Find the Bible hard to understand? Me too!

The Bible is hard to understand. A passage like Philippians 3 is hard to grasp it’s meaning. We can read it and get a general feel and impression, maybe take a verse or a phrase but how can we completely understand it?

I have a suggestion. Break the phrases down one-by-one looking for the connecting terms. Paul writes very densely packed sentences of profound truth so we need to carefully unpack them. Let’s look at an example in Philippians 3:8-11:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 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.

Let’s now break it down using the linking terms: such as ‘because of’, ‘in order that’, ‘that’ to see what he is driving at.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…

He has given up all his other ambitions and goals because he has found a far greater treasure: knowing Christ

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

This is saying the same thing but more directly showing that he was faced with an either-or decision. After his Damascus road experience of meeting the risen Christ he had to decided: Did he give up his whole life’s work; his achievements, status and power in order to gain a relationship with Christ. Christ would not accept him on any other terms. He chose Christ.

 Now Paul breaks down why he did that:

 …that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…

When he gave up everything and laid hold of Christ he didn’t lose anything – he found himself – he could now become his true self in Christ. Christ had intervened in his life to stop him destroying himself and to bring out the true Paul that Christ made him to be. It was a new beginning. And Christ gave him righteousness, a right standing before God. Something he had been trying so hard to achieve on his own merits and Christ gave it to him as a free gift. From this position of acceptance with God Paul could then go on and become his true self. In the same way a child can explore and develop properly when they grow up in a secure and loving home.

 Now let’s see what Paul means by being found:

 …the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

How would Christ bring out the true and authentic Paul? Answer: through relationship. Christ had taken control of Paul’s life in order to lead him into a deeper and deeper relationship with Christ himself. And for Paul to grow ever closer to Christ he had to allow Christ to lead him. As Paul gave his life over to Christ Paul’s life would turn out a lot like Christ’s. Given over to the service of God and the gospel. And that would mean a greater and greater partnership and fellowship between them. Just as you grow closer to anyone through shared goals, values and experiences. As Paul allowed Christ to lead him, Christ would also strengthen him, and they would grow closer and Paul would become more like him – and that was Paul’s true ambition – to be like Christ.

 That’s why this amazing sentence proceeds one more step:

 …becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This is what Paul is ultimately aiming at. Attaining to the resurrection of the dead. Living the life to come now. He knew he would become like Christ when he would be raised from the dead but he was determined to make as much progress towards that end now. He was using everything as a means to becoming his future self. This was his true goal in life. To become as perfect as possible, in Christ-like character, knowing that the job would never be complete until Christ returned to raise him from the dead.

That makes sense of why he goes on to talk about the fact he was not yet perfect in the verses immediately following: Phil 3:12-14.

In this large, complex sentence Paul is saying that he gave up his life, to become his true self in Christ. And that means becoming as like Christ in character as is possible this side of eternity. His entire focus was on growing closer to Christ in life now in order to become more like Christ forever. Paul understood that Christ-like character is eternal and so was willing to let Christ lead him into any experience that would bring them closer, in partnership in the gospel, and ultimately in character itself: in thinking, priorities, values.

That was a packed sentence, but makes a lot of sense when we break it down. Try this next time you are studying an epistle of Paul - just copy and paste the text into an editor and start breaking it into parts. Look out for the conjunctives and the joining phrases.