MAY THE LORD. Joy from the Lord = joy in the Lord. "Be jubilant in your knowledge of the Good News of God's finished work in Christ!!!" TO REPEAT. Paul had written many letters to oppose the false teaching of the _circumcision party._ Since these false teachers adapted their _sales talk_ to the prej... [ Continue Reading ]
WATCH OUT. Compare 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. Paul calls them: "those who do evil things," and "dogs." In ancient times, dogs were not "man's best friend," but vicious scavengers who snarled and snapped!!! WHO INSIST ON CUTTING. Compare Galatians 5:12 and note.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE, NOT THEY. Compare Romans 2:29; Romans 4:12 and notes. BY HIS SPIRIT. Both the TEV and NIV follow the corrected Greek Text. The fact that a person is a Jew by nationality and has been circumcised, does not give him the right to worship God. Because Christians have the Spirit (Romans 8:15), th... [ Continue Reading ]
I COULD, OF COURSE. "If salvation came by these things, I could trust in them just as much as anyone, as I will now show you.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS CIRCUMCISED. Week old = on the eighth day. "I am no Gentile converted to Judaism! My circumcision when a week old proves it! Neither were my parents and ancestors Gentiles converted to Judaism, as I show you by telling you I am of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew!" I WAS A PHARISEE... [ Continue Reading ]
SO ZEALOUS. Because he had seen Christianity as a heresy, his zeal had driven him to try to destroy this new thing! Certainly he never forgot what he had done in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13-16)! SO FAR AS. Paul says all this to show that by Jewish standards, he was as good a Jew as any who ever lived... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL THOSE THINGS. "I could be very proud of my ancestors and my Jewish background. But now they are just things to be thrown away, because they have no value in Christ!" _Johnson_ says: "Instead of saving him, a trust in them would have been eternal ruin.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT ONLY. "Not only my Jewish heritage, but everything which men are so proud of, and by which they try to save themselves - all of this I gladly throw away for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord!!!... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BE. Compare Romans 8:1-4 and notes. NO LONGER. Compare Romans 10:3 and note. THAT IS GIVEN THROUGH FAITH. Compare Romans 4:3 and note. We reach out through faith to seize Christ and make ourselves part of Him!!! Compare what Paul says in Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; 2 Corinthians 5:17 and notes.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL I WANT. _Robert Rainy_ says: "The Christ of Paul is the Lord who met him by the way (Acts 9:5). It is Christ dead, risen, and ascended; it is Christ with the reason and the result of His finished work made plain, and with the relation unveiled which He sustains to men who live by Him; it is Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE HOPE. Union with Christ opens up Eternity!!! Some think Paul says _in the hope,_ because the false teachers were saying the Resurrection was already past (compare 2 Timothy 2:17-18 and notes). They claimed to already be perfect and to have the blessings of Eternity! This heresy has _popped up... [ Continue Reading ]
I DO NOT CLAIM. Evidently the false teachers claimed they were righteous because they obeyed The Law, and that they had already been raised from death. Paul makes no such claim!!! The prize still is in the future for him (compare Hebrews 11:40). PERFECT. This word means the perfection that comes wit... [ Continue Reading ]
OF COURSE, BROTHERS. "I was a better Jew than these false teachers, but I do not think I am as good a Christian as they _claim_ to be. That is, I do not claim to have already won the prize." THE ONE THING I DO. "I forget everything in the past and all the progress I have already made! I do my best t... [ Continue Reading ]
SO I RUN STRAIGHT TOWARD. The goal marks the end of the race. Paul must complete his race and reach the goal in order to be given the prize. The prize is God's call to life above, that is, to Eternity. Compare the language in Revelation 11:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY MATURE. This is a play on words: he is not _perfect,_ he is _mature._ Those who are _mature_ should have this attitude: forget the past; run straight toward the goal. IF, HOWEVER. It may be that the false teachers who claimed to be _perfect,_ also claimed God spoke directly to th... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWEVER. "You have already run part of the race! Even though some of you have a different attitude than I have, let us run straight toward the goal using the same rules we have followed until now!... [ Continue Reading ]
IMITATING ME. _Robert Rainy_ says: "Do not mistake the whole nature of Christianity; do not altogether miss the path in which God's children go. It is one Spirit that dwells in the Church; let not your walk forsake the fellowship of that Spirit. Christians are not bound to any human authority: Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE TOLD YOU. Again and again Paul has warned about those who would refuse to follow the fellowship of the Spirit. Compare Acts 20:29-31. WHOSE LIVES MAKE THEM ENEMIES. They are enemies of Christ's death because: of their sinful lives (Philippians 3:19); their teaching about The Law (Philippians... [ Continue Reading ]
TO END UP IN HELL. APOLEIA. See note on Acts 8:20_. Robert Rainy_ says: "Probably, as was said, the Apostle is speaking of a class of men whose faults were gross, so that at least an Apostolic eye could not hesitate to read the verdict that must be passed upon them. But then we must consider that hi... [ Continue Reading ]
WE, HOWEVER. In contrast to those who think only of worldly things, Paul and all who imitate his example are CITIZENS OF HEAVEN! Christians are foreigners and refugees, living in this world only until they can go on to their heavenly home!!! For this reason, the world is no longer important to them... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL CHANGE. Our bodies are not vile, but weak and mortal. All that will change when Christ comes!!! _Robert Rainy_ says: "How decisive the change is which Christ completes at His coming - how distinctive, therefore, and unworldly, that citizenship which takes its type from heaven where He is, an... [ Continue Reading ]