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Philippians 3 with Metaphysical Footnotes (ASV)

Breaking with the Past

3:1Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.

3:2Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3:3for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:1 3:4though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh:

if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 3:5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 3:6as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

3:7Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. 3:8Yea verily, 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,2 3:9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith3: 3:10that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 3:11if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.

  1. have no confidence in the flesh. When we keep the Christ thought foremost in all we think and do, we shall come out victorious.
  2. do count them but refuse. The apostle warns against those who are trying to bring Gentile converts under the Mosaic Law. At one time he himself had been proud of his Jewish heritage, but now he is willing to put all behind him for a greater goal. Be Ye Transformed 130.
  3. righteousness which is from God by faith. We can have no absolute assurance that we are right, except as we place our faith in divine wisdom and claim its enlightenment in our mind. As we look to this higher wisdom to express itself in and through us and trust it to do so, we find that our understanding becomes clear and that we see what is right in every instance.

Pressing toward the Goal

3:12Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 3:13Brethren, I could not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 3:14I press on toward the goal1 unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 3:15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: 3:16only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.

3:17Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample. 3:18For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 3:19whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. 3:20For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 3:21who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,2 according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.

  1. I press on toward the goal... A 3-part formula for healing: (1) Letting go of the past (by changing one's thinking), (2) leaning into the problem and (3) press on to the full expression of your Christ nature. See Luke 5:24 and Dealing With Stress Through Spiritual Methods.
  2. conformed to the body of his glory. This all has been interpreted that after we are dead we will go to heaven. But this is all in the Now. Our bodies are now in this heavenly state so the only death of which we have any evidence is the death of the body. Hidden Man of the Bible, lesson 6, page 7


Fillmore Study Bible annotations by Mark Hicks

Download PDF of Phillipians 3 with Metaphysical Footnotes (ASV) from the Fillmore Study Bible


Preceding Entry: Phil. 2
Following Entry: Phil. 4