But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
What were gain to Paul were his Jewish religious advantages and his worldly wealth, honor and advancement, which he counted as loss and refuse beside Christ. He did this after Christ revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus, blinding his physical eyes to open his spiritual understanding that he had persecuted Christ. To count them loss means to give up all confidence in a righteousness of his own from the law and from good works, to receive instead the perfect righteousness from God by faith in Christ. This renouncing is not a claim to have already attained perfection, but forgetting what is behind and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Following Christ in this way costs all there is of a man in self-denial and sacrifice, yet a life that looks like renunciation is not really loss, for the knowledge of Christ and peace and hope in Him are worth more than all earthly riches and honors.
Former Gains Renounced
The gains counted loss were Jewish religious advantages: credentials as a Jew, strict observance of the law, zeal for the ceremonial law and zeal shown in persecuting the church, standing as a proud self-confident Pharisee, honored position and ambitious advancement, and confidence in performing the law's requirements and in being justified by good works. Those things pursued apart from faith could not make a person right with God, because trusting forms and ceremonies rejected the One who gave the law its value. That confidence in justification by good works was pride to be abandoned in recognizing unworthiness before God and seeking pardon and acceptance through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. The gains also included worldly advantages: wealth and honor among his people, reputation, talents, virtue, piety, possessions, pleasures, temporal and financial prosperity such as thrones, lands and bank stocks, and even crowns, subjects, and life itself. Personal advantages and qualities including reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety and good works count for nothing as grounds for salvation and cannot unite a person to Christ, for union requires recognizing sin and helplessness and relying wholly on His saving grace. A willing heart that yields all to Christ and values eternal things above the riches, pleasures and glory of this world is of inestimable worth, and valuing the unsearchable riches of Christ above thrones and lands and bank stocks draws the heart to count all else but loss and dross that it may win Christ.
Paul counted these gains as loss after Christ revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus, where Saul breathing threats against the disciples was stopped by a light from heaven that blinded his physical eyes and opened his spiritual understanding to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, showing him he had persecuted Christ. He had been sincere yet greatly deceived in persecuting the church of Christ in ignorance, thinking he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, but sincerity alone does not make a person accepted before God, for man weighed against God's holy law is weighed in the balances and found wanting by nature, and only by being cleansed by Christ's blood and accepting Christ as Mediator and Advocate can a person claim justification by faith and peace with God. With remorse at seeing he had persecuted Christ and seeking pardon for sin he sold all to buy the pearl of great price, because Christ and His righteousness became to him more than the whole world and the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord outweighed all things he suffered the loss of. In the light of Christ's revelation Saul yielded fully to the Holy Spirit with heartfelt repentance, thorough confession and earnest longing for pardon, bowed with sorrow and shame abhorring himself for persecuting the disciples as chief of sinners, seeing the mistakes of his life and the far-reaching claims of God's law. He bowed before God with the humility and simplicity of a little child, confessing unworthiness and pleading the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, longing to come into full harmony and communion with the Father and the Son with fervent supplication for pardon, so his sin-corrupted heart was transformed by divine grace and the nobler faculties of his soul brought into harmony with God.
Once he recognized he had been opposing Christ by persecuting His people, he left his honored position and ambitious advancement, joined the people he had opposed, and devoted his life to teaching and living for Christ, even suffering martyrdom for Him. To count as loss meant regarding former advantages as no longer grounds for confidence, as worthless beside Christ, as loss and refuse and dung, suffered to be lost for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. His former advantages were no longer worth keeping at the cost of knowing Christ but were placed beneath that greater good, and this renouncing belongs to a continuing pursuit of holiness, not a claim to have already reached perfection. When Christ's love changes the heart, a person no longer treats possessions as his own or as grounds for spiritual gain, but gladly gives up claim to them to serve as a steward of God's grace for others, giving up every competing claim or ambition for Him whose value is so discerned.
Gaining Christ's Righteousness
The loss is suffered for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus the Lord, for His unsearchable riches, in order to win Christ and be found in Him. In Christ are the fullness of God, the glory of the Father, and all that can satisfy the soul, so that He is precious enough for everything else to be reckoned as loss beside Him. To win Him is to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of one's own that comes from the law but the righteousness that is from God by faith in Christ, through faith in Christ. Law-keeping and outward forms pursued apart from faith cannot make a person right with God, because those who so trusted them rejected the very One who gave the law its value.
Sincerity alone does not make a person accepted before God, for even the sincere persecutor acting in ignorance and thinking he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus was greatly deceived. Man weighed against God's holy law is weighed in the balances and found wanting by nature, and only by being cleansed by the blood of Christ and accepting Christ as Mediator and Advocate can a person claim justification by faith and peace with God. Personal advantages and qualities — reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety, possessions, pleasures, and good works — count for nothing as grounds for salvation and cannot unite a person to Christ or provide a basis for acceptance. Christ's righteousness is perfect, without flaw or stain, and cannot be improved by human works. Union with Christ therefore requires recognizing one's sin and helplessness and relying wholly on His saving grace.
To gain Him is to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, in order to attain the resurrection from the dead. These words came not from a human mind but were declared in vision to Paul, to whom God gave many revelations. They are recorded for the benefit of all who desire to be sincere, earnest, whole-hearted Christians obedient to all God's requirements, as the fundamental principles of the law that declares the whole duty of man.
Pressing Toward Perfection
Renouncing former gains belongs to a continuing pursuit of holiness, not to a claim of having already attained or of being already perfect. Imperfection is acknowledged, yet the course is to follow after Christ, placing former advantages beneath the greater good of knowing Him rather than keeping them as grounds for confidence. Counting what were gains as loss for Christ means counting all things as loss and dung in order to win Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of one's own from the law but the righteousness from God by faith, to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death to attain the resurrection of the dead.
Counting loss is the ground for forgetting what is behind and reaching forth to what is before, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This pressing calls for self-denial and perseverance, because knowing Christ and gaining Him matters more than worldly advantages. It is the way of walking the one strait and narrow path to heaven, where only those who love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves can walk. It means following Christ in everything, conforming life to His teachings, and pressing toward the light while keeping His divine perfection in view.
It was the one ruling purpose of life that allowed nothing to divert, suffering the loss of all things to gain Christ. Pressing on rejects the enemies of the cross who mind earthly things and whose end is destruction. Conversation is kept in heaven while looking for the Saviour who will change the vile body to be fashioned like His glorious body, and so standing fast in the Lord in watchful readiness. The lessons in the third chapter of Philippians make Christians healthy, and only healthy Christians make a healthy church. Many Christians in churches and institutions are sickly, and this chapter should be carefully read and studied and its lessons practiced to give health.
Conversion Changes Allegiance
When a soul falls in love with Jesus and is truly converted, every other affection is made subordinate to pure, refining, heavenly love. Pride, passion and ambition that ruled the natural heart are surrendered to Christ, with all former advantages treated as loss for Him. A true experience of Christ changes what a person loves, so that the things once loved become hateful and what was once hated becomes dear. Knowing Christ is worth more than every former gain, for the surpassing worth of knowing Him outweighs all things counted as loss.
Genuine conversion means recognizing opposition to Christ, repenting and relying on His merits for pardon. After counting the cost, a person separates from the world and surrenders selfish desires and the will to Christ, counting all former gain as loss in order to win Christ. Gaining Christ is worth more than the things once valued in worldly life and more than every earthly advantage. When people are willing to count all else as loss for Him, they see worldly attractions and selfish pleasures as they truly are and give up what they once prized, making following the path of holiness the priority.
This surrender may humble natural pride, but it brings the knowledge of Christ, with light, freedom and power. Following Christ costs all there is of a man — heart, soul, strength and mind — and demands absolute surrender of self, soul, body and spirit with self-humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and constant conflict with human passions. What were gain must be counted loss for Christ, indeed all things counted loss and refuse to win Christ for the excellency of knowing Him, not having a righteousness of one's own from the law but the righteousness of God by faith through Christ. It refuses to be half for Christ while keeping natural temperaments and unrenewed practices, but self must be hidden in Christ and the believer be found in Him day by day under all trials, difficulties and temptations, knowing Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, made conformable to His death, to attain the resurrection of the dead.
Loyalty above worldly honor is illustrated by Elisha, who gave up worldly advantages and possessions to answer God's call and follow in service, showing they are loss compared with gaining God's favor. The princes likewise counted what once was gain as loss for Christ, willing to give up crowns, possessions, subjects and even lives rather than accept doctrine contrary to their confession. Mark learned the same lesson, that choosing the easier path and worldly gain instead of serving Christ would be infinite loss, while self-denial and faithful service to win souls are infinite gain.
Sacrificial Life and Service
Following Christ costs all there is of a man — heart, soul, strength and mind — demanding absolute surrender of self, soul, body and spirit with self-humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and constant conflict with human passions. Every personal gain or interest that conflicts with duty to Christ is to be laid aside as loss, with every worldly attraction and every weight and besetting sin put away. There is no being half for Christ while keeping natural temperaments and unrenewed practices, but self is to be hid in Christ and the believer found in Him day by day under all trials, difficulties and temptations.
Knowing Christ is worth more than every human attainment or capability, so all such advantages are to be surrendered to God and one's own righteousness given up in order to receive Christ's righteousness with humility. Gaining Christ is worth more than every other advantage, with all else counted as loss or dross in comparison, because Christ is the way to eternal life which is worth everything. This expresses a choice to follow God's will rather than inclination or impulse and to serve the Saviour with undivided affection, putting God first in wholehearted self-denying service and giving self to the work of saving souls. A higher, holier mission from God displaces ambition for earthly well-being and advancement, so the true Christian willingly gives up what the world seeks, and a willing heart that yields all to Christ and values eternal things above the riches, pleasures and glory of this world is of inestimable worth.
Paul counted the advantages of wealth and honor among his people as loss for Christ, renouncing them for a life of burden-bearing in God's service to gain Christ and the excellency of knowing Him, and he was satisfied with his choice. A life that looks like renunciation and sacrifice is therefore not really loss, for apparent losses endured for duty and in following the light become infinite gain. The peace and hope found in Him, with a clear sense of eternal things and a heart willing to yield all to Him, are worth more than all earthly riches, pleasures and honors, which no earthly treasure can buy.
Loss becomes gain when faith sees Christ working through hardship in service to others, discerning gain in loss and mercy in misery. To those who so discern, hardships become privileges, confusion becomes order, and what seemed failure becomes God's success and wisdom. What once appeared to be personal gain is counted as loss for Christ, and what appears to be loss can open opportunities to serve and display God's wisdom.
This discerning belongs to humble beginners with little self-confidence who give God all the glory, whose hands may be rough and unskilled but whose hearts pity the ignorant and erring and desire to relieve woe. Christ is present to help them as they take the burden for the poor and needy in the rough places of the earth and enter open doors to do medical missionary work.
Valuing the unsearchable riches of Christ above temporal and financial prosperity, thrones and lands and bank stocks, attracts the heart to accept them and count all else but loss and dross that they may win Christ. This requires willingness to move to localities where truth has not yet been proclaimed even when temporal prospects will be less prosperous, doing to save souls from eternal ruin the work Jesus did when He left the royal throne and royal crown and high command to live in a world seared and marred by the curse that humanity might touch humanity. It calls workers to the same whole consecration as Paul, who after blaspheming Christ's name and using every power to make others blaspheme turned contempt into service to win souls despite opposition and persecution from Jew and Gentile, laying aside worldly attractions and pressing forward through hardship and difficulty toward the heavenly goal, showing the hope of seeing the face of God is worth all effort and sacrifice.
What were gain to Paul were his Jewish religious advantages and his worldly wealth, honor and advancement, which he counted as loss and refuse beside Christ. He did this after Christ revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus, blinding his physical eyes to open his spiritual understanding that he had persecuted Christ. To count them loss means to give up all confidence in a righteousness of his own from the law and from good works, to receive instead the perfect righteousness from God by faith in Christ. This renouncing is not a claim to have already attained perfection, but forgetting what is behind and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Following Christ in this way costs all there is of a man in self-denial and sacrifice, yet a life that looks like renunciation is not really loss, for the knowledge of Christ and peace and hope in Him are worth more than all earthly riches and honors.
Former Gains Renounced
The gains counted loss were Jewish religious advantages: credentials as a Jew, strict observance of the law, zeal for the ceremonial law and zeal shown in persecuting the church, standing as a proud self-confident Pharisee, honored position and ambitious advancement, and confidence in performing the law's requirements and in being justified by good works. Those things pursued apart from faith could not make a person right with God, because trusting forms and ceremonies rejected the One who gave the law its value. That confidence in justification by good works was pride to be abandoned in recognizing unworthiness before God and seeking pardon and acceptance through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. The gains also included worldly advantages: wealth and honor among his people, reputation, talents, virtue, piety, possessions, pleasures, temporal and financial prosperity such as thrones, lands and bank stocks, and even crowns, subjects, and life itself. Personal advantages and qualities including reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety and good works count for nothing as grounds for salvation and cannot unite a person to Christ, for union requires recognizing sin and helplessness and relying wholly on His saving grace. A willing heart that yields all to Christ and values eternal things above the riches, pleasures and glory of this world is of inestimable worth, and valuing the unsearchable riches of Christ above thrones and lands and bank stocks draws the heart to count all else but loss and dross that it may win Christ.
Paul counted these gains as loss after Christ revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus, where Saul breathing threats against the disciples was stopped by a light from heaven that blinded his physical eyes and opened his spiritual understanding to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, showing him he had persecuted Christ. He had been sincere yet greatly deceived in persecuting the church of Christ in ignorance, thinking he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, but sincerity alone does not make a person accepted before God, for man weighed against God's holy law is weighed in the balances and found wanting by nature, and only by being cleansed by Christ's blood and accepting Christ as Mediator and Advocate can a person claim justification by faith and peace with God. With remorse at seeing he had persecuted Christ and seeking pardon for sin he sold all to buy the pearl of great price, because Christ and His righteousness became to him more than the whole world and the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord outweighed all things he suffered the loss of. In the light of Christ's revelation Saul yielded fully to the Holy Spirit with heartfelt repentance, thorough confession and earnest longing for pardon, bowed with sorrow and shame abhorring himself for persecuting the disciples as chief of sinners, seeing the mistakes of his life and the far-reaching claims of God's law. He bowed before God with the humility and simplicity of a little child, confessing unworthiness and pleading the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, longing to come into full harmony and communion with the Father and the Son with fervent supplication for pardon, so his sin-corrupted heart was transformed by divine grace and the nobler faculties of his soul brought into harmony with God.
Once he recognized he had been opposing Christ by persecuting His people, he left his honored position and ambitious advancement, joined the people he had opposed, and devoted his life to teaching and living for Christ, even suffering martyrdom for Him. To count as loss meant regarding former advantages as no longer grounds for confidence, as worthless beside Christ, as loss and refuse and dung, suffered to be lost for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. His former advantages were no longer worth keeping at the cost of knowing Christ but were placed beneath that greater good, and this renouncing belongs to a continuing pursuit of holiness, not a claim to have already reached perfection. When Christ's love changes the heart, a person no longer treats possessions as his own or as grounds for spiritual gain, but gladly gives up claim to them to serve as a steward of God's grace for others, giving up every competing claim or ambition for Him whose value is so discerned.
Gaining Christ's Righteousness
The loss is suffered for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus the Lord, for His unsearchable riches, in order to win Christ and be found in Him. In Christ are the fullness of God, the glory of the Father, and all that can satisfy the soul, so that He is precious enough for everything else to be reckoned as loss beside Him. To win Him is to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of one's own that comes from the law but the righteousness that is from God by faith in Christ, through faith in Christ. Law-keeping and outward forms pursued apart from faith cannot make a person right with God, because those who so trusted them rejected the very One who gave the law its value.
Sincerity alone does not make a person accepted before God, for even the sincere persecutor acting in ignorance and thinking he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus was greatly deceived. Man weighed against God's holy law is weighed in the balances and found wanting by nature, and only by being cleansed by the blood of Christ and accepting Christ as Mediator and Advocate can a person claim justification by faith and peace with God. Personal advantages and qualities — reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety, possessions, pleasures, and good works — count for nothing as grounds for salvation and cannot unite a person to Christ or provide a basis for acceptance. Christ's righteousness is perfect, without flaw or stain, and cannot be improved by human works. Union with Christ therefore requires recognizing one's sin and helplessness and relying wholly on His saving grace.
To gain Him is to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, in order to attain the resurrection from the dead. These words came not from a human mind but were declared in vision to Paul, to whom God gave many revelations. They are recorded for the benefit of all who desire to be sincere, earnest, whole-hearted Christians obedient to all God's requirements, as the fundamental principles of the law that declares the whole duty of man.
Pressing Toward Perfection
Renouncing former gains belongs to a continuing pursuit of holiness, not to a claim of having already attained or of being already perfect. Imperfection is acknowledged, yet the course is to follow after Christ, placing former advantages beneath the greater good of knowing Him rather than keeping them as grounds for confidence. Counting what were gains as loss for Christ means counting all things as loss and dung in order to win Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of one's own from the law but the righteousness from God by faith, to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death to attain the resurrection of the dead.
Counting loss is the ground for forgetting what is behind and reaching forth to what is before, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This pressing calls for self-denial and perseverance, because knowing Christ and gaining Him matters more than worldly advantages. It is the way of walking the one strait and narrow path to heaven, where only those who love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves can walk. It means following Christ in everything, conforming life to His teachings, and pressing toward the light while keeping His divine perfection in view.
It was the one ruling purpose of life that allowed nothing to divert, suffering the loss of all things to gain Christ. Pressing on rejects the enemies of the cross who mind earthly things and whose end is destruction. Conversation is kept in heaven while looking for the Saviour who will change the vile body to be fashioned like His glorious body, and so standing fast in the Lord in watchful readiness. The lessons in the third chapter of Philippians make Christians healthy, and only healthy Christians make a healthy church. Many Christians in churches and institutions are sickly, and this chapter should be carefully read and studied and its lessons practiced to give health.
Conversion Changes Allegiance
When a soul falls in love with Jesus and is truly converted, every other affection is made subordinate to pure, refining, heavenly love. Pride, passion and ambition that ruled the natural heart are surrendered to Christ, with all former advantages treated as loss for Him. A true experience of Christ changes what a person loves, so that the things once loved become hateful and what was once hated becomes dear. Knowing Christ is worth more than every former gain, for the surpassing worth of knowing Him outweighs all things counted as loss.
Genuine conversion means recognizing opposition to Christ, repenting and relying on His merits for pardon. After counting the cost, a person separates from the world and surrenders selfish desires and the will to Christ, counting all former gain as loss in order to win Christ. Gaining Christ is worth more than the things once valued in worldly life and more than every earthly advantage. When people are willing to count all else as loss for Him, they see worldly attractions and selfish pleasures as they truly are and give up what they once prized, making following the path of holiness the priority.
This surrender may humble natural pride, but it brings the knowledge of Christ, with light, freedom and power. Following Christ costs all there is of a man — heart, soul, strength and mind — and demands absolute surrender of self, soul, body and spirit with self-humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and constant conflict with human passions. What were gain must be counted loss for Christ, indeed all things counted loss and refuse to win Christ for the excellency of knowing Him, not having a righteousness of one's own from the law but the righteousness of God by faith through Christ. It refuses to be half for Christ while keeping natural temperaments and unrenewed practices, but self must be hidden in Christ and the believer be found in Him day by day under all trials, difficulties and temptations, knowing Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, made conformable to His death, to attain the resurrection of the dead.
Loyalty above worldly honor is illustrated by Elisha, who gave up worldly advantages and possessions to answer God's call and follow in service, showing they are loss compared with gaining God's favor. The princes likewise counted what once was gain as loss for Christ, willing to give up crowns, possessions, subjects and even lives rather than accept doctrine contrary to their confession. Mark learned the same lesson, that choosing the easier path and worldly gain instead of serving Christ would be infinite loss, while self-denial and faithful service to win souls are infinite gain.
Sacrificial Life and Service
Following Christ costs all there is of a man — heart, soul, strength and mind — demanding absolute surrender of self, soul, body and spirit with self-humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and constant conflict with human passions. Every personal gain or interest that conflicts with duty to Christ is to be laid aside as loss, with every worldly attraction and every weight and besetting sin put away. There is no being half for Christ while keeping natural temperaments and unrenewed practices, but self is to be hid in Christ and the believer found in Him day by day under all trials, difficulties and temptations.
Knowing Christ is worth more than every human attainment or capability, so all such advantages are to be surrendered to God and one's own righteousness given up in order to receive Christ's righteousness with humility. Gaining Christ is worth more than every other advantage, with all else counted as loss or dross in comparison, because Christ is the way to eternal life which is worth everything. This expresses a choice to follow God's will rather than inclination or impulse and to serve the Saviour with undivided affection, putting God first in wholehearted self-denying service and giving self to the work of saving souls. A higher, holier mission from God displaces ambition for earthly well-being and advancement, so the true Christian willingly gives up what the world seeks, and a willing heart that yields all to Christ and values eternal things above the riches, pleasures and glory of this world is of inestimable worth.
Paul counted the advantages of wealth and honor among his people as loss for Christ, renouncing them for a life of burden-bearing in God's service to gain Christ and the excellency of knowing Him, and he was satisfied with his choice. A life that looks like renunciation and sacrifice is therefore not really loss, for apparent losses endured for duty and in following the light become infinite gain. The peace and hope found in Him, with a clear sense of eternal things and a heart willing to yield all to Him, are worth more than all earthly riches, pleasures and honors, which no earthly treasure can buy.
Loss becomes gain when faith sees Christ working through hardship in service to others, discerning gain in loss and mercy in misery. To those who so discern, hardships become privileges, confusion becomes order, and what seemed failure becomes God's success and wisdom. What once appeared to be personal gain is counted as loss for Christ, and what appears to be loss can open opportunities to serve and display God's wisdom.
This discerning belongs to humble beginners with little self-confidence who give God all the glory, whose hands may be rough and unskilled but whose hearts pity the ignorant and erring and desire to relieve woe. Christ is present to help them as they take the burden for the poor and needy in the rough places of the earth and enter open doors to do medical missionary work.
Valuing the unsearchable riches of Christ above temporal and financial prosperity, thrones and lands and bank stocks, attracts the heart to accept them and count all else but loss and dross that they may win Christ. This requires willingness to move to localities where truth has not yet been proclaimed even when temporal prospects will be less prosperous, doing to save souls from eternal ruin the work Jesus did when He left the royal throne and royal crown and high command to live in a world seared and marred by the curse that humanity might touch humanity. It calls workers to the same whole consecration as Paul, who after blaspheming Christ's name and using every power to make others blaspheme turned contempt into service to win souls despite opposition and persecution from Jew and Gentile, laying aside worldly attractions and pressing forward through hardship and difficulty toward the heavenly goal, showing the hope of seeing the face of God is worth all effort and sacrifice.