Philippians 3:10

παθημάτων. So א*B. אcD2G2K2L, all cursives, prefix τῶν. This seems preferable, though Tisch Treg omit.

συνμορφιζόμενος. א*and cD2* συνμ-. ABP, 17, Orig. Bas. συμμ-. אcD2cK2L, the mass of cursives, Chrys Theodoret read συμμορφούμενος. Recent editors all prefer συμμορφιζόμενος, as the less usual form, and so less likely to be an emendation. Another reading is found in G, συνφορτειζόμενος, rendered cooneratus in the Latin of the MS.: “bearing with Him the burthen of His death.” But this, though there is other Latin evidence for it, is not to be considered.

10. τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν. “In order to know Him.” This construction is very common in the LXX. In the N.T. it is used especially by St Luke and St Paul; cp. Luke 24:29, εἰσῆλθε τοῦ μεῖναι σὺν αὐτοῖς: 1 Corinthians 10:13, ποιήσει … ἔκβασιν, τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς ὑπενεγκεῖν. It is not peculiar to Hellenistic Greek; it appears in classical prose, particularly after Demosthenes’ time (Winer, Grammar, iii. § xliv.).—Note the sequence of thought: he embraces the Divine “righteousness,” and renounces his own, in order to the end here stated—the true knowledge of Christ, communion with Him, and so assimilation to Him. Accepting Christ as his one ground of peace with God (Romans 5:1), he now gets such a view of himself and his Redeemer as to affect profoundly his whole conscious relations with Him, and the effect of those relations on his being. Thus Philippians 3:10 is no mere echo of Philippians 3:9; it gives another range of truth, which yet is in the deepest connexion with the previous thought. To use a convenient classification, Philippians 3:9 deals with Justification, Philippians 3:10 with Sanctification in relation to it.

Τοῦ γνῶναι. The aorist suggests a crisis of knowledge. From such a crisis a process of growing knowledge is sure to issue; for the Object of the γνῶναι “passeth knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). But it is the crisis which is in immediate view here.

τὴν δύναμιν τῆς�. His Resurrection has manifold “power.” It evidences justification (e.g. Romans 4:24-25, and esp. 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17-18). It assures the Christian of his own future resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Yet more, it is that by which (completed in the Ascension) the Lord became actually the Giver of the Spirit which unites us to our Head. See John 7:39, οὔπω ἦν πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὔπω ἐδοξάσθη: cp. Acts 2:33. This aspect of truth is prominent in the Epistles to Ephesus and Colosasæ, nearly contemporary with this Epistle; we have here a passing hint of what is developed there.

The thought of the Lord’s Resurrection is probably suggested by the implied reference just above to the atoning Death on which it followed. The whole passage indicates that while our acceptance rests always on the propitiatory work of Christ for us, our power for holy service and suffering lies in our union with Him as the Risen One, to whom we are joined by the Spirit.

Cp. Romans 5:10, καταλλαγέντες [διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Χριστοῦ] σωθησόμεθα ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ: and 2 Corinthians 4:10; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews 13:20-21.

κοινωνίαν (τῶν) παθημάτων αὐτοῦ. A share in His experience as the Sufferer. The Lord who has redeemed us has done it, as a fact, at an awful cost of pain, physical and spiritual; so a moral necessity calls His redeemed ones, united as they are to Him, to “carry the cross” after Him, in His Spirit’s strength, and for His sake. And this will prove a deep secret of fuller spiritual sympathy and fellowship with Him. Cp. 2 Corinthians 1:5, καθὼς περισσεύει τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς, οὔτως διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ περισσεύει ἡ παράκλησις ἡμῶν: 2 Corinthians 12:10, εὐδοκῶ ἐν�. ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ· ὅταν γὰρ�.

συνμορφιζόμενος. On the reading, see critical note.—Configuratus, Vulg. But the Latin, with its lack of a present pass. part., misses the point of the Greek—a process of conformation; R.V., “becoming conformed.”

The immediate thought is that of spiritual harmony with the suffering Lord’s state of will. His Death, as the supreme expression of His holy love and surrender, draws the Apostle as with a spiritual magnet to seek assimilation of character to Him who died. The Atoning Work is not forgotten; for the full glory of Christ’s Death as Model is never wholly seen apart from a view of its propitiatory purpose; but that purpose is not the first thought here.—Cp. 2 Corinthians 4:10, πάντοτε τήν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέροντες, ἵνα καὶ ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰ. ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡμῶν φανερωθῇ.