In Philippians 3:10 Paul spoke of “being conformed to His death.” This expression indicates that Paul desired to take Christ’s death as the mold of his life. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ, counting all things as loss, gaining Christ, being found in Him, knowing Him, knowing the power of His resurrection, and knowing the fellowship of His sufferings all issue in one thing—being conformed to Christ’s death.
Paul lived a crucified life continually, a life under the cross, just as Christ did in His human living. Through such a life of being molded to Christ’s death, Paul experienced and enjoyed the resurrection power of Christ. The mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His human life that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57). When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a crucified life. By living a crucified life He was alive to God and lived Him. He always put His human life to death so that the divine life within Him could flow out (10:10-11, 17). As He was living, He was also dying—dying to the old creation in order to live a life in the new creation. This is the meaning of “His death” in Philippians 3:10.
Christ’s death is a mold to which we are conformed in much the same way that dough is put into a cake mold and conformed to it. God has put us into the mold of Christ’s death, and day by day God is molding us to conform us to this death (Rom. 6:3-4). We should be conformed to such a mold by our dying to our human life to live the divine life. If we put to death our natural life, we will have the consciousness that we have another life, the divine life, within us; this life will be released, and then in our experience we will be conformed to Christ’s death (John 10:10; 1 John 5:11-12). In the mold of Christ’s death, the natural life is killed, the old man is crucified, and the self is nullified (2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 6:6; Matt. 16:24). If we allow our circumstances to press us into this mold, our daily life will be molded into the form of Christ’s death (Rom. 8:28-29).
Being conformed to the death of Christ is the condition for knowing and experiencing Him, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. Being conformed to the death of Christ is the base of the experience of Christ. As we are conformed to Christ’s death, we experience His all-accomplishing death. First, if we die with Christ, we will keep our soul-life unto eternal life (John 12:25). Second, if we are willing to be conformed to Christ’s death, we will overcome the world and defeat Satan (v. 31; Heb. 2:14). Third, by being conformed to His death, we experience Christ in His death for the release, impartation, and multiplication of life (John 12:24-26; 2 Cor. 4:12). We need to be conformed to the death of Christ so that the divine life within us may be released and imparted into others and thereby multiplied. Fourth, when we are conformed to the death of Christ, spontaneously the divine life within us will be released, and God the Father, the source of this life, will be glorified. Hence, the more we are conformed to Christ’s death, the more we glorify the Father (John 12:28; 13:31). The only way to glorify God is to be conformed to Christ’s death. Fifth, through His death on the cross, people are drawn to Christ (12:32). The real attraction is in His dying. When we die the death of Christ and are conformed to His death, we will be a magnet drawing others to Christ. The death of Christ on the cross has a lovable attraction. Such an attraction comes through the release of life; this is the crucified life with its attracting power.
In Philippians 3:11 Paul goes on to say, “If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.” To attain means to arrive at. To attain to the out-resurrection from the dead requires us to run triumphantly the race for the prize (1 Cor. 9:24-26; 2 Tim. 4:7-8). The out-resurrection refers to the outstanding resurrection, the extra-resurrection, which will be a prize to the overcoming saints (Heb. 11:35; Rev. 20:4-6). All believers who are dead in Christ will participate in the resurrection from the dead at the Lord’s coming back (1 Thes. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:52), but the overcoming saints will enjoy an extra, outstanding portion of that resurrection.
To arrive at the out-resurrection indicates that our entire being has been gradually and continually resurrected. God first resurrected our deadened spirit (Eph. 2:5-6). Then from our spirit He proceeds to resurrect our soul (Rom. 8:6) and our mortal body (v. 11), until our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—is fully resurrected out of our old being by and with His life. This is a process in life through which we must pass and a race that we must run until we arrive at the out-resurrection as the prize. Hence, the out-resurrection should be the goal and destination of our Christian life. We can reach this goal only by being conformed to the death of Christ, by living a crucified life. In the death of Christ we are processed in resurrection from the old creation to the new.
To be in the out-resurrection means to leave everything of the old creation and to be brought into God. Although Lazarus was resurrected, he neither left the things of the old creation nor was he brought into God. At the end of the coming age all the dead unbelievers will be resurrected. Nevertheless, that resurrection will not bring them out of the old creation, and it will not bring them into God. There is only one kind of resurrection that brings us out of the old creation and into God, and this is the resurrection of Christ. Thus, Christ’s resurrection is the outstanding resurrection. Christ is the unique One to pass out of the old creation and to enter into God. Christ lived in an old creation body and environment for thirty-three and a half years, but the life He lived belonged wholly to the new creation because He continually died to His old creation body and environment and lived to God. Through His death and resurrection, He left the old creation behind and was brought into God.
The out-resurrection is actually the dear, precious, excellent person of Christ, the One who, through crucifixion and resurrection, has passed out of the old creation and has entered into God. This wonderful One is far more excellent than the angels, who belong to the old creation. They have not experienced crucifixion or resurrection. But after Christ was crucified and buried, He was resurrected out of the old creation and into God. Christ Himself is the reality of the out-resurrection. Now we must pursue a life which is this wonderful person of Christ. With Paul, we should be able to say, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Paul could also testify that he had been crucified with Christ and that Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). The Christ who lived in Paul is the One who, in His own person, is the out-resurrection.
Now we need to ask an important question: Can we reach the goal of the out-resurrection in this age, or can we only run the race and hope to reach the goal in the coming age? Some may think that we must wait until the coming age to reach the goal. But if we do not arrive at the goal in this age, we will not attain to it in the next age. We must endeavor to arrive at the goal during our lifetime.
In Romans 8:11 Paul says, “If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” This verse indicates that we can attain to the out-resurrection in this age. Here Paul says that the Spirit of the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to that part of our being which is dying, our mortal bodies. We have seen that the Spirit is the reality of Christ’s resurrection, the reality of the out-resurrection. The Spirit is dwelling in us to work the out-resurrection into our being in a real and practical way. Thus, Romans 8:11 indicates that we should attain to the out-resurrection in this age.
To live Christ is to live the out-resurrection; this should be our goal. Day by day we should live the out-resurrection. For example, our love for our spouse should not be natural but in resurrection. If we love our spouse in resurrection, our love will be not of the old creation but in God. Our deeds and words must be in resurrection. If a certain deed is not in resurrection, we should not do it. If a certain word is not in resurrection, we should not say it. The question is not whether a particular thing is right or wrong but whether or not it is in resurrection. This shows that to live Christ is to live the out-resurrection, to live a life absolutely outside of the old creation and in God.
In the out-resurrection there is no element of the old creation. Instead, everything is full of the divine element. This is the reason that people sense God when they are with a person who lives in the out-resurrection. The living of such a person, his deeds and words, is in resurrection. This is the out-resurrection in our daily life. In Philippians 3 Paul was pursuing this kind of living. This is what he had in mind when he declared that his desire was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and by any means to attain to the out-resurrection. We need to pray, “Lord Jesus, I love You in a way that I have never loved You before. Lord, in Your presence I resolve to pursue You as the out-resurrection. I want everything in my life to be outside of the old creation and in God.”