Philippians 3:8

‘Yes truly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,'

Yes, truly, he had counted, and now did count, all his past achievements and struggles as loss, all that he had held dear as dross, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his LORD. And for His sake he had experienced the loss of all things, counting them as rubbish fit only for the garbage bin, in order that he might gain Christ, because he had recognised that in Christ alone all that was good could be found. Once he had Christ he needed nothing more.

‘The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD.' The ‘knowledge' spoken of here is not academic knowledge (oida) but personal knowledge by experience (gnosis). He had not just learned about Christ, he had come to know Him personally in his own experience and to build on that knowledge by further experience (compare Jeremiah 31:34; Hosea 6:6) And it was something so wonderful that he could only speak of ‘excellency'. God had said, ‘let light shine out of darkness' and He had seen the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). And it was the knowledge of Him as perfect sacrifice, personal Saviour and sovereign Lord. It was true saving knowledge.