Philippians 3 — Imitating Paul
Reprinted from The Spiritual Sword
David R. Pharr

Happy is the man who can, with justification, cite his own experience and practice as worthy of the imitation of others. Paul wrote, “Brethren, be followers together with me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Phil. 3:17; cf. I Cor. 11:1).  The third chapter of Philippians is rich both in the subjects treated and the striking way various points are expressed.  Expositions might be developed along various lines, but our present approach is to review the apostle’s attitudes and actions as examples which all ought to follow.  Though expressed as his personal commitments, they have the imprimatur of his apostleship.

Joy and Concern

The Philippian epistle is the most positive of Paul’s letters to churches.  Less attention is given to errors and problems than will be found in the others.  It overflows with affection, thanksgiving and joy.  He cherishes the loyal fellowship of these “saints in Christ Jesus . . .  with the bishops and deacons” (1:1).  The book begins and ends with expressions of gratitude (1:3; 4:10ff).  Though written from prison, his pen shouts joy on every page.  “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice” (4:4).  As a model of encouragement, the letter is unsurpassed.

Yet the threat of heresy is never far from the apostle’s mind.  The Judiazers would target this good church and the brethren had to be warned.  A positive letter—and positive preaching—does not ignore error.  So momentous were the issues and so underhanded were the false teachers that Paul labeled them in what may seem shocking terms (3:2).  Three times he repeats: “Beware . . . beware . . . beware.”  They were “dogs,” snarling and snapping, and hoping to feed on the brethren.  They were “evil workers,” with a zeal to do harm, not good.  They were “of the concision.”  In this he was alluding to their obsession with the cutting of circumcision, but charging them with being mutilators, mutilators of the spiritual body of Christ.  So much for name calling!

The truth about circumcision, he shows in verse 3, is that it is not fleshly, but spiritual.  Three of its characteristics are named: sincere worship (cf. John 4:24), rejoicing in Christ, and not trusting in the flesh.  The rite that brings one into the family of God is not of the flesh, but of the heart, the initiation of which is at baptism (Col. 2:11-13).

Things Abandoned

Paul’s model for refuting error continues as he recounts his own rejection of the very things so highly esteemed by his opponents.  The zeal of the Judiazers was in their nationalistic pride.  They gloried in Jewish heritage and traditions and were determined to preserve and exalt these things even in the church.  Today religious egotism may arise from assumed scholarship, from success with numbers, or from prestige in denominational circles.  Knowing, however, how the Judiazers might brag of such things, Paul offers to match, and even surpass, credentials point by point.  “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof to glory, I more . . .” (v.4; cf. II Cor. 11:18ff).

His pedigree was perfect (v. 5).  His circumcision was orthodox.  Neither was he a proselyte, but of  “the stock of Israel.”  He was of Benjamin, one of the two loyal tribes.  “An Hebrew of the Hebrews” distinguished him from the Hellenistic Jews, who had assimilated foreign customs (cf. Acts 6:1; 21:40; 22:2).

It is especially useful to notice his former religious affiliation: “as touching the law, a Pharisee” (v.5).  This is not named with the connotation of hypocrisy so often identified with the Pharisees (i.e., Matt. 23:13; et al.), but as a sect known for its adherence to orthodoxy (Acts 26:5).  This had been his father’s denomination (Acts 23:6) and he had been schooled by one of its most famous theologians (Acts 22:3).  This was the “biggest church in town.”  It was the religion of his youth and he had practiced it with zeal and blamelessness (v.6).

But Paul changed religions.  Some folk seem very uncomfortable with the idea of changing churches.  It is easier to assume that “one church is as good as another.”  Many of us who left denominations to come into the church of Christ have known the strain of having to break from past affiliations, loyalties and even friendships, but we are encouraged by the example of the apostle Paul.  He had been a leader in the Pharisee denomination, but for the sake of truth and for salvation he changed  churches.

Loss for Gain

Moving from specifics to general, he sweeps everything together and says he was willing to lose everything in order to gain Christ (v.7).  Not satisfied with saying it once, the apostle then repeats and elaborates: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (v.8).  The ledger page showed an impressive column for the flesh, but the other list needed only one item: “Christ Jesus my Lord.”  

His satisfaction was not, of course, in what had been given up, but in what was gained.  His joy was not over what he was before, but in what he had become.  Notice four expressions of the same idea: “that I may win Christ” (v.8); “that I may know him” (v.10); “if . . . I might attain unto the resurrection” (v.11); “that I may apprehend” (v.12).

The gospel can be trivialized by an inordinate emphasis on correctness of doctrine and practice to the neglect of the saving Person.  The error of those who have sometimes argued for “the man, not the plan” is not discredited by imbalance on the other side.  We are not of that persuasion that assumes that to exalt Christ we must minimize sound doctrine and scriptural traditions (II Thess. 2:15), but at the same time our emphasis must be constantly guarded so that Christ is always our “all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).  The example of Paul never neglects the importance of  keeping the ordinances correctly (e.g., I Cor. 11:2), but his faith and hope is never centered in practices, but in Jesus himself.

Paul carefully explains that no claim could be made for his own merit: “not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law” (v.9).  This especially refutes the legalism of the Judiazers, but  also covers any assumed righteousness based on law keeping per se.  We know the necessity of obedience, but salvation rests not on what we have done or who we are, but on what Christ has done and who he is.  There is nothing about Paul that is more worthy of imitation than his absolute confidence in Christ alone.

Faithfulness toward the Prize

To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (I Cor. 10:12).  Perhaps nothing is of greater danger to a Christian’s soul than satisfaction with past attainments.  The apostle had made great sacrifices.  He had embraced the truth and preached it zealously.  He had suffered for Christ and even now sat in a prison cell.  His marvelous record might seem sufficient to many.  But for Paul the issue was not what had been done in the past, but what was yet to be done in the future.

“Forgetting those things which are behind” (v.13).  This is sometimes cited in reference to a former sinful lifestyle.  Those who become Christians should not lustfully remember the “flesh pots of Egypt” (Ex.16:3; cf. Luke 9:62).  This is true, of course, but the emphasis here is on forgetting those things that seemed good and honorable accomplishments.  In the figure of a race, he does not look behind, but to the future.  “I press toward the mark of the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (v.14).  The past was not erased from memory, but would not be used as justification for no longer continuing to strive.  The race is not finished until it is won.

The key to faithful consecration is concentration—“this one thing I do” (v.13).  Timothy was told, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”  All of this reflects the instructions of Jesus to “seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33) and that “no man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24).  Verse 11 does not imply doubt as to the coming general resurrection (see Acts 24:15), but expresses his hope to be included in that part of the resurrection that is for the righteous (I Thess. 4:16-17).

Unity by a Pattern

It is such a commitment that the Spirit through Paul commends for imitation (v.17).  Mature Christians were expected to “be thus minded” (v.15) and they ought to continue to “walk by the same rule” and “mind the same thing” (v.16).   If all are to obey the “same” rule, it must follow that there is only one rule.

Especially significant in verse 17 is the word “together” (“be followers together”).  Lenski suggests, “joint imitators."[i]  The NIV is helpful on this point: “Join with others in following my example.”  They were enjoined to be together, to strive for this same purpose, to be united, in their imitation of the example of Paul and the others who lived by the same rule.  It is not necessary to argue that this is the force of being followers “together.”  Common sense shows that if they all followed the same example, the result would be unity.  Fellowship would be maintained by following the same pattern.  On the other hand,  they could not possibly be together in any meaningful sense if some of them followed his example while others did not.

Though directed especially toward the issues in the context, the principle of following the apostolic pattern is clearly established.  It is astonishing that some brethren now hold that belief in an apostolic model is legalistic and divisive.[ii]  Let us remember that this call for imitation is no casual suggestion.  The apostles are Christ’s ambassadors (II Cor. 5:20), with authority delegated to them (Matt. 18:18).  When the Hebrews writer said, “whose faith follow” (Heb. 13:7) he was declaring the validity of pattern authority.

It is interesting that the same word “mark” is used here in verse 17 that is used in Romans 16:17, in both places meaning to watch or observe.  There the watching is in order to avoid those who cause division by contrary doctrine.  Here fellowship is with those who are observed following the apostolic pattern.  False doctrine causes division. True doctrine brings unity.  Compromise creates more false doctrine and more division.  The admonition to “mark” for approval and imitation those who “walk by the same rule” (i.e., follow the apostolic pattern) becomes ineffective unless we likewise “mark” those who are contrary to sound doctrine to avoid them.  In Philippians 3:18-19 Paul is doing the very thing he enjoined in Romans 16:17.  With tears he bluntly says that they are “enemies of the cross of Christ.”

Citizens of Heaven

Unlike those who “mind earthly things,” our “conversation [citizenship, ASV] is in heaven” (v.20).  Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:30) because the King is in heaven, “from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  As colonists and pilgrims in a strange land (Heb. 11:3; I Pet. 2:11), we are in the world but not of the world.

In verse 11 he had spoken of the resurrection.  The nature of the resurrection body is beyond our comprehension (I Cor. 15:35ff), but we are assured that Christ will “change our vile body, that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (v.21).  The ASV is better: “the body of our humiliation.”  The body is not vile in the sense of being inherently evil, but in its limitations and mortality it must come to humiliation.  As in I Corinthians 15:51, “we shall all be changed.”  John explained: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2).  This need not be doubted because “he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Endnotes:
[i] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1937), p. 856.

[ii] See Gary Workman’s excellent critique of such thinking in his article in the April 1998 Spiritual Sword:  “Is the New Testament a Pattern?”

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