Upward Grace

Philippians 3:4b-14

Paul was a Jew of Jews as he claims in this passage, and it is important to note that he understood Jesus as per his Judaism.  Paul persecuted the church with zeal because he believed it went against the Law.  When Paul met the resurrected Jesus, he did not believe Christ as Lord and reject the Law, he understood Jesus to be Lord, because of his understanding of the Law.  Paul even writes that Jesus came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.  Paul doesn’t care if you continue to follow the Laws, he did not tell the Jerusalem church to stop, he however did not like the hypocrisy and the requirement of the Law. 

Paul understood like the prophets, that once the Messiah came that this one God would reign over the entire world.  There were those that were monotheistic within their land, but Judaism was clear that the one true God was the God of creation.  Of the entire world, thus once the Messiah would come the world would be part of God’s kingdom.  Paul thus goes to the gentiles because of this Jewish belief.  Paul is critical of Judaism that does not understand this, because Paul knows Jesus as the Messiah.

In this passage, Paul is talking about the Judaizers, who want to require those in the Philippian church to follow the Law as well as Christ.  Paul is outraged at their requirement of others to know Jesus how they had discovered Jesus.  Paul even shares that in their method, he is far better to these Judaizers, but he says that those ways are rubbish.  Paul is not saying that was the wrong way to know Jesus, rather what is important is to strive to Jesus together.  We need only that.

I am reminded of a workshop in which was required by clergy to attend.  Early on in the workshop we were asked if anyone could help him out by cutting out some basic shapes for an illustration.  Well three of us raised our hand, and even though I was thinking “shouldn’t he have done this earlier,” I realized quickly that this was the illustration.  He gave us the paper with the three shapes and each a left-handed scissor.  Needless to say we struggled to cut out the shapes.

Paul understands that it is not important how we get to Christ, but that we strive to the call of Jesus, to Grace, holding fast to what we attained (v.16).  We can not require others to understand Christ exactly how we came to understand.  Just as we cannot require right-handed people to use left-handed scissors.  And if we make a requirement for Grace that is earth bound and not upward, heavenly bound, then those that don’t fit will not have them fully in our fellowship.  Just as any left-handed person would not volunteer for they would assume you would hand them “scissors” (which is what we call right-handed scissors).