MSB Book Notes on Philippians
2/3rds to 3/4's of each page of this book is "MSB notes".  Indicates to me that the book is just full of wisdom and information needful to Christians.  Have to remember that each of these letters from Paul is written primarily to the saved.  They are doctrinal and instructional to those already saved, rather than evangelistic in nature.
Written to the church in Phillippi, the first Macedonian city where Paul established a church.

Early church testimony is that Paul wrote the letter.  Nothing there to profit a forger at all. 
MSB says "The question of when the letter was written cannot be separated from the question of where it was written."  There is internal evidence in the similarities of descriptions (with many many references in the MSB) of this book to the other prison epistles (Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon) to make it seem that it too was written between 60-62 AD during Paul's "first" (?) imprisonment in Rome.  Acts plays a part here too.  However, some say all the prison epistles were written from Caesarea during Paul's two year imprisonment there.  But would there have been those of the household of Caesar there, and did he really have ample opportunity to preach the gospel.  Additionally, the epistles indicate that Paul was waiting on some "final verdict".  This was not the case in Caesarea where the outcomes were either that he would bribe Felix and be released, or he would go to Jerusalem for trial there.  Some also suggest the prison epistles were written from Ephesus.  But Luke was not with Paul in Ephesus.  We know he was with Paul in Colosse, so this eliminates Ephesus as the place of writing at least in part.  The traditional view that Philippians was written from Rome, seems to be the best conclusion.

Phillippi was named after Phillip of Macedon, father of Alexander the great, who conquered the city in the fourth century BC.  There were nearby goldmines that attracted him.  The city came under Roman rule in the second century BC.  This city wasn't really a big deal until 42 BC, when it became forever famous.  Here, the armies of Antony and Octavian defeated the armies of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi, thus ending the Roman Republic and ushering in the Empire.  Philippi became a Roman colony and many veterans of that battle settled in the city. 

The church there was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey.  The city had a very small Jewish population.  Because there were not enough men to form a synagogue (the requirement was 10 Jewish men who were heads of a household), some devout women met outside the city at a place of prayer (Acts 16:13) alongside the Gangites River.  Paul preached to them and Lydia became a believer.  This was the start of that church. 

It was here that Paul cast the fortune telling demon out of the slave girl, enraging her masters, who incited the whole town, resulting in the imprisonment there of Paul and Silas.  An earthquake freed them, and the Philippian jailer and his household were saved.  The city fathers panicked at their illegal detention and beating of "Roman citizens" - the Philippians were very proud of their "adoption" as Romans, and were very motivated to ingratiate themselves to Rome and follow all of its laws.  So they begged Paul and Silas to leave in peace.

Chapter 1
2021-2, First verse:
[Phl 1:1 ESV] Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
So where ever Paul was, Timothy was with him.  This would seem to indicate that more than just a day or two had passed since Paul started the church here.  Paul meets Timothy in Acts 16:1.  He preaches to the women in Phillippi, starting the church there, in Acts 16:13.  So this is no clue at all.  Timothy was already with Paul before the Philippian church was founded.  Was Timothy "in prison" with Paul, or was he staying in the same place in order to look after Paul?  Note that Paul refers to bishops and deacons, both.  This was far enough along in the development of the church that these offices were widely accepted as part of church organization.  All this in vs. 1.
2021-2, Vs 2:
I note that God our Father in transliterated Greek is "theos pater", and Lord Jesus Christ is "kyrios iesous christos".

2023 - In Ephesians, which is also a prison epistle, I made a huge deal of the fact that it is from Paul, and ONLY Paul.  Here, we see that this book is from Paul and Timothy.  Now maybe that is in there because Timothy was FROM Phillippi, and he was with Paul when Ephesians was written, even though he isn't named there.  It would be interesting to compare the salutations of ALL the Pauline church epistles to see whether Paul naming only himself is rare or common.
Romans - Paul only.
1Co - Paul and Sosthenes.
2Co - Paul and Timothy
Galatians - Paul and all the brothers.
Ephesians - Paul only.
Philippians  - Paul and Timothy
Colossians - Paul and Timothy
1Thess - Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy
2Thess - Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy
So only two of these are from Paul alone.  I think that is significant, and warrants a "re-look" at the first chapter or Romans.

Starts in typical Pauline epistle fashion.  Tells who it is from, and then of Paul's prayers for the recipients.  This very encouraging verse:
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. [Phil 1:6 ESV]
We are all works in progress, and God knows what the final look will be.  Wherever we may find ourselves in our walk, we should remember that we are progressing to the end that God has in mind.

2021-2, The word for "the day" is the transliterated "hemera", or phonetically "hay-may'-ra", with a trilled r.  The definite article is not uniquely present.  I think it could be read "a" day of Jesus Christ.  Hmm...he uses this phrase again in vs 10:
[Phl 1:10 ESV] so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
"hay-may'-ra" is used again here, as above, but in this case the word before it is eis, rather than achri.  Both cases use "the".  It has to be implied, I can see that it would be the right choice - the instead of a.

2022 - So if it is "the" day of Christ, when is that?  Is it the same as "the day of the Lord", meaning the beginning of wrath in Revelations?  Is it the day of the rapture, when we go to heaven?  Is it the day of the bema seat judgment...though I see that as the judgment seat of God, not Christ, because Christ will be standing and God on the throne.  Is it the judgment at the beginning of the Millennial reign, when Christ is definitely seated and the one judging.  When, exactly, does Paul say there can be no further improvement, because on this day he is talking about the good work of Jesus Christ will be completed.  Hmm...Looked at that way, it just about has to be that "the day of Jesus Christ is the rapture".  That day will be the "last day" for the saved to whom Paul is writing.  Does that work in vs 10 also?  Sort of...because right after the rapture is the bema, where one does want to have his works accepted.  Where we don't want to hear that we could have done oh so much better.  Blameless is the goal.  So this does hold up, kind of.  I need to incorporate this opinion into the notes on Pre-Wrath Chapter 9...One more thing....this is one of those passages where you can make a big issue of what day is in view, but you have to remember that this is not Paul explaining the sequence of end time events.  He says this in the greeting.  So...bad idea to try nailing it into place with a hammer.

Now, instead of turning to doctrinal issues or personal instructions as he did in the other prison epistles, Paul turns to a report of his own circumstances.  
2021 - This verse:
13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. [Phl 1:13 ESV]  Would there have been an imperial guard in Ceasarea?  While maybe not definitive, this would seem to be about Rome.  But...there is this:  35 he said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive." And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium. [Act 23:35 ESV]  Footnote in the ESV for Phl 1:13 says the literal Greek translation there is "in the whole Praetorium".  So...vs 13 could be used as an argument for both sides...
2021-2, Does praetorium mean a group of soldiers, or is it a place name?  This from the BLB interlinear.  There are in fact three explanations of this word in the BLB.  There is the "Outline of Biblical Usage", the Strong's definition, and then Thayer's Lexicon.  I would note that none of the three mention the word as referring to a group of guys.  All three define the word as follows:
πραιτώριονpraitṓrion, prahee-to'-ree-on; of Latin origin; the prætorium or governor's courtroom (sometimes including the whole edifice and camp):—(common, judgment) hall (of judgment), palace, prætorium. So one might question the translation as "imperial guard" as hard to explain.  KJV translates it "in all the palace".  NASB goes with praetorian guard as do ASV and RSV.  NKJV changes to "palace guard".  So my guess is that something in the dead sea scrolls - which were not available when the KJV was translated - makes them think it is about people and not place.  Does it matter?  Well yes, kind of, if you are going to use it as an argument for where Paul was when he wrote Philippians, as in "Would there be a praetorian guard in Ceasarea?".  There certainly would have been a praetorium there!  So I would not rely on this argument for where Paul was when he wrote this letter.

Vss 15-18 tell of some who preach the gospel out of envy and rivalry.  But Paul concludes that whatever their reasons, he rejoices because Christ is proclaimed.  So hearing the gospel, even from those who preach it with the wrong motives entirely, can still lead to salvation.  It is not the skill or intention of the sower that matters, but of the one who saves, which is God.
2021-2, This verse:
[Phl 1:18 ESV] What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,
Paul is saying the same thing Jesus did when he said "He who is not against us is for us".  How much does this apply to us today with our multiple denominations, the televangelists that we love to criticize, and so on.  We need to get much more specific as to the things with which we find fault.  Are they doctrinally wrong, or are we just jealous of the size of their church, the make of their car, or the price of the suits they wear?  It takes more than a passing glance to determine if someone is preaching the wrong gospel, or mischaracterizing Christ.  And if we haven't done the homework, we ought not to criticize at all, because it is not about the sower, it is about the soil.
Possible FB post here.

2022 - Vs 15 - If Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this, who was it that was envious of him?  Who would have been preaching to be "like Paul"?  This seems to be a "vote" for imprisonment in Caesarea.  I don't think wrongly motivated preachers seek imprisonment for their trouble.  But in Caesarea, they'd have had a more receptive audience, and they'd have a good idea that Paul was not considered any kind of threat at all that would put him in danger of execution.  Again in vs 16, "...knowing I am put here for defense of the gospel..".  He was imprisoned in Caesarea for that very reason.  His defense in Acts while here is that those in Jerusalem raised a ruckus because of what Paul was preaching about Jesus.  He made it about Pharisees and Sadducees, but all have figured out that it is really about Jesus.  Hmm...I am leaning more and more toward Caesarea as the place from which Paul is writing.  Then 17..."thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment" sounds exactly like those in Jerusalem that got Paul arrested in the first place!  They were mean and spiteful in addition to being murderous.  Yep.  I'm going with Caesarea.

This verse, that is easy to quote, but difficult to live:
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [Phl 1:21 ESV].

2021-2, This verse, so shortly after 21:
[Phl 1:23 ESV] I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
I wonder if this is what happens as we get older?  I wonder if this is the reason we age, and the reason for all that goes with it.  Every day, as I see things happening that disappoint and discourage me despite my best efforts to remain hopeful, I can't help but think about heaven, where all will be well, justice will reign and my Savior and my God will be always present.  I mean, won't that be better than this?  But I didn't much think that way when I was 25.  When I was 45.  And so on.  But today?  Yeah, heaven is definitely an attractive place.  I look forward to it rather than hope it stays away.  That old line from the country song "I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go today" rings more and more hollow every day.  

Paul seems to be fairly convinced at this point that he will ultimately be released.  He will live to proclaim the gospel further.  The wording of vs 25 indicates that to me:
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, [Phil 1:25 ESV]
Remember that this is his first imprisonment at Rome.  I need to get the chronology of that straight.  I'm guessing that he wrote to Timothy during his second imprisonment, when he knew he would not be released.  But I don't know what happens in between.  Who was the emperor that released him?  And who condemned him the second time?

2022 - I can see him being pretty hopeful that he would be released from Ceasarea.  He had appealed to Caesar, and I imagine he was confident that the governor in charge would find it too risky politically to condemn him there.  So you could use this verse to say that Paul wrote this from Caesarea.  But even so...would there be an imperial guard...wait...I am convinced that it does not even say "imperial guard".  It says "praitorio".  A place.  So it might be Caesarea after all...This is why MSB says "best conclusion" instead of "firm conclusion" is that he was in Rome.  You just can't show it definitively either way.  But I do think it is pretty important to decide which you think it is.  Pick one, and base the applications on where Paul was writing from.

2022 - But...vs 30?  "engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have".  That could be a reference to the Philippian city fathers begging him to leave town peacefully.  He definitely had a "conflict" in Philippi.  He was imprisoned there.  And now he is imprisoned again...Guess that really doesn't give us much of a clue.  He got the city leaders pretty upset with him both in Philippi and in Jerusalem.

Chapter 2
This chapter begins with Paul urging the Philippians toward unity.  To be "in full accord and of one mind".  

I should recite this verse a hundred times a day:
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [Phil 2:3 ESV]
Such a conflict with American culture.  With John Wayne cowboy movies and western novels about the Sacketts.  It conflicts with the attitudes behind 1776 and 1861.  None of those were about what was best for others.
2021-2, Possible FB post, maybe starting in January.  Adding this to our character, striving for this every day is surely a worthy goal for 2022.  We know we'll fail, so make it a resolution to try every day, not necessarily to succeed every day.  But I do think it is important to note the further clarification that comes in vs 4:
[Phl 2:4 ESV] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  The Bible does not teach that we are to forsake our own families, our own finances or even our own health and look after others BEFORE ourselves.  We add responsibility for others to the responsibility for our own.  What an equalizer within the church!  What if you "worry" about where that family two rows up is going to get the money to repair their only car as much as you worry about next semester's tuition for your own?  What if you have $100 left over from tuition that you could put on their car repairs?  
This might be two FB posts, one for vs 3, another for 4.
2022 - This seems to be yet another reference to those in Chapter 1 who were preaching from envy and rivalry.  Don't be like them, don't have self-promotion as your goal.
2023 - Unity within the church is in view here.  Paul isn't saying to give away any extra to the poor in New Zealand, but to look to those in your "church family" that are in need.  We ought to support our own, and then our church, and then be charitable toward the rest of the world.  Isn't that what Jesus said about the spikenard applied to his feet?  The poor will always be with you.  Help those inside first.

This is all setting up for 2:5-11, the description of Jesus' example to us.  Who could ever humble themselves more than Jesus did, leaving the perfection of his spiritual body in a paradise where nothing ever went wrong, to live in a physical body of flesh, hit his thumb with hammers, experience pain, death, love of mother and father, and so on.  It is not possible to humble ourselves to that extent, because we start well below what was the bottom for Jesus.  Even in body, he never sinned, never yielded.  We are born as failures, and then continue to fall.

These verses, pretty much expressly denied in the Quran:
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Phl 2:9-11 ESV]
Islam says that God made no one else sovereign.  They deny this verse of the Bible, yet the Quran endorses scripture and refers Muslims to the keepers of the book.
2022 - This is also New Testament.  It would be a good thing to compile the OT verses that also call him sovereign, that put him forever on the throne of David.  That make him creator of al that is.  Use those OT verses to show that the NT is not claiming some new additional sovereign.  It is just being consistent with what came before.  With what Muhammed readily and repeatedly endorsed as a worthy, useful book.

Vss 12, 13 are about sanctification.  A lifelong process of perfecting, as much as we can, this mortal existence.  vs 13 makes it clear that it is God who works - not our own works - in achieving this sanctification, this salvation.

2021-2, Vss 14-16 are a single sentence.  A very long sentence.

2021 - These two verses:
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, [Phl 2:14-15 ESV]  We have seen this before, as Paul called for unity.  We especially saw those in the church working against each other in the Corinthian letters.  There, they were suing each other.  This seems to be much less severe, but still worthy of Paul's attention.  In light of my comments at the end of this book, I would say this might be a "first world problem" also.  When we don't have the world actively trying to trample us and all that we stand for, we tend to grumble about each other, to each other.  We dispute about minor matters - whether worldly matters or doctrinal matters.  Keep in mind Phil 1:15-18, where the underlying motives of those proclaiming the gospel are in question - but to be overlooked so long as the true gospel is being proclaimed.  Makes me wonder about what John MacA said about Tony Evans preaching of "dispensational salvation".  Clearly an error...but if that is all he gets wrong, do we shun him?  He gets Christ right, and the gospel right, but he doesn't think those who've never heard of Jesus go to hell because of that.  I think they do.  If Tony is wrong, the sin is in diluting the urgency of missionary work.  Hmm....
2021-2, Another possible FB post, right after the one on vs 3.  
2023 - But...MacArthur is a dispensationalist, and so far as I can tell, so am I!  So I ought to look more into this dispute before having an opinion about it.  But that "clearly an error" comment above?  That's from when I didn't even realize how dispensational I am nor what beliefs I have that make me one.

2022 - This verse:
16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. [Phl 2:16 ESV].
Here is the third time Paul has used this phrase in this same book.  Shouldn't that be enough times to gather the context of what he means?  When is "the day of Christ"?  Rosenthal in Pre-Wrath says it is the same as "day of the Lord", and refers to the beginning of wrath.  If so, why would Paul want to be proud on that day?  I guess you could see it as him being glad that at least some of the people he'd preached to were saved and raptured out before all that started.  I mean, it doesn't really say, but to me, Paul would be more concerned with those not raptured on such a day, more concerned with the ones who heard him and didn't listen, than with the raptured.  It seems to me, from this verse anyway, that the day of Christ is more likely the bema seat judgment, in heaven, when the Philippians are rewarded for so conscientiously upholding the purposes of the church.  Wouldn't anyone be proud when their "children" were recognized and rewarded for the good they did in their lives?  

A change of subject in vs 19, and then Paul says this:
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. [Phl 2:19-21 ESV]
Is he referring back to those who preach from rivalry again?  Hard to believe that at this point, Paul believed there was only one who was singularly devoted to the church and without self-interest or personal ambition.  If this is so, and Paul is writing from Ceasarea, then he was "abandoned" by his friends long before he wrote to Timothy from Rome.  His state of mind in the letters to Timothy seem far more "alone" than what he says here.  He must have written to Timothy after his second imprisonment?  But were there two?  Not sure where I got that.  In any case, Paul still had lots of support at Ceasarea and his escort let him stop and meet people on his way to Rome.  So I think this verse lends itself to the "from Rome" position much moreso than the "from Ceasarea" position.
2022 - Yep.  Vs 21 sure seems like what Paul said to Timothy, 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! [2Ti 4:16 ESV].  But...if 2Tim was written during Paul's second imprisonment, wouldn't that be much later?  Yes...MSB intro speculates that it was written either from Ceasarea or from Rome during the first imprisonment.  So...not likely that Paul has in view the same situation in Philippians 2 that he has in 2Tim 3.  The second one was probably even worse.  That, though, indicates that once Paul got to Rome, many of his 'supporters", his fellow believers, either tried to use it to advance themselves, or they were so afraid of sharing Paul's fate that they melted away and went home.  

Paul explains his reasons for sending Epaphroditus back to them.  All is well, there is no reproach or disappointment.

2023 - So...in 2:21, "they all seek their own interests" except for Timothy.  But in 2:25, Epaphroditus is "my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier".  I don't know how these two can really be fitted together.   Unless Timothy is currently not with Paul, but in some other place where there aren't any "good" people.  Maybe Timothy is also without help where he is, and Paul knows he needs a break, but doesn't want him to leave there just yet...perhaps until Paul knows that he can take Timothy's place on the field.  Was there a time when Timothy was in Corinth and Paul was in prison?  I think we have one hint in one of the Timothy's that perhaps Timothy was jailed where he was, and Paul was not with him at the time.  So maybe that is how this reads.  Even so, why would Paul tell the Philippians that there were no good people in say, Corinth, where Timothy was?  I mean, there WERE some good people in Corinth!  I don't know.

Chapter 3
2023 -Much argument in here against "Salvation of the Soul".
2022 - First verse:
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. [Phl 3:1 ESV].  MSB says Paul is saying he doesn't mind repeating in writing what he told them when he was there.  By repeating it, he hopes to keep them "safe" from the false teachers.  This makes sense in light of verse 2...

Early in this chapter, Paul gives the Philippians a general warning about people they should be careful about:
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. [Phl 3:2 ESV]
Also, in the NASB:
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; [Phl 3:2 NASB]
MSB confirms that Paul is "reversing" the usual connotations of these words.  The Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs, but Paul here uses the word of Jews.  MSB says the word translated as circumcision here is more like mutilation.  Rather than a sacred thing, showing covenant relationship, Paul says it is now like the prophets of Baal, mutilating themselves to get the attention of their god.  This is such a huge reversal of connotation as to "jolt" us into recognizing how much things have changed with the coming of Christ.  Now, the circumcision are those who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus.

2022 - When you read these first three verses, it is easy to see why the "elite" Jews would have absolutely despised Paul.  They would have seen him as distorting their teachings - targeting their congregations specifically - for recruitment into his new and, to them, entirely false religion.  In that time, killing those who opposed them was probably not even unusual.  After all, Paul had made a living throwing Christians into prison, and now he is their most outspoken evangelist.  Paul was telling the Jews that their day had come and gone.  That they ought to abandon the rules with which they were brought up, eat some bacon, and relax.  Imagine telling all the SBC preachers that they are no longer needed because there is a new "vehicle" for spreading God's word, and churches are no longer how we do that.  Not saying they'd kill people, but you know they'd fight it as false teaching and say that anyone who took that road was likely to go to hell.  

2023 - This verse:  7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. [Phl 3:7 ESV].  So if we take the Chitwood/Davis position that it is works that save the soul, though belief saves spirit and body (IF I am understanding what they believe!) then explain to me how that is different from what Paul did under the Law?  The Law is what was in force and  effect when Paul started out, and besides mere compliance with the Law, he recounts his "works" in the previous verses- circumcision on the 8th day, "on the roll" of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, zealous to the point of physical persecution of "detractors", perfect under the rules of the law, and blameless as to the law.  That's a lot of good works.  And then we get vs 7.  All that gain was loss in the light of Christ's grace.  But under the Law, it IS fair to say that works were required, though not saving.  Omission of the sacrifices and trips to Jerusalem and so on could presumably get you "excommunicated", or banished might be a better word, from the theocracy of Israel.  So...under grace, faith without works is dead.  Under grace, there is NO requirement of works, but lack of them calls your salvation into question.  So shall we say that the more works their are the more potent your salvation?  You have to ask "why the works"?  And I think it is shown below, in that works are now done from a grateful heart, than as a debit on the balance sheet.  Maybe I need to break down and just read that book again, and make a final decision on what, if anything, is the false teaching in that book.  Yes.  I need to do that.  That will be my December book to read.
2023 - vs 9, How can Paul call his works "rubbish" if they are what will ultimately "save" his soul????  That's like Paul saying he is GLAD he baptized so very few people.  If works are critical to saving our souls, then they are most certainly NOT rubbish, any more than an evangelist who's life goal is seeing as many saved as possible would refuse to baptize if that baptism completed the process of salvation, and was indispensible to it!!!

Paul gets biographical now, showing that if anyone at all has reason for confidence in their "Jewishness" it is him.  This verse is worth noting:
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- [Phl 3:9 ESV]
Here is the way of salvation.  Not because of our own righteousness, whether we think we earned it by perfect obedience to the Law as many Pharisees believed they had, or inherited it as physical descendants of Abraham, or were born with it, or even because we never lost it.  Salvation comes through faith in Christ!  Christ IS the righteousness of God, and righteousness comes only through him.  Note yet again the reference to being "in him".  We are righteous only in that we are hidden in Christ, and God sees the righteousness of Christ as our righteousness.  We don't have it, but it is imputed to us based on our position "in Christ".  We only "enter" Christ through belief in him.  This is what you have to believe to be saved.  

2021-2, These first 11 verses are all about demolition of the concept of righteousness through the law, through what we do, what we don't do, what we obey.  The Quran is very specific about the contest that is Islam.  Those who do the most of these things, who give the most, pray the most, and so on, will be first in line to get into heaven.  Belief is necessary in Islam, but it is not sufficient.  Only those who DO the most will get into heaven.  Here, in these 11 verses, Paul tears down this concept with respect to Judaism, which predates Islam by x,000 years or so, and says this will not work any more.  Other places say that works were never the key to salvation, it was always faith.  "...no confidence in the flesh...", in vs. 3, is a far cry from both Judaism - still today - and from Islam.  The two religions make slaves of their followers.  Christianity removes the burden.  Redeems those slaves.

2022 - This verse:
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [Phl 3:11 ESV].  It would seem that Paul is making this his ultimate goal.  Resurrection.  He doesn't say heaven is the goal. But...all saved will be raptured, so hasn't he already accomplished this goal?  Does this tie back to "the day of Christ", when the raptured will be judged at the bema seat?  Is Paul again referencing that final phase of church-age dispensation, when the raised will be rewarded in heaven by Christ, in their new bodies.  This is now what, the fourth time that he has made reference to this as the "last stage".  It's four if I am reading it right...

2023 - Putting vs 10 in here also to go with 11 above:  10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [Phl 3:10 ESV].  Paul is clearly giving primary importance to the goal of attaining "the resurrection from the dead".  How are we to understand this if Paul is already saved?  Isn't resurrection at the rapture "automatic" when we're saved?  Don't we find Job looking forward to his resurrection, doesn't Mary say she knows Lazarus will rise at the last day, and there are other OT references to resurrection.  So...those with true faith under the "dispensation of the Law", expected to be resurrected.  So what is Paul talking about?  Is he saying he still gets if he believes in Christ?  In 7 through 11 Paul is contrasting righteousness under the Law with "knowing Christ Jesus my Lord".  Maybe the idea is that the ultimate goal of each of those is the final resurrection.  Under the Law, that resurrection is attained by adherence to the Law, which Paul says he had in spades, by circumcision, which Paul had properly done according to the Law, by perfect compliance with the Law which he accomplished as a, and by the rules of, the Pharisees.  Paul is saying I WAS ALREADY THERE as far as "earning" the resurrection of the dead, because I did all that the Law required, BUT I GAVE UP that reward, in order to obtain the BETTER WAY to resurrection by following Jesus, by trying to live and to be as he was.  JESUS lived, walked, preached, and behaved in a certain way, and Jesus died, and was resurrected and went to the right hand of the Father.  Paul is so "focused" on imitation Jesus - indeed he claims that as a goal and he urges others to behave like him because he behaves like Jesus - because he wants to follow Jesus footsteps right up to the throne of God.  He wants intensely to be "the image of Christ".  He seems to believe that by doing so, he can still achieve the sought after, the promised resurrection of the dead.  By doing the same things Christ did, including suffering, dying, and being buried, because Christ did all those things.  AND, in vs 12, Paul says "I am not, however, just like him yet, so I must keep working on that!"  These are the works Paul has in mind.  This is about sanctification.  Ok.  I think that is the way to look at it.  

Then this verse:
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [Phl 3:12 ESV]
Paul is not done, he has not achieved, he has not become perfect.  Sanctification is ongoing, so long as we are alive.

2023 - This verse:  13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [Phl 3:13 ESV].  We often interpret this to mean forgetting the sins we left behind. What Paul left behind was his "perfection" as a circumcised Jew, and what he strains for is the resurrection of the dead that comes instead through FOLLOWING Christ up to and including physical death.  Paul believed he had obtained the resurrection of the dead by what he had accomplished as a Pharisee, and by perfect lifelong observance of the Law.  He DID BELIEVE he'd done that.  And he left that behind to follow Jesus.  He does say elsewhere that: 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. [Rom 3:20 ESV]...but here Paul is saying it was always faith, even under the Law, that brought justification.  I think Paul had faith in God under the Law.  I think Paul means he could have stayed where he was and gone to heaven, but HE GAVE THAT UP and started over as a follower of Jesus, BECAUSE Jesus spoke to him on the Damascus road!  That is where Paul is ALWAYS coming from, and is vital to understanding what he means.

2021-2, In contrast to the 2021-2 note above, Paul ALSO makes clear that the work of sanctification is never done.  There are still commands - the Great Commission for one, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God" for another, and "love thy neighbor as thyself" is a third.  All these things require constant effort and refinement.  So it isn't exactly "Come to Christianity in faith and never "work" again", it is "Come to the certainty of eternity in heaven that Christianity conveys through faith, through the work of Christ, work out of gratitude for the grace we are given, rather than out of a debt that must be paid."  How much better to work out of a thankful heart than out of life or death obligation?

2022 - This verse - connecting back to 11 possibly:
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [Phl 3:14 ESV].  Wow.  Thinking about Arlen Chitwood and Jed's obsession with works.  Paul seems very much to be saying that his eyes are on that prize.  That he is motivated on earth by the reward that he will receive on the day of Jesus Christ.  As if his whole purpose in life, post salvation, is to press on toward that goal.  I can see that this little chapter might be the proof text for looking at things that way.  Even so, this all comes immediately after Paul saying that his "previous works" are of no value in this pursuit.  That works of the law are irrelevant to this pursuit.  But.  is he referring to things done under the Law, to all the self-serving works of the Law that allowed the Pharisees to brag about achieving salvation by their devotion and strict adherence to the Law?  No...I think that is going too far.  Elsewhere, he talks about his beatings, his shipwrecks, the dangers of the road that he faced, and says all that is nothing.  So...what does Paul himself say that he "counts" as accomplishment under the New Covenant?  What things are considered sanctifying?  Perhaps those who have been saved because of his teaching the gospel?  Those he has moved along on their own sanctification?  Does he count "people" and not deeds?  Pretty hard to make this idea stick too.  But it is interesting to see that maybe this is the foundational text for what Jed believes.


2021-2, This verse:
[Phl 3:21 ESV] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
We usually think of the transforming of our bodies in connection with the verses in Thessalonians.    But here it is, in so many words, in Philippians also.  It is interesting that we will still have a body, though a much better one, to house our spirit and our soul.  We will still be different than the angels in this respect.

2022 - Here it is again!  Paul is making resurrection in a glorified body the "end point" of Christian life, the goal, the end.  The end is not dying in Christ, the end, in these verses at least, seems to be the resurrection...and/or the bema judgment.  
2022 - One last thing though.  Even if I take this as referencing what Jed says about "the real goal", I note that there is nothing whatsoever in this "proof text" that talks about saving the soul.  That's how Jed sees it.  The things we do in this world, the works that we do to reach the goal, are about the goal of saving our souls too, along with our already saved spirits (at the moment of salvation) and resurrection anticipating physical bodies (saved at the rapture.  I could be wrong, but I think this is what Arlen Chitwood taught Jed.  That the soul is, in fact, saved by our works, and our status in heaven will be based on our works.  And if you think about the verses that talk about crowns, and things burned by fire, and suffering loss...you can see that, though I don't trust this as the proper and complete way of understanding it based on the teachings of, so far as I have determined, one man.  BUT, it does not seem that in a place of perfect justice, that rewards would not be based on some kind of merit system.  I do see that.).
 

Chapter 4
After another "therefore" in verse 1, concluding the previous chapter, Paul turns to greetings to specific people, to commendations, to tidings.

Another verse of encouragement, the other bookend to 1:6:
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Phl 4:6-7 ESV]

And then he goes on to describe the daily effort, attention, and focus of Christian life:
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. [Phl 4:8 ESV]
How many sermons....

What a great book to read for encouragement.  These people in Philippi were on the right track, doing the things they should, and Paul encouraged them to continue.  He gave them instructions for how to deal with every day, normal, boring, life.  These were not persecuted daily, they weren't being thrown into prison, they weren't besieged by false teachers and struggling to discern the truth.  These were like we are, in this culture, today.  We have so much to be thankful for, we have excess to support preachers and teachers at home and abroad, and we have freedom to live our lives as we see fit.  As did the Philippians.  Perhaps they felt "left out" of the process, as sometimes we do.  We aren't persecuted like Christians in the Middle East, in India, in China.  We aren't earning huge crowns by our martyrdom, loss of possessions, estrangement from all those around us.  Are we doing anything at all for Christ?  

Read Philippians.  Paul encourages them to hold to the course, to grow, to continue their sanctification.  If this is God's plan for us, and he blesses us with the good things, we are to take advantage of this, and focus ever more narrowly on the things that are good.

We always quote vs. 13 as a help in time of trouble.  But look at what else came before it:
12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. [Phl 4:12 ESV]
There is difficulty facing plenty, also.  It dulls our skill, our motivation, our fear of God.  We must also learn to abound in plenty.  Truly a first world problem.