Phil. 3:10-16; Rom. 6:1-4, Conformity to Christ

Let us quickly review Phil. 3 thus far.

·        3:1-7: The (negative) nature of Paul’s passion.  He put no confidence in the flesh.  He repented of attaining greatness by the pride of life.  That was rubbish, useless.

·        3:8-9: The reason for Paul’s passion.  He now wanted only to glory or boast in Jesus.  The reason for this is the excellence (superiority) of knowing of Christ.

·        3:10-11: The (positive) nature of Paul’s passion.  Simply put Paul’s passion is this: I want to know Christ.  This is now the sum total of Paul’s life.  For to me, to live is Christ.  And if he should die in the Roman prison, to die is gain.  Paul is committed to “learn Christ” in every situation of his life.  There are two specific truths Paul desires to know about Christ and they are “gospel” truths.    

o   Paul wanted to know the power of His resurrection.  It is this power by which we walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).  In Eph. 1:15-23 Paul prayed that we might know, among other things, the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, meaning His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the heavenlies.  Paul wanted to experience this power in his life.

o   Paul wanted to know the fellowship of His sufferings.  Remember: when Jesus called people to follow Him He told them He was on His way to the cross and if they were to follow Him they had to take up their own cross.  Many to not understand that the Body of Christ is a fellowship, a fellowship of suffering.  They are excited to speak of and call us to know Jesus resurrection power.  But they live a life that denies taking up the cross.  There is no resurrection unless there has first been a death.    

What we have said to this point might not make sense unless you see the next two lines from Paul: being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Paul is saying what we just said: His need to know Christ and His resurrection and suffering is not the end of the road.  He needs to know this so that, in his own life, he can become truly Christ-like.


Consider this word conformed.  It is the word form that we saw in Phil. 2:6-7 about Jesus.  It is used in Rom. 8:29 saying that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Think about this.  He, Jesus, being in the form of God took on the form of a bond-servant when He became flesh and dwelt among us.  He took on our form, a fleshly form.  When we follow Him the goal is for us to take on His form. Our conformity to Him will find its completion when He returns for us and will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed (same term) to His glorious body (Phil. 3:21).  In this life we are being conformed to His death; in the future we will be conformed to His resurrection.


This all began when, by faith, we trusted in Christ and were united with Him in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:1-4).