think the answer to its meaning is provided by Yeshua in John 6:63. Now, how one determines the correct interpretation of that…
Interestingly, I have a book on this subject that claims the whole Bread of Life discourse is based on a Greco-Roman literary trope of hero sacrifice (from Homer to contemporaneous Greek romances). The work in some ways seems plausible, but I question the degree to which first century readers/hearers would recognize this. I’ll have to re-read the work to ponder the author’s thesis.