I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians3:10-11
In the previous few verses Paul has dumped all of his past achievements in the garbage bin: His status as Jew from a well-placed family, his qualifications from Rabbi school, his impeccable track record of zealous piety, and his spotless reputation. Why???
For the privilege of knowing Christ.
For Paul, knowing Christ outshines everything else. More specifically, Paul has his eyes firmly on the awesome power of the resurrection.
For Paul the resurrection has two dimensions: Present and Future.
In the PRESENT the resurrection of Christ unleashes awesome persevering power. For Paul experiencing the power of Christ's resurrection enabled him to share in Christ's suffering and he was even willing to face a martyr's death.
For Paul, knowing Christ and the power the resurrection means that we can overcome pain and suffering. It means that we can be brave and courageous. The power of the resurrection enables us to be purposeful and empowers us to walk in Christ's footsteps even when they go through dark and lonely valleys.
In the FUTURE the resurrection of Christ becomes our resurrection. When Paul uses the word "somehow", he is not casting doubt on the fact of the resurrection, but expressing his inability to grasp the method. In other words, he is saying: "I'm not quite sure how God will put together our old bodies after they have been buried, burnt or lion-eaten, but I know that because Christ was raised, we will be raised."
Have you thought about the idea of the Resurrection working in you and giving you power to get through today??
Paul thought about it a lot!
(Tomorrow we'll see Paul explaining the nature of the resurrection power even more.)
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
