Philippians 3:10

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.

As Barry pointed out, "The order of these verses is notable and instructive[23] The three mountain peaks of interest are: (1) the resurrection of Christ; (2) the fellowship of Christians with him in sufferings; and (3) the glorious resurrection unto eternal life at the last day. The three-fold emphasis discernible in these verses provides a thumbnail abbreviation of the apostolic gospel, an abbreviation which by extension can be made to include nearly everything in the entire New Testament. Note:

I. The Resurrection of Christ.

This, of course, includes all of the gospel record which preceded and led up to the resurrection, all of which, especially the sufferings and death of our Lord, were in a sense validated, confirmed and endowed with eternal significance by the resurrection. This focal emphasis on Christ's resurrection was not exclusively Pauline, but characterized all the New Testament writers. Peter tied the entire Pentecostal sermon to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24), making forgiveness of sins and the reception of the earnest of the Holy Spirit derivative from the fact of our Lord's resurrection, ascension and sending the Comforter; and, while true enough that Peter promised forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit as blessings to be received subsequently to and in consequence of the recipient's believing, repenting, and being baptized into Christ, the sacred word makes it clear enough that the sinner's part in such marvelous blessings is limited to his fulfillment of the preconditions prior to receiving them, and that Christ, not the sinner, is the fountain source from which all blessings flow.

It would be impossible to trace in a single chapter the amazing manner of Paul's making all to depend on Christ's resurrection. Everything depends on it; without it, we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17); it is the pledge of our justification and forgiveness (Acts 13:30,38,39), etc.

2. Suffering with Christ.

This is the "partaking of Christ's sufferings," "the conformity to his death," the "taking up the cross," and being "crucified with Christ," as stressed throughout the New Testament (1 Peter 4:13; Romans 8:17; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Colossians 1:24; 2 Timothy 2:11). It was expected that every Christian should suffer as a result of his faith; indeed it was a proverb or "faithful saying" that "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12).

3. Attainment to the Resurrection from the Dead.

This means the final and glorious resurrection of the redeemed at the last day, an event so nobly referred to by Paul a few moments later in Philippians 3:20,21. Another Pauline reference to this is: "If we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (Romans 6:5). Also in 1 Corinthians 15:12-23, Paul made the resurrection of Christ, appealed to as a fact which not even the enemies of the faith could deny, to be a pledge of the Christian's own resurrection at the last day. See notes in this series on those references.