Philippians 3
BSASBPaul warns the Philippians against those who trust in religious pedigree and then lays out his own story. Everything he once boasted in he now counts as rubbish compared with knowing Christ. He presses on toward the goal, urges them to follow good examples, and looks ahead to the day when Christ will transform believers and bring them home to heaven.
Philippians 3:1
Paul calls the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord. Joy rests on Christ, not on circumstances, and Paul is writing from prison. He does not mind repeating himself, because repeated truth keeps believers steady and guards them from error.
BSA: safeguard (“safe, secure, a protection”): Hearing the truth again is a protection that keeps believers from harm.
See also: Philippians 4:4.
Philippians 3:2
Paul gives a sharp warning about teachers who insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised. Calling them dogs, he turns their own language back on them, since Jews often called Gentiles dogs. Their cutting of the flesh had become mere mutilation.
BSA: mutilators (“practitioners of concision, cutters of the flesh”): Paul uses a word play: what they call circumcision is only a cutting with no spiritual meaning.
Greek: κατατομήν (katatomēn, G2699) — “a cutting down, a slashing.” Paul chooses a word for pagan-style gashing instead of the usual word for circumcision. He is saying that, without faith, the rite is empty.
Philippians 3:3
The true people of God are not marked by a physical rite but by a changed heart. They worship by the Spirit, boast in Christ and trust nothing in themselves. This is what circumcision always pointed to.
BSA: worship (“serve and give homage”): True worship is a whole life of service offered to God, not only a ritual.
See also: Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11.
Philippians 3:4
Paul is not speaking from envy. If anyone could boast in religious credentials, he could do so more than most. He is about to list them in order to show how little they are worth.
BSA: confidence (“trust, faith”): The question is where a person rests their trust: in what they have done, or in Christ.
Philippians 3:5
Paul lists his credentials, all of them inherited or earned. He was circumcised on the right day, born into Israel and Benjamin, and fully Hebrew in language and customs. As a Pharisee he belonged to the strictest group in keeping the law.
BSA: Hebrew of Hebrews (“completely Hebrew in every way, a true Hebrew”): Paul kept his ancestral language and ways, with nothing of his heritage diluted.
Philippians 3:6
His zeal was so fierce that he persecuted the church, and by the law’s outward standard no one could fault him. This was the best that religion could produce. Yet it had led him to fight against Christ.
BSA: faultless (“blameless, without rebuke, unrebukeable”): By outward standards no one could accuse him of breaking the law.
See also: Acts 8:3; Galatians 1:13-14.
Philippians 3:7
What Paul once counted as profit, he now counts as loss. This is a reversal of value, and the reason is Christ. His credentials were not evil in themselves, but they became worthless as a basis for standing before God.
BSA: loss (“damage, worthless”): Paul says these things were not just useless but harmful, if trusted in place of Christ.
Philippians 3:8
Paul goes further and counts everything as loss beside the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. He has given up much, and he calls it rubbish, like refuse thrown away. The prize is Christ himself, and it is worth the cost.
BSA: rubbish (“garbage, worthless”): Paul uses a strong, earthy word for what is thrown out as waste. knowing (“having a deep understanding of”): This is personal, growing acquaintance with Christ, not just facts about him.
Greek: σκύβαλα (skubala, G4657) — “refuse, dung, scraps thrown to the dogs.” It is a coarse word. Paul chooses it deliberately to show how worthless his old boasting looks beside Christ.
Philippians 3:9
Paul wants to be found in Christ, not standing on his own record. A right standing with God is not earned by keeping the law. It is a gift from God, received by trusting Christ.
BSA: righteousness (“justification, being made right with God”): This is a right standing before God, given to the believer and not produced by effort. faith (“trust, confidence”): Faith here is trust placed in Christ, the open hand that receives what God gives.
See also: Romans 3:21-22; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Philippians 3:10
Paul’s desire is to know Christ more deeply. This includes the power of his resurrection and sharing in his sufferings. The two belong together: the same Lord who suffered and died is the one who rose, and believers follow him on that path.
BSA: fellowship (“partnership, communion”): Believers share in Christ’s sufferings as partners, not merely as onlookers.
Greek: κοινωνίαν (koinōnian, G2842) — “sharing, partnership.” The word speaks of having something in common. Paul wants to share the experience of Christ’s sufferings, and so be joined to Christ himself.
See also: Romans 6:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10.
Philippians 3:11
Paul hopes to reach the resurrection from the dead. His words do not show doubt about Christ’s promise. They show humble, earnest expectation, with no taking of the outcome for granted. The path there runs through faithfulness to the end.
BSA: somehow (“if by any means”): Paul speaks with humble earnestness about how he will arrive, leaving that to God.
See also: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.
Philippians 3:12
Paul admits he has not yet arrived. He is still pressing on, because Christ first took hold of him on the Damascus road. His effort answers Christ’s prior grasp: he chases what Christ already won for him.
BSA: press on (“pursue, follow after”): The word suggests a determined chase, like a runner going after the finish. perfect (“complete, whole”): Paul means fully finished or mature, which he does not claim to be yet.
Greek: διώκω (diōkō, G1377) — “I pursue, I chase.” The same word is used of Paul’s persecuting the church in verse 6. The energy he once spent chasing believers he now spends chasing Christ.
Philippians 3:13
Paul repeats that he does not consider himself to have arrived. He has one single aim. He leaves the past behind, both his failures and his successes, and stretches forward like a runner leaning toward the line.
BSA: straining (“stretching, reaching”): Paul pictures a runner stretching every muscle toward the finish.
Greek: ἐπεκτεινόμενος (epekteinomenos, G1901) — “stretching out toward.” It describes a racer reaching forward with the whole body, leaving nothing held back.
Philippians 3:14
Paul runs toward the finish for the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ. The prize is not earned by merit. It is what God has called believers to, and it lies in the life to come with Christ.
BSA: calling (“invitation, summons”): God himself has issued the invitation, so the prize rests on his call.
See also: 1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Timothy 4:7-8.
Philippians 3:15
Those who are mature will share this outlook of humble, forward pressing. Paul is confident that God will make clear to anyone who sees things differently on lesser matters. He trusts God to teach, and does not rush to condemn.
BSA: mature (“perfect, complete”): Maturity here means being grown up in Christ, which includes knowing you have not yet arrived.
Philippians 3:16
Whatever is still unclear, believers should hold firmly to the truth they already have. Growth does not mean abandoning what is settled. It means walking faithfully in the light already received.
BSA: attained (“reached, arrived at”): The level already reached is the ground on which the next step is taken.
Philippians 3:17
Paul invites the believers to follow his example and to watch those who live by the pattern the apostles set. Christians learn well from living models. Faith is passed on by seeing it lived out, as well as by hearing it taught.
BSA: pattern (“example, model”): A pattern is something to copy, as a seal leaves its shape on wax.
See also: 1 Corinthians 11:1.
Philippians 3:18
Paul speaks of enemies of the cross with tears. He does not gloat over them. These are people who claim the faith, yet live in a way that rejects the way of the cross, which is the way of self-denial.
BSA: enemies (“those who hate, oppose”): They oppose what the cross stands for, even if they do not say so openly.
Philippians 3:19
Paul describes them. Appetite is their god, they glory in what should shame them, and their thoughts are fixed on earthly things. Their end is destruction. A life ruled by desires and by this world ends in ruin.
BSA: destruction (“perdition, loss, eternal ruin”): It speaks of final ruin, the opposite of the glory that awaits believers. belly (“stomach, physical appetites”): Paul means their bodily appetites are what they live for and serve.
See also: Romans 16:18.
Philippians 3:20
In contrast, the believer’s citizenship is in heaven. Philippi was a Roman colony, proud of its Roman citizenship, and Paul draws on that. Christians live here as citizens of another realm, and eagerly wait for the Savior to come from there.
BSA: citizenship (“as members of God’s community, in a spiritual sense”): Believers belong to God’s heavenly community, and that shapes how they live on earth.
Greek: πολίτευμα (politeuma, G4175) — “commonwealth, citizenship.” It names the community and the rights of a city or state. Believers are a colony of heaven living on earth.
See also: Ephesians 2:19; Hebrews 11:13-16.
Philippians 3:21
When Christ comes, he will change our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. The same power by which he rules all things will do this. The believer’s hope is a renewed body, not an escape from the body.
BSA: transform (“change, fashion anew”): Christ will remake the body, giving it a new form that fits his glory. lowly (“humble, vile”): Our present bodies are weak and subject to decay, but they are not to remain so.
See also: 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; 1 John 3:2.