This relation to Himself God has founded for us sinful men in Christ, and specially in His atonement. That project failed when the great discovery on the road to Damascus showed him to himself as all astray; in particular, when the law itself, coming home to him in the fulness of its meaning, both revealed to him the beggarliness of his own performance, and, at the same time, stung into appalling activity ungodly elements within him. of N.T., pp. It is that which makes the believer one with Christ. To this objection we demur. Этим требованием является праведность Христа, которую Бог вменяет каждому верующему (см. His own righteousness was out of the law, or originated by the law, and it was through his own effort that he obtained it, for the pronoun ἐμή has in itself the notion of διά. And such faith is already, even in its earliest life, breaking forth into repentance and love and obedience. That, however, might appear arbitrary. We would not say, with Meyer, that the previous clause, “that I may win Christ,” is subjective, and that this clause corresponds objectively to it. In Christ comes into view not goodness only, but goodness allying itself for us with Wisdom and Power and Right. He saw the Son of God in His life, death, and resurrection. “In this case,” as Wiesinger asks, “would not ἔχων have been repeated?” Meyer objects that the connection of this righteousness with faith has been already described by διὰ πίστεως χ., and that it would be mere repetition to join ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει to δικαιοσύνην. “Which is from God”: A right standing with God cannot be earned, merited, or deserved. Union with Christ makes it possible for the Christian to be , to show himself such in actual behaviour. In Christian religion we begin as those who have no righteousness, who plead no merit, who owe and are to owe all to Divine mercy. Philippians 3:13. which he was intent upon, constantly attended to, and earnestly pursued; it was the main and principal thing he was set upon, and which he employed himself in; and which engrossed all his thoughts, desires, affections, time, and labour; see ( Psalms 27:4 ) ( Luke 10:42 ) . The syntax connects it most closely with εὑρεθῶ. “Not having a righteousness of mine own”: “Not having a supposed right standing which depends on my doing what the law commands” (Wms). Hawthorne makes the following comment: “Faith, therefore is not intellectual assent but the act of personal trust in and self-surrender to Christ. Paul put confidence in … Verse 6. An instructive parallel is Galatians 2:20, (see an important note in Green, Gram. But when faith reaches to the things not seen, it learns another lesson. That self-righteousness in which Saul of Tarsus had been so confident he had found utterly vain; and renouncing all hope therefrom, he. "O God, thou art my God." [Note: Kent, p141.]. . As a traveler overtaken by a violent thunderstorm gladly flies to a house by the wayside wherein he may find shelter from the lightning-stroke and the sweeping rain; or as a ship threatened with a hurricane bends every sail to reach the harbor of refuge in time, so does the soul terrified by the thunders and lightnings of God"s righteous law, seek for shelter in the wounded side of Jesus, and hide itself beneath his justifying obedience. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law; in Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law. In the first case, when he uses διά, he has a special contrast in view, which he sharply brings out. Such is its peculiar nature, that its effect is made to depend upon faith; therefore by faith is it realized and appropriated. The apostle characterizes it as his own - ἐμήν-as wrought out and secured by himself. But bear this in mind, that a righteousness to be available before God must be a perfect righteousness. For, first, the use of various prepositions to express the different relations of an object, is precisely one of the apostle's peculiarities of style. And to faith upheld by Him on whom we trust all this is more and more made good, and comes true. It is not possible to take the one and leave the rest; for Christ is not divided. NKJV Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. We could say that we reach heaven not by walking up a set of stairs but by riding an elevator. Is it unpractical to apprehend God in the attitude towards us which is due to such a relation, and to take, ourselves, the attitude of gratitude and penitence and trust which on our side corresponds to it? This history may have sad passages in it; but in going forward in it in faith we are assured that on God’s part it is a history of most painstaking and most sublime benefaction: all of it ordered so as to be of a piece with His sending of His Son; all of it instinct with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alford renders “on my faith,” but the phrase seems to be a portion of a general definition. Paul faces each arduous step in his new enterprise, strong in the conviction that his standing before God is rooted, not in his doings nor in his feelings, but in his Saviour in whom he holds the righteousness of faith. Participation in blessing depends upon it, as the living and identifying bond which secures communion in all He is and has. For, in this way, the meaning will be more complete, and the doctrine the more ample — that Paul renounced everything that he had, that he might recover them in Christ; and this corresponds better with the word gain, for it means that it was no trivial or ordinary gain, inasmuch as Christ contains everything in himself. the righteousness which is of God by faith. He thus, in a general way, places man’s merit in opposition to Christ’s grace; for while the law brings works, faith presents man before God as naked, that he may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. It is likely he means that he will lay hold of it when he goes to be with Jesus, whether through death, or the return of Christ. Hence also this Christian benefit, though it is distinguishable, is not separated radically from the other benefits. How can it be judged unpractical, if God reveals to men, first, that in the room of those confused and melancholy relations to God which arise for us out of our own past history, He has constituted for us a relation, apprehensible by faith, in which we find ourselves pardoned, accepted, commended to God to be made partakers of life eternal; and, secondly, that this is grounded in the service and sacrifice of His Son, sent forth to save us; so that we enter this relation and hold it, not independently, but in fellowship with the Son of God, His sonship becoming the model of ours? Is it unpractical to be conscious of such a relation between God and men, for ever embodied and made accessible in His Son our Saviour? Haussleiter, Greifswald. Christian religion roots itself in the confession of sin, and therefore of ill-desert; it signalises itself by a deepening sense of the seriousness of the situation in this respect. Studien, pp. We abide with God in the forgiveness of sins. For in Christ he has been provided with a righteousness that surpassed any righteousness that he himself had built up, a righteousness that was total and complete, the very righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 3:24-28). And therefore, looking to that dreadful time, and the solemnities of that day of judgment, that day of wonders, this was the desire of his soul—and towards that he pressed forward, as an active runner presses towards the goal—"that he might be found in him;" that when the Lord comes a second time to judgment, and his eyes run over the assembled myriads, he might be found in the Man who is "a refuge from the storm, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," the only Savior from the wrath to come, which will one day burst upon the world. Philippians 3:9 Christ’s relation to the Father becomes his. Its germ is imparted in believing, although the fruit of a life perfectly conformed to the Redeemer can here be only gradually developed. "I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord." 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. He says, that believers have no righteousness of their own. But there is an order in His gifts; and, for Paul, this gift is primary. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no … Our prayer rises not merely out of the sense of weakness, but out of the consciousness of demerit. That is to say, the new relation is not represented as a relation created for us by a mere Divine fiat that it shall be so. His purpose was-, ‘And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ (or ‘the faithfulness of Christ’), the righteousness which is from God by faith,’. A very strong foundation has been laid for those who flee for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them in the gospel. The one he speaks of as belonging to the man, while he calls it at the same time the righteousness of the law; the other, he tells us, is from God, is obtained through faith, and rests upon faith in Christ. Thenceforth he "was determined to know nothing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified," and Jesus became to him his "all in all." It begins with a consciousness and confession of weakness: the soul owns its incompetency to deal with the great interests that reveal themselves in the light of Christ; it is without strength for tasks like these. It is for him fundamental. (See notes on Romans 3:21-25.). Mere love and pity were the inspiration of His coming: obedience and sacrifice were the form of it. We meet God in the forgiveness of sins. Cf.Galatians 2:17, ’ .— . NLT No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. KJV Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Philippians 3:17-19 Commentary. , receiving his justification as a flee gift of divine grace. Sometimes it denotes rectitude or justice, as distinguished from benevolence. But if forgiveness, which is itself a meeting with God in peace, refers itself to the mediation of Christ as preparing for us a blessed relation to God-a righteousness of faith-how should our whole fellowship with God, in grace, fail to presuppose the same foundation? Philippians 3:9-11 Commentary. 5). Paul is writing about his goal of attaining the resurrection from the dead and having a righteousness that is in Christ alone. [Romans 4:24]. In either case the Apostle sees arising from one a relation which pertains to many, and which brings forth its results to them: on the one hand, sin and death; on the other, righteousness and life. The righteousness which is of God, by faith. 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, To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, But that which is through the faith of Christ -, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, Не со своею праведностью, I. It is analogous to the relation conceived to arise when a perfectly righteous man is approved and set apart to weal; and like that it stands in contrast with the relation due to sin as it incurs wrath. The idea is involved of a revelation of real character. This hypothetical ., which he calls his own, could only spring from complete conformity to the will of God as revealed in precepts and commands. Sermon Bible Commentary. but that which is through faith in Christ, Here is a different kind of righteousness. Bible Study Tools ... Philippians. PHIL. I. His words are that he will have “taken hold of it” when he finally arrives. Romans 5:1. That self-righteousness in which Saul of Tarsus had been so confident he had found utterly vain; and renouncing all hope therefrom, he turned to Christ, receiving his justification as a flee gift of divine grace. If you ask what is the instrument of this righteousness, it is by faith- διὰ πίστεως -as opposed to personal effort or merit- ἐμή. In the last section, Paul called us to “rejoice in the Lord”. But forgiveness, "in Christian religion, is forgiveness with the Forgiver in it. Those who wish to be found in Christ. Theol., p. 64) points out, a proof of his close connexion with the Jewish consciousness. Rather, the putting of it away brings with it the strangest, lowliest access to God. In the first place, that the righteousness of the law must be given up and renounced, that you may be righteous through faith; and secondly, that the righteousness of faith comes forth from God, and does not belong to the individual. God had a plan for him. “Even that which is of the law”: Paul had spent the first part of his life depending upon the flawless observance of the Law of Moses to make him right with God. пояснение к Рим. He is "accepted in the Beloved.’" He is "constituted righteous," [Romans 5:19] and his intercourse with his Heavenly Father regulates itself accordingly, he being justified "from-or upon-his faith." With this it comes face to face before God. It is part of what is divinely held out to us, as life or well-being in Christ. Of the possessor of such righteousness it may be said- δικαιοῦται παρὰ τῷ θεῷ. Pfieid., Paulin., i., p. 175; Hltzm[48]., N.T. But if God in Christ is reaching us along those lines, or if we, alive to His eternal character, and conscious of our guilt and need, are reaching out to real relations and real fellowship with Him through His Son our Lord, then it cannot be unpractical. He knew a day was hastening on when the secrets of all hearts would be revealed. If Paul had succeeded in the enterprise of his earlier days, when he sought righteousness by the law, he would, as he hoped, have found acceptance in the end; and various blessings would have followed. 177–178). If, through Christ, such things as these arise for us, if, through Him, influences reach us that tend to such results, then those are the practical specimens which interpret to us a Saviour’s kindness.