Philippians Chapter 3:

Philippians Chapter 3:

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Wow! What a massively powerful passage of scripture! This short but seriously potent passage is enough to take someone all the way to the finish line if they have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to understand. Just in short order the apostle Paul here gives us a heaping helping of divine reality to consider. Firstly he tells us that the way to gain in Christ is to lose self, which he was the all time example of doing, as he basically points out. He also clearly tells us what it is that we need to gain, which is the real time knowledge of the power of the death and resurrection of Christ. He in fact informs us that it is that knowledge and experience of divine power that constitutes the very state of our righteousness in and through Christ. In another place the same apostle defines exactly how we enter into and become partakers of the very death and resurrection of our Savior: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3,4). There is no mistaking the baptism that puts us literally into the body of Jesus Christ, that being the same body that was crucified, and which also rose from the dead: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13).

As the scripture states, it is the baptism of the holy Ghost which was first received at Pentecost, which alone puts anyone and everyone into the body of Jesus Christ; thereby making them partakers of the death and resurrection of that same body. The Spirit baptism literally puts us in Christ's body because his Spirit IS IN his body, even as my spirit and yours are in our bodies. The Spirit is part of his person, so when we receive the Spirit we are in his person, including his body. And going back to our text passage we can also have it confirmed to us by the scriptures that the holy Ghost IS the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, as Jesus himself said: "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence... "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"(Acts 1:4,5,8). In fact the experience of being in the kingdom of God is all about that divine power, and that same power IS our righteousness, even​ as Paul declares in verses 9 and 10 of our text passage. He says the same in the following verse: "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power... For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (I Cor. 4:20; Rom. 14:17).

The truth of the matter is that there is no remission of sins or promise of eternal life apart from or before receiving the baptism of the Spirit, because no one is a partaker of the death and resurrection of the body that died and rose from the dead unless they are baptized into that body by means of the holy Ghost. That is what the scriptures plainly say. The last but not the least important point that Paul made in our text passage was that he was striving to attain unto the resurrection of the dead, and that he had not yet attained unto it. Well, he would have had to have been dead to actually qualify to be raised from the dead, but the more pertinent point he was establishing was that he knew he had to finish his course in the spiritual state of being without sin in order to be in the 'first resurrection,' or the 'resurrection of the just' (Rev. 20:5,6; Acts 24:15). Actually the reason his point about attaining unto the resurrection of the dead is absolutely vital is because the truth is that salvation and the resurrection of the dead are one and the same. The scriptures clearly show that there is 'one hope' of the Gospel, and salvation AND the resurrection of the dead are referred to as that one hope (Eph. 4:4; I Thess. 5:8; Acts 23:6; Acts 24:15). There is no contradiction of the scriptures, and that means that salvation is obtained at "the end of our faith," as Peter told us; and that end is the resurrection of the dead and subsequent glorification of our bodies, which is the actual realization and state of eternal life.

The significance of Paul saying that he had not yet attained unto the resurrection of the dead was that he had to continue in a state of true holiness till the end of his life to be in the first resurrection. I could reference the entire Bible to confirm that point, but the fact that "the wages of sin is death" should be enough to show that sin is not synonymous with eternal life. Nonetheless one very telling verse can nail that reality down nice and tight for us: "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off" (Rom. 11:22). So our calling is to be crucified with Christ, and to walk in holiness in the power of his resurrection, as the same apostle explained elsewhere: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin... For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (Rom. 6:9-12). As long as we follow that course we will, along with the apostle Paul attain unto the resurrection of the dead. There quite simply is no other route to take. Amen!