Paul’s Apologetics (5)
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
In order that – We usually don’t read this verse along with the prior one. We stop after all the glorious statements in 3:10. We forget that Paul has a reward in mind. Why? Probably because we have been taught that spiritual achievements are in God’s hands alone. We have been taught that we can’t actually earn anything spiritually. We think that any effort to gain spiritual rewards is “works righteousness,” and that is theologically banned. We’re just puppets, doing the best we can while God pulls the strings. The best we can hope for is being chosen by God to serve His purposes, but in the end, it’s all up to Him. Our deeds are “as filthy rags.”
Thankfully, this is not Paul’s approach. He actually says that he expects to attain eternal life as a result of his efforts to know, experience and conform his life to that of the Messiah. He believes he is working toward that goal, and there is nothing wrong with doing so. Paul is a law and grace man. They fit together. Verse 10 leads to verse 11. One without the other is a mistake.
Paul uses the Greek ei pos. Idiomatically it is “in order that.” But the words themselves are intriguing. Literally, it is “if how.” Think about this literal rendition. Is Paul writing, “If how I may attain”? He is suggesting that there must be a way to reach this goal if he can only find the capacity to do so. “Just give me the steps and I will do them.” But, of course, he has already outlined those steps in the previous verse. Know Yeshua, experience resurrection power, be intimately connected to sufferings and have a similar view of death. Those are the steps needed to attain the ‘olam ha’ba. Doesn’t sound very much like the “Four Spiritual Laws” approach to me, and it is certainly a long way from the sinner’s prayer. Paul’s apologetics is extremely practical. It’s progressive. And it’s contemporary. Each of these steps is something I can do now! And each one depends on me.
Does Paul believe in “works righteousness”? According to this verse, the answer must be “Yes.” That isn’t the way Luther read Paul, but then, Luther was a Roman, not a Hebrew. What do you suppose Paul meant when he wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”?
Topical Index: in order that, ei pos, works righteousness, Philippians 3:11
The hardest work I will ever do is the only work I can ever do, which is to lay down my will for His. How do I do that? 1. Repent for all that prevents me from trusting and yielding my will. 2. Yield BY choosing to obey. Period. No more can I do, but no less must I do. He does the rest but not unless I do my best.
I cannot actually reconnect the fractures, but that does not mean that He can reconnect them unless and until I get out of the way, for I am a part of the problem UNTIL I quit being it. Obedience is the act of allowing Him to do whatever He wants (Christ’s righteousness which is Torah personified) in, through, and by means of me. And then I have to run like heaven to keep up with my Abba!
Dear Laurita,
Here I am in Israel, 7 hours ahead of you, and you are the first to respond to Today’s Word, at 4AM your time. WOW, my dear, do you ever sleep? Thanks for being such a faithful contributor.
Skip
Thank you, Skip, but the gratitude is completely mutual.
My problem is that I am TOO caught up on sleep and so spend a lot of the night thinking and praying. Then when thoughts bloom, too bad! Sleep flees.
The gratitude extends to everybody. I feel like a huge pester sometimes, and y’all are awfully patient! I literally DON’T know so much of the time until I address stuff. It comes as I flesh it through. I get it, if it is there to get, so much of the time, about the time I turn around and give it. I would have never gotten it by myself. That is the gift I have to thank everybody for. I feel really greedy sometimes, and sorry sometimes, too. But mostly grateful! I really love everybody!
Dear Laurita, we enjoy your commentaries more than you could ever know, we were so happy to drop in on you although we worry about you and wish we were there to give you a hug everytime you need love and support. Know that we love you and pray for you, Penny
Dear PennyGeorge,
You know you are really dear to me. George, you wanting to pitch in and help me gave me just the boost I needed most. I spent all the next day charging around feeling just like George was right there on the other end of the board! You two are such great folks. I am better for knowing you.
Love, Laurita
In my humble opinion, I think that by saying “work out your salvation” Paul meant that salvation is already in you, so you need to work on letting it OUT, because “it’s God who works IN you to will and to act in order to fulfill HIS good purpose” Phil 2:13. I also think that Paul believed in “gift of righteousness” vs “works of righteousness” (for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast Eph. 2:9), hence, I see it not so much as “EARN anything spiritual” but as “LEARN anything spiritual” and not as “WORKING towards THE” as much as “WALKING towards TO the”.
It can be very confusing, unless we grasp the context. Ephesians 2:8 carries the idea of verse 7 forward of God’s favor/grace toward us through Messiah. In context, therefore, Eph. 2:8 can be [and IMHO should be] translated, “For by [God’s] favor/grace you are saved through [Messiah’s] fidelity and this is NOT of yourselves; [this] gift of God [is] not by your work[ings], so no one might boast.” Messiah brings us into covenant; we are obligated to fulfill that covenant, just as Messiah did. Messiah didn’t earn his status as son of God, he was born the Son of God. Yet, because of his “work” for us, we inherit his status as sons [and daughters] of God, thereby putting us into covenant relationship with God (Eph. 2:11-12). [Of course, assuming we accept his Lordship.] As covenant members, we have obligations that demonstrate/reflect our covenant loyalty. Will we be found faithful to God? Will we be found in the company of the redeemed? Or will we be like those foolish virgins who waited to fill their lamps with oil, hoping that they could just hang out with those who did and expect to “borrow” some at the last minute?
Ooops, I didn’t think that Paul would actually reply 🙂
Lol Olga.
Paul
I like your translation which makes a lot of sense when read with the rest of the apostles writings.
I would like to know how would Yeshau bring us into covenant? As it is God calling into Christ not Jesus giving redemption other than for those called unto him…
I found that the general statement that sounds like all are automatically saved is what Skip is warning about. We need to find the grace to be saved or else the grace is truly new aged thinking. Just belief and be yourself then all is well.
NB not against your view just need to understand how to bring into perspective…
Seeker,
Thanks for the question. Certainly, general statements are just that, general. There are always specifics that refine the generalities. Namely, that “as many as receive Him, to them he gave the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Jn. 1.12 May I should have said, “God brings us into covenant when we trust in Messiah.” Now, the real question is, what does it mean to believe “in his name.” I’m still learning. But certainly, “believe” is much more than what modern evangelicalism teaches, and “his name” carries with it specific overtones of a Hebraic understanding that my evangelically trained mind has a hard time grasping. Maybe Skip can enlighten us in future teachings?
Thank you Paul.
I understand that being called is not hearing someone teaching and then accepting. That is a cognitive choice… Being called is like the messengers in the OT they fulfilled their calling and most died thereafter…
As for belief I learnt that it is about trusting the message to such an extent that one adapts ones life style to reflect this trust.
From the other Paul: “I am SURE of this very thing—that HE who BEGAN a good work in you WILL CARY IT ON TO COMPLETION until the Day of Messiah Yeshua”. Phill 1:6 TLV. My part of the covenant (or obligation, as you’ve mentioned) is to trust his voice that says:”Don’t be afraid…..only believe”.
Olga, we have been taught that we have to choose one or the other: we can either have works OR grace. Not only do we have to choose, but we have to oppose the other side…Dialectic.
Put them both back together. We cannot love without the love of God working through us, but He cannot work through us unless we choose to obey. Salvation is not dependent on obedience, but no one will be saved who is not obedient. We who have been trained to split the two thoughts have to struggle to put them back together.
Father to son in burning building: “son, do you trust me?” Son: “yes”.
Father: “if you trust me you will take my hand (obedience) so that I can pull you out”.
Obedience is where we exercise the faith essential to salvation. Obedience is what actually gets us out of the burning building. There is no such thing as trust (faith) without the actions of trust (obedience). Not only will no one believe the son who says that they trust their dad but who refuse to obey, but no one – even God – can save someone who does not think that they have to obey.
“Working out your salvation” is about doing the actions of obedience (that salvation has set us free through forgiveness to be able to do) that result in actually getting us out of Sinville. That may be a walk in the park for some people, but my flesh puts up a serious fight! Trust-and-obey is not easy for me. There is no such thing as simple belief (trust) for me. May be for some people, but trust is the hard part – not the easy part – of obedience for me. Obedience is a piece of cake for somebody who has the trust thing down.
Looking around me on the planet, I don’t see a whole lot of folks who are breezing their way through obedience. I have conjectured that they might be having a difficult time with the faith (trust) thing, too! Faith is a gift of God, yes, but looking at how few are getting the obedience thing down (which is the easy part if you got the trust thing down), there must be a whole lot of folks who still don’t have the faith to obey, even if they think they do. James said he showed his faith BY his obedience. I am not there yet! Still stuck in the trust part..
Amen, Laurita. It’s a journey…XXXX