Add parallel Print Page Options

But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [[a]one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.

Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),

And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [[b]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11 That if possible I may attain to the [[c]spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

12 Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Philippians 3:7 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies: His “gains” are plural, but they are all counted as one combined “loss” (singular).
  2. Philippians 3:10 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
  3. Philippians 3:11 Charles B. Williams, The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People: A spiritual, moral resurrection—not the final, physical one, which will be the climax.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss(A) for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing(B) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ(C) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,(D) but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness(E) that comes from God on the basis of faith.(F) 10 I want to know(G) Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,(H) becoming like him in his death,(I) 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection(J) from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,(K) but I press on to take hold(L) of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.(M) 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind(N) and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on(O) toward the goal to win the prize(P) for which God has called(Q) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of