Father de Piconio's Commentary on Philippians 3:7-12

Bernardine de Picquigny (1633-1709) was a Capuchin Monk, theologian and exegete.

3:7  But the things which were gain to me, these I judged to be loss on account of Christ.
3:8  And indeed I consider all things loss on account of the eminent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whose sake I have made all things loss, and consider them as refuse, that I may gain Christ,

The things that were gain to me, all these privileges of Jewish religion and nationality, on which I once set so high a value, appeared to me, not only worthless, contemptible, and insignificant, as soon as I knew Jesus Christ, but actually loss and injury, as keeping me away from him, and from the faith which was to unite me with him.  And not these things only, but all things which this world contains or offers, its wealth, distinction, even life itself, appeared to me worse than worthless, positive evils which it were desirable to be rid of, compared with the eminent knowledge, in the Greek excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.  And to attain this knowledge I have, in actual fact, made all things loss, or lost all things, thrown away all advantages, prospects, privileges in present enjoyment, dreams of ambition for the future-and the worldly prospects of St Paul were of a singularly brilliant kind, as will be evident to any reader of the Acts of the Apostles, and his change of faith so disappointed and embittere his fellow-countrymen that they sought his life, with the utmost resolution and pertinacity, for years together-and counted them as merely refuse.  The Greek word σκύβαλον is said to be derived from εἰς κύων βάλλω, food which is only good to be thrown to dogs.   The Vulgate has stercora, dung or filth, which is worse than refuse, for it defiles and pollutes, occasions sickening and disgust.  But the Greek writers, Photius and Theodoret, understand by this word straw, and think the Apostle is referring to the Judaic law, which became useless and was thrown aside, when Christ, the grain which it produced, was threshed out of it.  Photius says: The stalk and the blade are necessary, until the wheat is formed in it, and taken from it, and as long as Christ, the real grain of wheat, was not yet born, and still lay concealed in the husk, the law had its use.  But when, through his passion and resurrection, the grain was gathered, and by his ascension on high, laid up in his heavenly Father’s granary, the stalk was henceforth useless, except to be trodden into straw.  St Chrysostom admits this interpretation as possible, but thinks it more probable that the Apostle is speaking, not of the law, but of earthly riches, power, influence, and similar advantages, which, compared to the knowledge of Christ, are vain, unsatisfying, valueless, and useless, and not goods in any real sense whatever.  That I may gain Christ. To gain Christ is to gain his grace, his justice, the participation of his merits in this life, the enjoyment of his presence in eternity.  To gain this also, in measure, in this life, by communion with him and confidence in his care and love.

3:8  And indeed I consider all things loss on account of the eminent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whose sake I have made all things loss, and consider them as refuse, that I may gain Christ,
3:9  and be found in him, not having my justice which is of the law, but that which is of faith of Christ Jesus; which is from God, justice in faith.

And be found in him, exist or find myself in him, belonging to him as a member of the body of which he is the head.  Or else, be found in him at the judgment of the last day.  Not having my justice, or more literally, justice of my own, that which proceeds from knowledge and observance of the law, without the spirit of faith and grace; but having the justice which comes through faith of Christ.  The name Jesus in here omitted in the Greek, but inserted in the Vulgate.  The justice which begins with justification or remission of sins, and proceeds to the sanctification of soul and body through the grace of the Holy Spirit.  This is the only justice which can avail salvation, because it is the justice which comes from God, and proceeds from the grace of God, in faith, or as the Greek text has it, upon faith, built upon the foundation of faith in Christ.  The justice of the law, the justice of the Pharisees, was human and external only, founded exclusively in works and obedience within the compass of the natural powers of man and subject to human observation.  This can justify only politically,, and in the sight of man, not in the sight of God.  Such exterior justice as this, St Paul calls Justice of my own, because it proceeds from merely human choice, power, or resolution.  It is not Christian justice, for the law is observed neither in the spirit of Christ, or by faith in Christ.

3:10  To know him, and the virtue of his resurrection, and the association with his sufferings; being made like his death:

To know him, and the virtue of his resurrection. These words are joined by St Chrysostom and Theodoret to those which immediately precede.  The justice of God proceeds from the faith by which Christ is known, and the power of his resurrection understood, and a share in his sufferings communicated to the believer.  But they are more conveniently understood as the continuation of what was said in verse 8.  I count all earthly things as valueless and worse, for the knowledge of Christ, to be found in him, and to know him.  To know who he is, how great he is, what he is like.  That he is God and man, the only Savior of  the world.  This  speculatively.  Practically, to know him, as the soul of one man knows the soul of another, as a child knows its parents, as friend knows friend, by personal acquaintance and interchange of thought and sentiment.  This knowledge does not, however, necessarily lead to salvation, for there must be a corresponding disposition or goodwill in the receiver.  Judas knew Christ intimately, and did not love him.  Evil spirits said, We know who thou art, the Holy of God.  Another said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, (Acts 19:15).  To St Paul, this knowledge appeared the only object which made existence worth having.  But he was not satisfied with such knowledge of Christ as the Apostles possessed during his mortal life.  He had seen him, for a moment, in the glory of the life of the resurrection, and the desire of his heart was to penetrate the mystery of that immortal life in which Christ lives for ever, and learn the secret of its undying strength, undecaying energy, unceasing vigor, indescribable beauty, gladness, and splendor.  To know him, and the power of his resurrection. But in the nature of that life itself, there was something that showed that it was only attained through suffering, and suffering of which only the perfect nature of Christ was capable.  This suffering, therefore, the Apostle earnestly desired to share, so far as imperfect mortality could share it.  Being made like his death.  Conformed or configured to his death; my own life a representation of acting over again the suffering and death of Christ.  The suffering and death of Christ turned into, or developed into, the joy of the resurrection, as night turns to morning, and all sorrow, generously borne, will turn to joy.  All suffering which was like the suffering of Christ, the Apostle was willing, and much more than willing, to encounter, if by such means, and that he was to be in the nature of things, and by God’s economy the only means, he could attain to that glorious state and condition in which Christ had appeared to him. 

3:11  If in any way I may arrive at the resurrection which is from the dead.

If by any means I can arrive at the resurrection from the dead.  And the glory of that vision, and the attractions of that thought, so filled his imagination and overwhelmed his heart, that compared with it all the riches of the world, all the renown and fame of its greatest men, the splendor of all the kingdoms of the earth, appeared of no more value in his sight than the glimmer of the rushlight in the blaze of the noon-day sun.

The expression if in any way appears to indicate some uncertainty and some difficulty.  In 1 Cor 9:27 St Paul expresses the fear that after having preached to others, he may himself be reprobate.  Yet St Paul, on the testimony of Christ himself, was a vessel of election (Acts 9:15).  The inference is, in opposition to the doctrine of Calvin, that God’s election does not make the final attainment of the glory of the resurrection a matter of absolute certainty.  The Greek word here used for resurrection is ἐξανάστασις, a resurrection complete and final, glorious and heavenly, to be followed by no decay or death.  To this great end we are conducted through two means, faith in Christ, and conformity with his sufferings.  The first renders us fervent in affection, and raises us already, in desire and hope.  The second will endow us with the merits of Christ, and renders us worthy of our glorious destiny.  These are the two wings on which we are to rise from  earth to heaven.

3:12  Not that already I have received, or am already made perfect: but I follow if by any means I may lay hold of that in which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Not that I have already received the prize at which I aim, or reached the goal to which my course is directed.  But Christ, when he appeared to me on the road to Damascus, took me as it were by the hand and placed me on the course, with that prize full in view, and all my efforts and exertions ever since are directed to attain and lay hold of it.  He caught me in his net, says Theodoret, I was a fugitive, and he seized me.  Now I follow him, striving to lay hold on him, lest I fall away from his salvation.

Neither am I already perfect.  This verse probably refers to another error of the heretics which the Apostle more distinctly formulates in 2 Tim 2:18.  Hymenæus and Philetus asserted that the resurrection is past already, and no further change is to be looked for, the saints of God being already made perfect.  Some of the Christians of Philippi may have been puzzled by this opinion, especially if it was advanced cautiously and tentatively, and with less confidence than was displayed by Hymenæus and Philetus seven years later, and the Apostle here expressly contradicts it.

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