Despondency and worry deprive the soul of its vitality. They put an immoderate strain upon the soul. For this reason Paul comforts the Philippians, who were in great despondency because they did not know how things stood with Paul. They thought him already dead. . . . Note that he does not introduce his exhortation immediately, but after having heaped praises on them and expressed his wonder he praises them once again.

He shows the concern that he feels for their faith walk. He repeats to them what is necessary for their benefit.

He uses this name for those who, in envy of the Gentiles, have overthrown them by their evil conversation and persuaded them to be circumcised. These he says should be absolutely avoided and rejected. They are like dogs that first bark and then mutilate the flesh with savage bites.

The Jews are no longer children. The Gentiles were once called dogs but now these [Judaizing Christians] are. Why so? Because, just as the Gentiles were once strangers to Christ and God, so these have now become. And he alludes to their stubborn shamelessness and their great tenacity against the faithful.

Divine Scripture speaks of dogs which are of use and are defenders of the church, as David teaches in Psalm 68,^[1] saying that these dogs are sated with the blood of enemies in the temple of God. And here he speaks of the opposite kind of dogs, who are obviously the Jews, because they are workers and evil workers. For works are the sole exercise of their lives, without any knowledge of God, and from their works they hope for salvation.

The Jews attached great solemnity to circumcision. . . . Therefore Paul mutilates its name and says, Beware of the concision. He refrains from saying that circumcision is evil, that circumcision is superfluous, so as not to alarm these people, but he conveys his point more wisely, turning them away from the act indeed but being gracious in his words, or rather more intent upon the issue. . . . He does not say that we try this circumcision and see whether it is better. He does not even give it the name circumcision. For what is he saying? That circumcision is mutilation. For when this happens unlawfully, it is nothing but a curtailment of the flesh, a concision. Either this was the reason or else it was because they were trying to cut up the church in pieces.

It is evident that those who are faithful are circumcised in their own hearts. By cutting away the cloud of error, they see and recognize the Lord of creation. This is what it means to serve in the Spirit and glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word spirit signifies above all a deeper and mystic meaning in the holy Scriptures.^[1] . . . This construction is supported by [the verse] We are the circumcision, who serve the Spirit of God and do not trust in the flesh.

Suppose Paul had been a Gentile and had condemned circumcision (not circumcision itself but those who underwent it inappropriately). It would then have seemed that he might be demeaning it because he did not have the good fortune to be born a Jew. He would have appeared to be ignorant of lofty things, having no experience of them. But Paul speaks as a Jew. He speaks as one who shares in Jewish culture. He does not despise as a nonparticipant but criticizes as one who has made a reasonable assessment, not in ignorance but with intimate knowledge.

Paul first mentions the very point that was their chief boast, the ritual of circumcision. He was, he says, circumcised on the eighth day. So he makes it clear that he comes of the stock of Israel. By this language he shows that he is not a proselyte (hence the eighth day), nor was he born of a proselyte background (for he comes of the stock of Israel). And so that no one may suppose that of the stock of Israel means from one of the ten tribes, he further specifies that he is of the tribe of Benjamin. This is a highly respected Jewish identity, since the affairs of the priesthood fell to the lot of this tribe.

My Jewish identity, he says, is in no way ambiguous. I do not come from a family that was only partially Jewish. I am a plant of freedom, a son of Rachel the beloved, on whose behalf the patriarch^[1] himself endured slavery.

It was possible to be of Israel but not a Hebrew of the Hebrews. For there were many who had already misplaced their Hebrew heritage. Long residing among Gentiles, they had become ignorant of their Hebrew tongue. Not so with Paul.

If then it was because of my good breeding and my zeal and my way of life, and I had all the things that belong to life, why, he says, did I let go those lofty things, unless I found that those of Christ were greater, and greater by far?

When I was harrying the church, he says, I was not driven by love of honor or vainglory or jealousy, like the rulers of the Jews. I was burning with zeal for the law.

Before his conversion Paul fulfilled the law conspicuously, either through fear of the people or of God himself, even if he may have offended the law in his internal affections. But he was fulfilling the law through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness.

What do the false teachers^[1] say about this passage? See, the law is a loss; it is refuse. How then do you say it is of God? In fact, all this is in favor of the law. How so? It is clear from this passage, if we attend closely to the words. He does not say the law is privation but I count it loss. And when he spoke of gain, he did not say I count it but it was. For the latter was true by nature, the former in his own estimation. So, whatever gain I had in the law, I count as loss on account of Christ. How then was the law ever a gain, and not in supposition but in fact? Consider what a great thing it was to restore the human form to people who had been turned to beasts. And without the law, there would be no grace. How so? Because the law served as a bridge. It was not possible to be raised from this extreme lowliness. So the law served as a ladder. Note that when a person has gone up a ladder, he no longer needs it. Yet he does not despise it but gives it thanks, because it is due to the ladder that he is in the state of no longer needing it. . . . It is not the law that is a privation but apostasy from Christ through adherence to the law. So when it leads us away from Christ it is a loss. When it leads us to him, no longer so.

It is not that I flee them^[1] as base things but that I prefer what is superior. Having tasted the grain, I throw away the refuse. For refuse means the denser and harder part of the chaff. It carries the grain but is discarded once the grain has been collected.

He had read that Abraham, when he confessed himself to be refuse and ashes, found God’s grace in his extreme humility.^[1] He had read that Job, sitting on his refuse heap, had recovered all his losses.^[2] He had read in David’s prophecy that God raises the needy from the earth and the pauper from the refuse.^[3]

Now what does he mean, not having my own righteousness, when that law was not his but God’s? He can only have called it his own righteousness because, although it was from the law, he used to think that he could fulfill it without the aid of the grace that is through Christ.

Righteousness comes from faith, which means that it too is a gift of God. For since this righteousness belongs to God, it is an unmerited gift. And the gifts of God greatly exceed any achievements of our own zeal.

If, as he tells the Colossians, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,^[1] then everything, whatever it is, is to be reckoned of no account, so that we may attain to the height of this wisdom and knowledge. Not only sufficient but superabundant indeed is the righteousness that comes from faith. This salvation is freely given by the grace of God through the knowledge of Christ. It can hardly be said to be a gift of the law. For to know rightly the mystery of his incarnation and passion and resurrection is the perfection of life and the treasure of wisdom.

Knowledge therefore comes through faith, and without faith there is no knowledge. How so? It is only through faith that we know the power of his resurrection. For what reasoning could demonstrate the resurrection to us? None, but it is through faith. And if the resurrection of Christ in the flesh is known through faith, how can the nativity of the Word be comprehended by reason? For the resurrection is far more plausible to reason than the virgin birth.

To know the power of his resurrection means to know through faith that he is the God and Maker of all, he assumed our nature, he effected our salvation, and he was raised again in the body that he had taken as he conceived the common salvation of all humanity. To know the power of his resurrection is to know the purpose of his resurrection.

From faith comes our sharing in his sufferings. How? If we had not believed in him, we would not be suffering with him. If we had not believed that we will abide and reign with him, we would not have endured these sufferings.

We who believe in Christ endure sufferings with him and indeed all sufferings, even as far as the cross and death. From the knowledge of all these and from the sharing in suffering comes resurrection. And thus, as we are sharers in his death and his burden, we are enabled to share his resurrection.

It is because Paul is still persevering in the fellowship of suffering, which is very similar to death itself, that he says that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. There can be no doubt of his attaining to the resurrection. But what is this attaining to the resurrection of the dead? It is the perfect and full life of every individual which is elicited from the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings by every means, which will appear clearly at that end time when the resurrection from the dead occurs, that is, when the dead come back to life.

Throughout the letter Paul bears witness to his joy in them and praises their obedience and faith. He is, however, concerned that they, like all who are subject to human conceits, might become elated as though they were already worthy. So he tells them openly, speaking of his own person, that something is still wanting for perfect righteousness. He urges them to good works. If he who is adorned with such dignity confesses that he is still wanting in perfection, they would understand how much more they must work to acquire the blessings of righteousness.

He says not I run but I press on. Consider how the pursuer strains in his pursuit. He sees nothing, he thrusts away all who impede him with great force, he cherishes his mind, his eye, his strength, his soul and his body, looking at nothing other than the crown.

It was he who first caught me in his net Paul says in effect, for I was fleeing him and was turned well away. He caught me as I fled. But now I in turn am the pursuer in my desire of catching him, that I may not be a disappointment to his saving work.

Christ by his sufferings has set free all who follow him. He embraces everyone, but especially those who follow. The one who wants to follow and embrace Christ is bound to follow Christ in all his sufferings. Only in this way may he embrace Christ as Christ embraces him. For if Christ set everyone free by his sufferings, he embraces everyone in his sufferings.

If they compared themselves with Paul, the Philippians would understand how far they were from the blessings of freedom. How frequently had he shared in so many of Christ’s sufferings: He had been beaten, imprisoned, thrown to wild beasts and burdened with other evils. Nonetheless even he did not think that he had already taken hold of Christ, as long as he was alive.

Put the past out of mind. Set your mind to the future. What he has reckoned perfect today he ascertains to have been false tomorrow as he reaches for ever better and higher goals. By this gradual advance, never being static but always in progress, he is able to teach us that what we supposed in our human way to be perfect still remains in some ways imperfect. The only perfection is the true righteousness of God.

Some think that paying no heed to the things behind refers to life under the law. I think he says this of his labors as a preacher. For his custom was to be cursory and to mingle doctrinal statement with exhortation. What he says then is I pay no heed to my previous labors, but I strive enthusiastically to press on to those ahead.

Here then are two precepts for the one who is going to live the rest of life walking in the Christian way. First, the one who is still living under divine governance, however well and rightly he has acted in the past, should not think about all the actions he has already done as though he deserved to obtain something by them. Rather he should cast them into oblivion, always seeking the new tasks that remain. Second, he should nonetheless keep living under the divine rule, continually pressing on toward these things and observing the rule of Christ, even to death.

This is how we should think about the crowns laid up for us. For even if we do not perceive exactly what these are like, we ought at least to know that God, as Master of the contest, will reveal this to us.

The apostle speaks of himself as both perfect and imperfect^[1]: imperfect when he considers how much righteousness is still wanting in him but perfect in that he does not blush to confess his own imperfection and makes good progress in order to attain it.

All of us who are running the race perfectly should be aware that we are not yet perfect. The hope is that we may receive perfection in the place to which we are now running perfectly.

Assuming that this statement is complete and self-contained and need not be linked to his subsequent words, I think it must be understood as follows: If there is anything in what I have said that you construe or understand in a different way, I allow your understanding to develop. Remember that he is speaking of the perfect, for so he says so: we who are perfect. . . . In due time ‘God will reveal this to you,’ since both what you understand and what I have said are fitting.

If we, because of the tendency to err that lies within the human condition, take the meaning of anything for granted, we are not to refuse increase of understanding through grace. . . . For the apostle has already explained the thought of those whose thought is perfect.^[1] As to those who think otherwise concerning God’s revelation, he hopes that their thoughts will be brought to perfection.

Lest anyone should presume to think this was not from God and revealed by God he therefore adds the words what we have attained, that we should think in accord with the apostles. That means that we should not overstep the rule of doctrine^[1] in understanding but accept what is commonly and humbly understood in the truth of the gospel.

Hold true with the affections of the mind and habits of living, so that one is able to be perfectly in the possession of righteousness when, advancing day by day along the direct road of faith, one has already become a perfect traveler on the road.