THE INDESTRUCTIBLE JOY (Php_3:1)
_ 3:1 As for what remains, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no
trouble to me to write the same things to you, and for you it is
safe._
Paul sets down two very important things.
(i) He sets down what we might call the indestructibility of Christian
joy. He m... [ Continue Reading ]
Be on your guard against the dogs; be on your guard against the evil
workers; be on your guard against the party of mutilation; for we are
the truly circumcised, we who worship in the Spirit of God; we whose
proud boast is in Jesus Christ, we who place no confidence in merely
human things.
Quite su... [ Continue Reading ]
And yet it remains true that I have every ground of confidence from
the human point of view. If anyone has reason to think that he has
grounds for confidence in his human heritage and attainments, I have
more. I was circumcised when I was eight days old: I am of the race of
Israel, of the tribe of B... [ Continue Reading ]
Yes, and I still count all things loss, because of the all-surpassing
value of what it means to know Jesus Christ, my Lord. For his sake I
have had to undergo a total abandonment of all things, and I count
them as nothing better than filth fit for the refuse heap, that I may
make Christ my own, and... [ Continue Reading ]
My object is to know him, and I mean by that, to know the power of his
Resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, while I continue
to be made like him in his death, if by any chance I may attain to the
resurrection of the dead.
Paul has already spoken of the surpassing value of the knowled... [ Continue Reading ]
Not that I have already obtained this, or that I am already all
complete but I press on to try to grasp that for which I have been
grasped by Jesus Christ. Brothers, I do not count myself to have
obtained; but this one thing I do--forgetting the things which are
behind, and reaching out for the thin... [ Continue Reading ]
Brothers, unite in imitating me, and keep your gaze on those who live,
as you have seen us as an example. For there are many who behave in
such a way--I have often spoken to you about them, and I do so now
with tears--that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their end is
destruction: their god... [ Continue Reading ]