In Philippians 3:5-6 the apostle Paul speaks of his inborn strength and natural merit and also of the accomplishments that were the result of his effort. Paul says that he was “circumcised the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless.”
In verse 7 he continues, “But what things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ.” What things were gains to me refers to that which was in the natural realm, including his inborn strength, natural merit, and accomplishments, including being born a Hebrew, being blameless in the law, and serving God and keeping the law. He counted all these things, which once were gains to him, as loss on account of Christ. This means that he no longer cared whether these things were gains to him and were no longer important to him. These things could not coexist with Christ. If he kept these things, relying upon his inborn strength, natural merit, and accomplishments, he could not know Christ.
Verse 8 says, “Moreover I also count all things to be loss.” Verse 7 is limited to inborn strength, natural merit, and accomplishments by human effort, but the scope in verse 8 is broader. In this verse he counts “all things” as loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Paul realized that these things kept him from a knowledge of Christ. Because he desired the knowledge of Christ, he counted all things as loss, saying that he “suffered the loss of all things” and counted them “as refuse” that he could gain Christ (v. 8). Christ could not exist simultaneously with Paul’s inborn strength, natural merit, and accomplishments, nor could Christ exist simultaneously with anything else. Nothing has a place in the presence of Christ. Christ is envious and jealous—He desires nothing besides Himself. God desires only Himself to be our God—He does not want anything other than Himself to be our God. Christ allows only Himself to have a place in us and does not desire any matter or thing to have a place. If we have Christ, we cannot have all things.
Verse 9 continues, “And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.” Paul did not have a righteousness that was worked out by his own effort but the righteousness that is through faith in Christ, that is, the righteousness Christ lives out of us. Verse 10 says, “To know Him.” This righteousness caused Paul to know Christ. The righteousness that we work out by our own effort does not cause us to know Christ. The more we do by our own effort, the less we know Christ; the more we love others by our own effort, the less we know Christ; the more zealous we are by our own effort, the less we know Christ. Instead, through faith Christ can live out righteousness from within us, and this righteousness causes us to know Christ.
Please pay attention to the word to in verse 10: To know Christ. Verse 10 is not the cause but the result. Our knowledge is not without a basis; however, there is only one thing that causes us “to” know Christ. What causes us to know Christ? Verse 9 says clearly that relying on our own effort to keep the law, to be zealous, to do good, to serve God, and to love others will not cause us to know Christ. We need to stop our effort, stop our work, and stop all our doing good, being zealous, serving God, and loving others. We will know Christ only when we cease all our efforts and simply have faith. Our faith is in God, in Christ living in us, and in righteousness being lived out from us. This is what causes us to know Christ.
Having the righteousness that is through faith in Christ, which is the righteousness through faith in God, causes us to know Christ. This righteousness is the righteousness in 1 Corinthians 1:30: “Who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” God made Christ our righteousness. When we stop ourselves and believe in God and in Christ, God causes Christ to become our righteousness. In the first step, this righteousness causes us to be justified before God, that is, to be saved. In the second step, this righteousness causes us to live a righteous life, to live out righteousness, which is to live out Christ, and to live an overcoming life. Both salvation and overcoming are included. Our salvation is not through the righteousness that we work out but through Christ being our righteousness. Similarly, after being saved, our overcoming is not through the righteousness we work out but through allowing Christ to live out of us as our righteousness.
The meaning of Philippians 3:9 is that we must stop doing not only evil things but also good things. We need to stop not only our opposition to God but also our service to God. In verses 4 through 6, we can see that Paul was a man who zealously served and who was zealous in doing good. He was full of energy and exceedingly active in serving God and being a good person, but he acted in himself. At that time, he did not have any relationship with Christ. When he relied on his own effort to do good and serve God, he had no way to know Christ. In verse 9, however, he stopped his efforts to do good, stopped his zealous service, and had “faith in Christ.” This meant that he lived in Christ, put himself in Christ, and let Christ be his everything and no longer strived, struggled, and acted by himself. He stopped himself, he believed in Christ, he let Christ live, and he lived by Christ. His stopping enabled him to know Christ. This is a basic principle: If we desire to know Christ, we must stop ourselves.