The Power of his Resurrection
In the opening thanksgiving of Philippians, Paul prepares his readers for one of the Letter's key themes: Going on to perfection in Jesus. The resurrection of the believer is necessary for the consummation of this process, and its goal. It is a pivotal part of the salvation that believers will receive when Jesus appears, and a glorious hope as the past resurrection of Jesus demonstrates.
What
God began in the Philippians at their conversion He will continue to perform
until the “Day of Christ” when Jesus returns, raises the dead, and
gathers his elect.
[Photo by Simeon Muller on Unsplash] |
The Apostle begins by thanking God for what He has accomplished in the Assembly, and for its contribution to the Gospel, “from the first day until the present.”
Furthermore,
Paul remains convinced that God will complete what He first started among the
Philippians “until the Day of Jesus Christ,”
not simply because of Who He is, but also because of the past resurrection of His
Son from the dead - (Philippians 1:3-10).
The
term “Day of Jesus Christ” refers to his future coming when he will
appear in glory to gather his saints. It will be a time of both
judgment and salvation – condemnation for the wicked, but vindication for his
elect - (Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 6:2, Ephesians 4:30).
In his
two letters to the Thessalonians, Paul equates this day with the expectation of
the “Day of the Lord” in the Hebrew Bible, an event that results in judgment for some, but salvation for others - (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, 2
Thessalonians 2:1-9).
As for
going on to “perfection,” Paul provides an example based on his
own life. After his conversion, he put his Jewish heritage aside to pursue completion in
Jesus:
- “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ…I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them dung that I may win Christ.”
He did this after obtaining the knowledge of Christ, which he found to be of infinitely
greater value than his past accomplishments in Judaism, including
the Death and Resurrection of Jesus on which the Gospel and salvation are
based, what the Apostle describes as the “power of his resurrection.”
- “…That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained or am already made perfect, but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus” - (Philippians 3:10-12).
Rather
than excel in the traditions of his ancestors as he previously did, he now
pursues conformity to the sufferings and death of the Nazarene so that he might
attain the “resurrection out from among the dead,” and in this way go
on to “perfection.”
[Sun - Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash] |
THE FUTURE RESURRECTION
Since
the Death and Resurrection of the Messiah, the true “circumcision”
consists of men who are “rendering divine
service in the Spirit of God and boasting in Christ Jesus, and not having
confidence in the flesh.”
Perfection can not be achieved by removing foreskins
or rigorously observing lunar calendars. Such fleshly rituals have been rendered
obsolete by the Cross of Christ - (Philippians 3:1-3).
Conformity to his death must be pursued through the Holy Spirit, and the future bodily resurrection is necessary for the “completion” of this process. Resurrection is not optional. It is central to the Apostolic hope.
Whatever disciples do receive from God between now and then, the process of
salvation will remain incomplete until they are raised from the dead, an event that
will occur on the “Day of Christ.”
For
the disciple, the future resurrection will mean the receipt of a new body, one that
is of the same nature as the glorious body now possessed by Jesus. Thus, his
past resurrection is the demonstration and guarantee of the disciple’s own
glorious future.
Thus, “completion”
does not mean the abandonment of the present body for a disembodied state, but the
exchange of our mortal condition for an immortal and glorified body that is in conformity
to the resurrection body of Jesus Christ.
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