Philippians 3:9

be found in him at any moment of scrutiny or test; alike in life, in death, and before the judgment-seat. The truth of the believer's deep incorporation in his Lord and Head, and identification with Him for acceptance and life, is here full in view. In the surrender of faith (Ephesians 2:8-10; cp. John 3:36) he becomes, in the deep laws of spiritual life, a true "limb" of the sacred Head; interested in His merits, penetrated with His exalted Life. In the Epistles to Colossæ and Ephesus, written from the same chamber as this, we have the large development of this truth; and cp. Joh 15:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12.

Lightfoot remarks (on Galatians 2:17, and here) that the verb "to find" is very frequent in Aramaized Greek, and has somewhat lost its distinctive meaning. Still, it is seldom if ever used in the N.T. where that meaning has not some place.

mine own righteousness Rather more precisely, with R.V., a righteousness of mine own. The word "righteousness" is highly characteristic, and of special meaning, in St Paul. In very numerous passages (examine Romans 3:5-26; Romans 4:3; Romans 4:5-6; Romans 4:9; Romans 4:11; Romans 4:13; Romans 6:16; Rom 10:3; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 3:9; and cp. Titus 3:5) its leading idea evidently is that of acceptance, satisfactoriness, however secured, to law; whether to special or to general law as the case may be. (See Grimm's Greek-Eng. Lexicon of the N.T., Thayer's edition, on the word δικαιοσύνη, for a good statement of the matter from the purely critical point of view.) "A righteousness of mine own" is thus a title to acceptance, a claim on Divine justice, due to my own doings and merits, supposed to satisfy a legal standard.

which is of the law Literally, again "of law." But R.V. retains the definite article, as practically right in translation, as it was in Philippians 3:6. How shall we define the word "Law" here? Is it the Mosaic law from the Pharisee's point of view, as in Philippians 3:6? Or is it the far larger fact of the Divine preceptive moral code, taken as a covenant of life, in which the terms are, "Do this, truly and perfectly, and live; do this, and claim acceptance as of right"? We take the answer to be that it means here this latter as an extension of the former; that the thought rises, or developes itself, in this passage, from the idea of special ordinance to the idea of universal covenanting precept. And our reasons lie, partly in this context, partly in the great parallel passages in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians. In the present context the ideas immediately contrasted or opposed to that of "the law" are ideas not of "work," in any meaning of that word, but of "faith." And for exposition of this we turn to the argument of Romans 1-5, and of Galatians 2:3, and of Ephesians 2:1-10, and (a passage closely parallel to this; see notes in this Series) 13 17; and of Colossians 2:8-14. In this whole range of teaching it is apparent that the idea of Law, as a whole, cannot possibly be satisfied by explaining it to mean merely a Divine code of observances, though that is one of its lower and subsidiary meanings. It means the whole system of Divine precept, moral as well as ceremonial, eternal as well as temporal, taken as a covenant to be fulfilled in order to acceptanceof the person before God. The implicit or explicit contraryis that such acceptance is procured for us by the merits of the Redeeming Lord, appropriated to the sinner by the single profound means of faith, that is to say, acceptance of Him as Sacrifice, Saviour, Lord, on the warrant of God's word. Such faith, in the spiritual order of things, unites to Christ, and in that union the "member" receives the merit of the "Head" for his acceptance, and the life and power of the Head for obedience. That obedience (see esp. Ephesians 2:8-10) is now rendered not in fulfilment of a covenant for acceptance, but in the life, and for the love, given to the believer under the covenant in which he is accepted, from first to last, for the sake of his meritorious Lord and Head. Cp. further, Hebrews 10, esp. 15 18; with Jeremiah 31:33-34.

Such is the general Pauline doctrine of acceptance, a doctrine such as to give its opponents or perverters, from the very first, a superficial excuse to make it out to be antinomian(Romans 3:8; Romans 6:1); a fact of the utmost weight in the estimate of its true bearing.

Such a general doctrine assists us in interpreting this great incidental passage. And we infer here accordingly that the primary idea is that of acceptance for Christ's sake, as against acceptance on the score of any sort of personal merit. The spiritual development of the regenerate being comes in nobly here, as in the other and larger passages referred to; but it comes in upon the basis, and as the sequel, of a gratuitous acceptance for Christ's sake alone. See notes on Philippians 3:10.

that which is through the faith of Christ So lit., but better, in regard of English idiom, that which is through faith in Christ. For the Greek construction (" faith of," meaning "faith in") cp. e.g. Mark 11:22; Acts 3:16; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Here again, as with the words "law" and "righteousness," St Paul's writings are a full commentary. See especially Romans 3:22-28, a passage most important as a parallel here. It brings out the fact that "faith," in the case in question, has special regard to Christ as the shedder of His sacred blood in propitiation, and that the blessing immediately received by faith thus acting is the acceptance, the justification, of the sinner before the holy Lawgiver and Judge, solely for the Propitiator's sake. See further Romans 4:5; Romans 8:33-34; Romans 9:33; Romans 10:4; Romans 10:9-10; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:1-14; Galatians 3:21-24; Ephesians 2:8-9.

Much discussion has been raised over the true meaning of "faith" in Scripture doctrine. It may suffice to point out that at least the leading and characteristic idea of the word is personal trust, not of course without grounds, but on grounds other than "sight." It is certainly not mere assent to testimony, a mental act perfectly separable from the act of personal reliance. Setting aside James 2:14-26, where the argument takes up and uses designedly an inadequate idea of faith (see Commentary on the Romans in this Series, p. 261), the word "faith" consistently conveys in Scripture the thought of personal reliance, trustful acceptance of Divine truth, of Divine work, of the Divine Worker and Lord [23]. And if we venture to ask whysuch reliance takes this unique place in the process of salvation, we may reply with reverence that, so far as we can see into the mysterious fact, it is because the essence of such reliance is a going forth from self to God, a bringing of nothing in order to receive everything. There is thus a moral fitnessin faith to be the saving contact and recipient, while yet all ideas of moral worthiness and deservingnessare decisively banished from it. It is fitto receive the Divine gift, just as a hand, not clean perhaps but empty, is fit to receive a material gift. Certainly in the reasonings of St Paul every effort is made to bring out the thought that salvation by faith means in effect salvation by Christ only and wholly, received by sinful man, as sinful man, simply and directly in and by personal reliance on God's word. The sinner is led off, in a happy oblivion of himself, to simple and entire rest in his Saviour.

[23] Fides est fiducia(Luther). See this admirably developed and illustrated by J. C. Hare, Victory of Faith, pp. 15 22 (ed. 1847).

the righteousness which is of God On the word "righteousness" see above, note 2 on this verse. Here, practically, it means acceptance, welcome, as a child and saint, in Christ and for Christ's sake.

"Of God":lit., "out of God," originating wholly in Him, uncaused by anything in man. Its origin is the Father's love, its reason and security, the Son's merits, its conveyance, the Holy Spirit uniting the sinner in faith to the Son.

For some good remarks, of caution as well as assertion, on justifying righteousness, see G. S. Faber's Primitive Doctrine of Justification, ch. i, pp. 25 32, with footnotes (ed. 1839).

by faith Lit., upon faith; in view of, under circumstances of, faith. We may render, "on condition of faith." But faith, in the Pauline view, is not a merecondition; it is the recipient act and state. It is a condition, not as paying for a meal is a condition to getting good from it, but as eating it is a condition.

On the doctrine of this verse cp. the Sermon of Salvation(being the third in the First Book of Homilies), referred to in Art. xi. as "the Homily of Justification"; and the short treatise of Bp Hopkins, of Londonderry (cent. 17), The Doctrine of the Two Covenants. See further Appendix F; and cp. at large O'Brien, Nature and Effects of Faith, and Hooker's Discourse of Justification, esp. §§ 3 6, 31 34.