Philippians 3:8 - Exposition

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss . He holds fast the truth which he once learned; he still counts all things as loss in comparison with the one thing needful. The particles used here (see Winer, sect. liii.) correct and strengthen the assertion of the last verse, both as to time, "I count," and as to extent, "all things," not only the privileges mentioned above . For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . The preposition may be rendered "for the sake of," as in Philippians 3:7 , or "because of." The knowledge of Christ is a blessing so surpassing and transcendent that nothing else is worthy to be called good in comparison with that one highest good. Its glory, like the rising sun, overwhelms and hides all lesser lights. My Lord. The pronoun expresses the warmth of his affection, the close personal communion between the apostle and the Savior (see Philippians 1:3 ). For whom I have suffered the loss of all things ; rather, I suffered the loss of ; literally, I was fined or mulcted ; the aorist refers to the time of his conversion. All things ( τὰ πάντα ); all that I had in the world, my all, all things together (comp. Romans 8:32 ). He lost his all for Christ, for the sake of possessing Christ: with Christ God will freely give him all things ( τὰ πάντα again ). And do count them but dung, that I may win Christ . σκύβαλα (also in Ecclesiasticus 27:4); dung, or perhaps refuse, dogs' meat; comp. Matthew 15:26 , Matthew 15:27 . There the Jews were the children, the Gentiles dogs. St. Paul here, as in Matthew 15:2 , reverses the terms of the comparison; the legal privileges of the Jew nee but as crumbs thrown to dogs in comparison with the rich blessings of the gospel. Comp. also Matthew 16:26 , where our Lord uses the same verbs, to lose and to gain; the whole world is but loss, the Savior says, compared with the never-dying soul. The loss of one's all in this world (St. Paul echoes the sacred words) is as nothing; all things put together are but as dung, compared with the one thing which St. Paul so longed to gain, Christ himself—his presence in the soul, spiritual union with the Lord. "To gain Christ is to lay fast hold upon him, to receive him inwardly into our bosoms, and so to make him ours and ourselves his, that we may be joined to him as our Head, espoused to him as our Husband, incorporated into him as our Nourishment, engrafted in him as our Stock, and laid upon him as a sure Foundation" (Bishop Hall, ' Christ Mystical,' ch. 6., quoted by Bishop EI licott).