Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

what it cost him.
There is a price to pay when you follow Christ. There is a price to pay when you take time out to
study the Word of God every day. There is a price to pay if you reject the rules, regulations,
rituals and ceremonies of organized religion. Paul sustained loss and injury on many fronts when
he embraced the Lord without wavering. This loss is part of our “suffering like He suffered.”
Without it we cannot move forward in the spiritual life. We must be tested and we must cling to
Christ and His Word and never turn back. If you really want to know Christ and share in His
sufferings, your reward may only be realized in heaven and not on earth. Few believers are
prepared to sacrifice earthly wealth and approbation for rewards in heaven. Paul was willing to
give them all up to obtain Christ.
Does “gaining Christ” mean he gave up all his human celebrityship when he believed in Christ
on the road to Damascus? He perhaps lost some fleshly attainments during the moment he first
believed, but the loss of everything he once possessed occurred gradually over time, the more
obedient he became to God’s plan for his life. “Gaining Christ” is a synonym for fulfilling the
protocol plan of God, not the initial point of belief. “Gaining Christ” is appropriating His divine
graces and perfections as your very own by continued, prolonged intake, metabolization and
application of Bible doctrine. “Gaining Christ” is an experiential concept, not a positional
concept. Paul wanted to gain the graces and perfections of Christ so much (Ingressive Aorist
tense), that he was willing to forfeit everything for this daily spiritual experience. Paul
considered all the human approbation and celebrityship he gave up as mere excrement when
compared to fellowship with Christ.
He compared the two options before him with mature consideration (Perfective Present tense)
and chose the riches of Jesus Christ over his former human attainments which he now classifies
as rubbish. Some commentators translate “skubalon” as dung or excrement (feces) of filthy
creatures, while others translate it as refuse or table scraps thrown at dogs. Any way you
translate it, Paul did not consider the benefits of his former life to be worth much when
compared to the knowledge of Christ. This does not mean Paul said “Yes” to believing in Christ,
but “No” to following Him in daily life. Unfortunately, this is what 95% of believers today have
done: they became Christians during a “weak moment in their lives,” but they have since
rejected His protocol plan for living the spiritual life. They have plans of their own and the
dedication, obedience and rigor of the spiritual life only gets in the way of those plans.
REVELANT OPINIONS
Paul's inmost soul cries out through these five expressive particles, (A.T. Robertson) which he uses
as an attention getting device before he teaches them the doctrine of dung. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.) The
word "super-ness", that is, "all-surpassing greatness" is one of a list of "super" combinations used by
the apostle. (W. Hendriksen) A neuter participle with the article is sometimes equivalent to an
abstract noun - "because of the excellency or superiority of the knowledge of Christ Jesus". (E.D.
Burton) The knowledge of Christ is here represented as the whole substance of the Christian life.
(F.W. Beare) Now he considers everything on which he might place his fleshly confidence to be