One day the Lord Jesus brought His disciples to Caesarea Philippi and asked them who people were saying that He was. They told Him that some said that He was Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. But when He asked them who they thought He was, Peter immediately replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This means that Jesus, the Nazarene, was the Christ, the Messiah, God's anointed and appointed One. Peter seemed to be saying, "You, Jesus of Nazareth, are the anointed and appointed One of God. You are also the Son of the living God."

After Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would be crucified and resurrected on the third day. But the Lord's followers could not believe it. They could recognize Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, but they could not believe that He would be crucified and resurrected. Eventually, the Lord was betrayed, arrested, judged, and crucified. The disciples were very disappointed because the Son of the living God had been killed and buried. But on the third day He was resurrected. The resurrection was discovered not by Peter, but by a sister who loved the Lord. She saw the empty tomb and even touched the resurrected Christ. Then the Lord charged her to tell the disciples that He would meet them in Galilee. Thus, after Christ's resurrection all the disciples came to know the excellency of Christ Jesus the Lord.

But many of the "top dogs" among the Jews did not know this excellent One. One of these "top dogs" was a young man named Saul of Tarsus. Saul appreciated the law to the uttermost, and he tried his best to damage the churches. But one day the excellent Jesus appeared to him from the heavens in a mysterious way, even calling him by name. Saul saw the light and heard the voice, but he did not see anyone. How shocked Saul was to discover that the One speaking to him was Jesus! To his concept, Jesus was in the tomb. But now he heard Jesus speaking to him from the heavens. At that time, the veil was removed, and Saul of Tarsus had a vision of the Lord Jesus. This vision gave him the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.

For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Paul became willing to drop everything. He realized that there was no comparison between Christ and the law. How could the ten commandments compare with this living, wonderful Person? All the things that had been gain to Paul he now counted as loss for the excellency of Christ.