The Story of Redemption

PAUL REVIEWS HIS EXPERIENCE

Paul wrote to the Philippians and described his experience before and after he was converted. Paul said "If anyone thinks he can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way. I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault" (Phil. 3:4-6). SRme 1.1410

After Paul's conversion his testimony was: "All those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ and be completely united with Him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith" (Phil. 3:7-9). SRme 1.1411

The righteousness that Paul had once thought was valuable now was not important. The longing of Paul was: "All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of His resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in His death. . . . SRme 1.1412

"I do not claim [say] that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to Himself. Of course, my brothers, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above" (Phil. 3:10-14). SRme 1.1413