Philippians — Week 8

Philippians 3:1-14 opens with Paul's sharp warning against those who insisted circumcision was required for salvation, and explores a real danger in the faith: forgetfulness. Israel's repeated forgetting of God's faithfulness, leading even to Baal worship, shows that refusing to remember and worship God leads down a path that promises pleasure but delivers pain. Paul counts his impressive religious pedigree as loss, even rubbish, compared to knowing Christ. Righteousness comes not by what we do but by what was done for us, and the signs of salvation are the Spirit's fruit, a boasting in Christ, and no confidence in the flesh. Pressing on means forgetting what lies behind, including the failures, addictions, and definitions that no longer define those who are now a new creation in Christ.