Paul is shifting the eyes of these people from whatever was promised to them in adherence to the law as the basis of righteousness into the grandeur of what is in Christ.

And look at the word "somehow"? It means there is an element of uncertainty. But one thing we can be sure of: he is not making the goal of Christianity the fatness of their bank account.

• He is persuading them to have the same focus as he does, not by beating it into their head but by telling them about himself.
• He is not trying to guilt-trip them, but rather putting a grand picture before them that makes everything else pale in comparison.

But what does Paul mean by “attain to the resurrection from the dead.” He is telling us about another resurrection. He is talking the language of Enoch, who walked with God and he disappeared because God took him away (Genesis 5:24).

He is using the language of effort in this passage, not the language of what is already done in Christ.

He said

• My aim is to gain Christ (v. 8)
• My aim is to know him (v. 10)
• My aim is to experience the power of his resurrection (v. 10)
• My aim is to share in his sufferings (v.10)
• My aim is to be like him in his death (v. 10)
• My aim is to somehow attain the resurrection of the dead (v11)

He put everything under the banner of knowing Christ.

1. He used the language of business when he said “to gain Christ.” Meaning there are things he has to sacrifice/exchange.
2. He used the language of education when he said I want to know Christ, which means he needs to be instructed, and he needs to pay attention.
3. He used the language of union when he said he wants to experience the power of his resurrection, which means he is ready to be transformed.
4. He used the language of identification when he mentioned sharing in his suffering, which means his priorities have changed.
5. He used the language of absolute commitment when he said, “be like Him in His death,” which means he is ready to give everything up for Christ.
6. He used the language of a climb/ladder when he said “to somehow attain to the resurrection of the dead,” which is his commitment to using his strength/energy in that direction.

The contrary appeal is maybe for the people to think they can have one leg in Christ and one leg trying to earn the favor of God with human credentials. He was saying they should put both legs in Christ. Anything else is like putting the other leg in poop.

He is saying if you are looking for what to strive for, what to aim for, if you are looking for experience, the first step is to strive to be found in Him, not having your own righteousness, not the righteousness that is derived from the law, but that is a copy and paste righteousness from Christ to you.

So how do I make that happen?

• It’s how you see yourself.
• It is the mental picture of yourself and what you regard at the core of your being as constituting the basis of your acceptance by God.
• It is the conclusion that you have arrived at.

And this will be tested again and again, to see if you will vacillate between trust in Christ and trust in yourself.

Persuasions, seemingly valid persuasions, to the contrary, will come. Will you stand firm, or will you be persuaded against the truth? Paul is trying to ensure, with this writing, that you stand firm.

There was a church that did not stand firm: the Galatian church. Paul told them:

That is the language of concern, to say the least. It is not nothing to move from grace to law, from righteousness by faith to the alternative, which is works-based.

But rather than try to beat back at the evil persuaders like he did with his masterful work in the book of Galatians, in this Philippian passage we are exploring, Paul motivates.

He tells you what he is really thinking, pursuing, and tells you he has not yet attained this. Whatever he is talking about cannot be found in mere adherence to the law, but in the foundation that Christ represents - His righteousness.

There is something indeterminate about walking with God. But the law is different.

The law tells me how far I should jump; then I jump it, and that makes me better than the person who cannot jump it.

Even though the mouth may not be saying exactly that, that is the deep-seated motivation. So Paul wants to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness (v. 9), not having any tiny layer of self-justification in him, not hanging on in whatever way to his qualification in his relationship with God.

I want to go back to the fact that, as with Enoch, as with Paul, both were focused on walking with God; that means, before the journey begins, you don’t really know how it will end. We see that language in Paul, who listed the things he is aiming for.

He is saying there is nothing stale when it comes to a relationship with God.

God taking Enoch is an example of resurrection.

The resurrection Paul is talking about is not the resurrection that is the portion of believers who are in Christ at the end of time. That one is promised (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and is not about attainment.

What Paul is talking about is something he wants to experience while on earth, and he said he has not attained it.

So resurrection in this sense is in a figure. And it is founded in embracing only the righteousness that is in Christ. In a way, dead to your own righteousness so that in the core of his being, he is fully dependent on the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21), and it is something he is pressing into.

We may not regard it as something to press into, but it is. We are soaked in the atmosphere of achievement in our own strength, and we need to constantly push against that to gain Christ, meaning to fully realize in a deep spiritual sense, as our only spiritual reality, who He is and what He has done.

That is the foundation.

And attaining the resurrection from the dead is a way of describing union in Christ, union with Him in His knowledge, experiencing the power of His resurrection in the core of your being.

These are realms and dimensions where the full expression of it may be different from person to person. Enoch was taken; Elijah went to heaven on chariots (2 Kings 2:11). Again, it is indeterminate, and that is the fun of it.

From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye

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This book lays out the case for the Sufficiency of Scripture, arguing that it is enough to define the life and practice of Christians and the church. It pushes back against both subtle and blatant violations of this tenet, including Tradition, Imagination, Divination, Emotion, Revelations, and Visions (TIDER).
Join the author as he explains:
Passages that prohibit adding to or removing from God’s word.
Scripture has a special quality that sets it apart from anything else that has ever been written or will ever be written.
The need for humility so that we can separate our biases from the truth.
There are consequences for either adding to or removing from God’s word.
How Jesus and Paul argued for the Sufficiency of Scripture.
How the devil is the enemy of the Sufficiency of Scripture, and humans willingly cooperate with him for different reasons.
How, “The Scriptures, as a fixed set of documents, is a shared body of agreed reference that defines the contours of truth,” and not the preacher’s charisma or eloquence.
Holding to the Sufficiency of Scripture one day doesn’t mean the preacher will always do so, hence the call for carefulness.
Why it’s wrong to pit one passage of Scripture against another.
That “humans have been building up reasonings apart from and against the light of God’s truth for centuries.”
Take the journey to deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Sufficiency of Scripture.

The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved