That I May Know Him
Have you ever been reading a passage of Scripture and struggled to find anything meaningful or even understandable? Here’s a tip: just ask yourself what it says about Jesus. (If you’re in the Old Testament, ask what it says about the character of God.)
It’s been close to two months since I posted here, over three since I posted anything about Philippians. Summer’s a crazy time, and I had plenty of reasons for not writing much, but to be totally honest I just got stuck on Philippians 3. (verses 8-14 especially.)
There is SO MUCH in these verses, and it’s always been one of my favorite passages. But when I zoomed in closer, I got confused and a little frustrated trying to figure out what Paul is really saying.
This whole passage demonstrates a tension that runs through the whole New Testament: the fact that good works can never save you, but saved people do good works. (Which is quite possibly one of the most written-about paradoxes in all of Christian history, so I’m going to keep this to just Philippians 3.)
Paul talks about having no confidence in the flesh, how all his religious achievements are loss for Christ, and seeking a righteousness not his own. But he also talks about “attaining” to the resurrection from the dead, and pressing on toward the goal with very active, “working” language.
I could write all day about how this tension works on on a theological level. But lately I’ve been wrestling with how to actually apply it in everyday life.
I can read Philippians 3 and understand how having no confidence in the flesh is different from pressing toward the goal. But what about when I’m tired and deciding whether to write a blog post or go to bed? Do I tell myself that the achievement of writing a blog post is loss for Christ and I should rest in his finished work? Or do I ask the Holy Spirit for strength to press on toward the goal?
I’d been trying all summer to answer this question by digging deeper into Philippians 3, asking very specific questions about the meanings of words and phrases.
And then, on Tuesday morning when I tried once again to write a blog post, it hit me.
I have always loved this passage because of beautiful phrases like “the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” or “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection…”
This year when I came to the passage to study and meditate on it, I thought I needed to zoom out and look at every word, meditating on it and examining how every piece fits together.
But maybe that’s not how this passage was meant to be read. Maybe those phrases I loved about knowing Jesus are meant to be the rubies standing out against the gold backdrop of Paul’s run-on sentence.
Maybe (duh), this is about Jesus.
It’s about how knowing Jesus is better than all this world has to offer. It’s about having his righteousness. It’s about dying to yourself and living again just as he did. It’s about sharing in suffering joyfully because he did.
Trying to parse out every word of Philippians 3 is like what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing in John 5:39: “You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me.”
It’s possible, and dangerous, to know the Bible super well and never know Jesus. But you will always be missing the point. Studying doctrine can be a great tool for knowing Jesus, but studying doctrine just to know doctrine can be a great tool for the devil.
The Bible is so full of truth and wisdom for how to follow Jesus, but it’s not exhaustive. It doesn’t tell us how to apply God’s truth in every moment of our lives. But if you know God; if you are united with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, he’ll make it clear.
So read the Bible, memorize the Bible, meditate on the Bible - but don’t forget that the Bible means nothing if you don’t know the Author.