Philippians 3:4b-14
3:4b If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:
3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
3:7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
3:11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
3:13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
4]καίπερ ἐγὼ ἔχων πεποίθησιν καὶ ἐν σαρκί. εἴ τις δοκεῖ ἄλλος πεποιθέναι ἐν σαρκί, ἐγὼ μᾶλλον·
[5]περιτομῇ ὀκταήμερος, ἐκ γένους ᾿Ισραήλ, φυλῆς Βενιαμίν, ῾Εβραῖος ἐξ ῾Εβραίων, κατὰ νόμον Φαρισαῖος,
[6]κατὰ ζῆλον διώκων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, κατὰ δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐν νόμῳ γενόμενος ἄμεμπτος.
[7]ἀλλ᾽ ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν.
[8]ἀλλὰ μενοῦνγε καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μου, δι᾽ ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω
[9]καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ νόμου, ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ, τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει,
[10]τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, συμμορφούμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ,
[11]εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν.
[12]οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον ἢ ἤδη τετελείωμαι, διώκω δὲ εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, ἐφ ᾧ καὶ κατελήφθην ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ.
[13]ἀδελφοί, ἐγὼ ἐμαυτὸν οὔπω λογίζομαι κατειληφέναι·
[14]ἓν δέ, τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω ἐπὶ τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ.
Comments
The lection is not easy, esp. from vv. 8 on. The negative meaning of διώκω, ‘go after, pursue, prosecute, persecute’ (v.6) by the end of the pericope becomes positive, betokening St Paul’s continual effort to ‘go after’ and achieve an exalted prize (vv. 12, 14). The progress from the first meaning to the last animates this passage. The (active) hunter becomes the (passive) quarry, being ‘seized’ by Christ, then in a switch of metaphor Paul becomes a runner or charioteer in the last stretch of a race.
[6] διώκων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν: pres. part.διώκω,a vb of which at least two meanings are pertinent: i) in LXX Gk, c. acc. pers., ‘harass persistently, persecute’, as in Deut. 30.7 (Muraoka), and in the NT, e.g., Mt 5.10, and ii) in Homer, cl. Gk, in LXX, c. acc. obj., ‘pursue an object, seek after’, e.g. honours (LSJ s.v. 1, cf. Muraoka s.v. I). Here i) = ‘persecute’ is appropriate and the acc. ἐκκλησίαν is really an acc. pers. as the ‘Church’ is personified.
A further layer of meaning—admittedly secondary but still suggestive: διώκω is a legal technical term meaning ‘I prosecute at law’ (cl. Gk), sometimes c. acc. pers. (‘I prosecute someone’); see LSJ s.v. IV. The part. used as a substantive, ὁ διώκων = ‘prosecutor, plaintiff’. Paul has stressed his credentials as a defender of the Law; so his persecution was co-extensive with prosecution of the Church.
[7] ἀλλ᾽ ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν.: ἥγημαι, 1st pers. sg. perf. ἡγοῦμαι (ἡγέομαι), in LXX, ‘consider, regard as’ with an attrib. word added (but already in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. III, 1 & 2).
κέρδη, nomin. pl. < κέρδος, ‘gain, profit’ (Hom. & cl. GK (LSJ) but not in LXX).
ζημία, ‘loss, damage, opp. κέρδος’ (LSJ), also in LXX in the same sense (Muraoka).
[8] ἀλλὰ μενοῦνγε καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μου: μενοῦνγε, three particles conjoined follow the adversative conj. ἀλλὰ and come before και (‘and’), a unique concatenation in Greek literature;[1] the nuance is ‘indeed, rather…’ (correcting the immed. preceding sentence, ‘… these things I have regarded/have come to regard as loss on account of Christ.’)[2] Thus: ‘But as a matter of fact I consider EVERYTHING –not only these things—to be loss…’
ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν (7) and its correction/ amplification, ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι, form a chiaston, AB ~B’ A’. The Apostle’s benighted past and enlightened present are interlaced through the chiaston. The crisscross pattern also brings out the gob-smacking reversal in Paul’s earlier calculus of gain and loss.
διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως: ὑπερέχω, a cmpd vb ( ὑπέρ + ἔχω), intr., ‘be or rise above’ (cf. LSJ s.v., II.1) in cl. Gk. The articular part. τὸ ὑπερέχον is a substantive with the fig. meaning ‘pre-eminence, superiority, surpassingness’, a synonym of ὑπεροχή. St Paul rises above others in knowledge of Christ.
δι᾽ ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω: ἐζημιώθην, 1st pers. sg. pass. aor., ζημιοῦμαι (ζημιόομαι), ‘I suffer losses’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ; in LXX the meaning is slightly different). τὰ πάντα, acc. of respect, ‘in all things, in every aspect’; cf. Plato, Laws 916a, πολλὰ ζημιοῦνταί τε , ‘they suffer great losses’. τὰ πάντα is the implied obj. of ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι in the next sentence.
σκύβαλα: σκύβαλον, attested in LXX, is Hellenistic and late Gk. It means ‘crap’ in LXX (Muraoka). Paul uses this ‘climactic, offensive word’[3] in a figurative sense (‘it’s all rubbish, it’s all nonsense’). Chantraine s.v., p. 1022 notes that a Greek-speaker would have associated the term with the verb βάλλω, ‘I throw (out), reject’.
ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω: κερδαίνω, c. acc., ‘gain’ (cl. Gk, not in LXX). κερδήσω, aor. subj. < ἐκέρδησα. The phrase is a purpose (final) clause.
[9] καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ: a coordinate purpose clause which is epexegetic to ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω.[4] εὑρεθῶ, aor. subj. < εὑρίσκομαι, ‘Ι am found’, aor. ηὑρέθην (cl. Gk), unaugm. εὑρέθην (cl. Gk & LXX). In LXX εὑρίσκομαι can mean ‘I exist’, as ἐν σοὶ εὑρέθησαν ἀσέβειαι, Mi. 1.13 (Muraoka). Thus: ‘and in order that I might exist in him’.
[10] τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν: aor. inf. of γινώσκω (koine form), ‘I know’. This articular infinitive in the genit. expresses purpose (‘in order for me to know him’). Experts have tried to explain its role after the two preceding coordinate clauses of purpose. At first reading it may appear oddly unattached. This confusing, inelegant syntax is only redeemed by the consideration that this infinitive is complementary (i.e. it is weakly purposive), and has an ‘intimate connection’ with the immediately preceding phrase ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει (‘on the basis of faith’)in v. 9.[5]
Γι(γ)νώσκω ‘know, perceive’, c. acc. obj. in cl. Gk. The cl. vb means ‘know by observation’. In the LXX the vb connotes ‘profound, intimate knowledge’ and personal relationship, which reflects Hebrew.[6]
[10] συμμορφούμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ: not attested in cl. Gk or in LXX. μορφή means ‘form, shape’; the cmpd vb συμμορφοῦμαι (συμμορφόομαι), pass., means ‘I am conformed to’, ‘I take the form of’.
[11] εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν: καταντῶ (καταντάω), postcl. Gk, ‘arrive at a certain point’ + εἰς (or πρός), as in LXX (see LSJ & Muraoka). εἴ πως/ ‘if somehow’ + the aor. subj. καταντήσω introduce an indirect question dependent on an implied conative vb (a vb of trying). εἰ + subj. is unheard of in cl. Gk but can occur in ‘expressions of expectation’ in an indirect question (Blass-Debrunner-Funk, par. 375, p.191).[7]
Paul is straining to reach—to attain to—the resurrection of the dead: ‘if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection…’ A parallel for this construction is, e.g., Xenophon, Anabasis 2.5.2, ἔδοξεν οὖν τῷ Κλεάρχῳ ξυγγενέσθαι τῷ Τισσαφέρνει καὶ εἴ πως δύναιτο παῦσαι τὰς ὑποψίας (‘Clearchos therefore decided to meet Tissaphernes if somehow he might be able to quash these suspicions’).
[12] οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον ἢ ἤδη τετελείωμαι, διώκω δὲ εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, ἐφ ᾧ καὶ κατελήφθην ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ: οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον, ‘not that I have already received (this as a gift)/ grasped this)’. As Thurston & Ryan op. cit., 126 remark, ‘not that’ is an idiom (as in English) qualifying the preceding statement.[8] It is colloquial. Λαμβάνω can be active in meaning, ‘I take hold of, grasp, seize’ (LSJ s.v. I.1) or passive, ‘I receive’ (II.1).
ἢ ἤδη τετελείωμαι: the qualification continues. τετελείωμαι, pf. tense < τελειοῦμαι (τελειόομαι) & τελεοῦμαι (τελεόομαι), ‘I am made perfect’.
διώκω δὲ εἰ καὶ καταλάβω: διώκω (v. 6) was transitive; here it is intr., ‘I move away with speed’ (cl. Gk & LXX: Muraoka s.v. II.1b). εἰ καὶ καταλάβω: καταλάβω, aor. subj., καταλαμβάνω, ‘I reach a target’, c. acc. (LXX: Murakoa s.v. 3b), hence ‘I attain’. The literal meaning of the intensive cmpd καταλαμβάνω is ‘I seize’. Chasing ‘this’, Paul catches it up and seizes it like a quarry; cf. Si. 27.8, ‘If you pursue (διώκῃς) righteousness, you will attain it’.
The construction εἰ καὶ καταλάβω is an indirect question dependent on an implied conative vb, as in v. 11, εἴ πως καταντήσω. So: ‘But I press ahead at full-speed [striving] if may attain (this)’.
ἐφ ᾧ καὶ κατελήφθην ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ: κατελήφθην, aor. pass., καταλαμβάνομαι, ‘I am seized’. The figurative use of καταλαμβάνω continues: the pursuer/ hunter becomes a quarry, the hunter is hunted and apprehended, or as Thurston & Ryan op. cit., 126, ‘Paul is acted upon by Christ. Certainly the reference is to the Damascus Road experience…’
[13] ἀδελφοί, ἐγὼ ἐμαυτὸν οὔπω λογίζομαι κατειληφέναι: ἀδελφοί, ‘brethren’ is generic, i.e. ‘fellow Christians (male and female)’.
κατειληφέναι: pf. inf., ‘to have attained’, ‘that I have attained’; again the obj. is implied as in v. 12.
[14] τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω ἐπὶ τὸ βραβεῖον: Paul neatly contrasts by means of μέν -δέ what lies behind (τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω) with what lies ahead (τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν).
ἐπεκτεινόμενος: pres. part., ἐπεκτείνομαι, mid., ‘stretch myself, strain’ (not in LXX). κατὰ σκοπὸν: σκοπός (cf. σκοπῶ, ‘I look out for’, cl. Gk) is ‘the mark or object on which one fixes the eye’ (LSJ II), hence here = ‘finishing line’. κατὰ + acc. = ‘after’ (used of pursuit), or ‘to, towards’. Reumann op. cit., 539 notes that this is the imagery of a chariot race or foot-race. Tellingly, Paul returns to διώκω and now construes it with τὸ βραβεῖον, ‘the victor’s prize’.
[1] G. D. Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Grand Rapids, MI, & Cambridge, UK, 1995, p. 317n15.
[2] LSJ s.v. μέν,B. II.1, list classical exx. of corrective μὲν οὖν.
[3] J. Reumann, Philippians, A new translation with introduction and commentary, New Haven & London, p. 519.
[4] Reumann op. cit., 519.
[5] Reumann op. cit., 522; so also Fee op. cit., 327n50.
[6] B. B. Thurston & J. M. Ryan, Philippians & Philemon, Collegeville, Minn., 2005, p.123 ad v. 8.
[7] F. Blass & A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian Literature, tr. & rev. R. W. Funk, Cambridge & Chicago, 1961.
[8] So also Fee op. cit., 342.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 