Paul develops an accounting metaphor in Philippians 3:7. All of his achievements listed in the previous verses count for nothing when it comes to his position in Jesus Christ. On one side of the ledger is his human achievement, on the other is the sake of Christ. He writes them off as a loss in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord.
Human achievement is “loss” or “rubbish.” Loss (ζημία) can refer to a financial loss, as in Acts 27:10 (Paul predicts the shipwreck and “much injury and loss”). In the Septuagint, 2 Kings 23:33 used the word to refer a heavy tribute imposed on Judah by Pharaoh Neco when he took Jehoahaz captive. The word can refer to a financial penalty (a heavy fine, for example). In this context, Paul is saying that all of human achievement was a huge loss when it came to knowing Jesus and the power of the resurrection.
Imagine someone who buys an antique at an estate sale, investing a significant amount of money because they were certain it was worth far more (maybe a Civil War Rifle or a colonial document). They take the antique to the Antiques Roadshow and have it examined by an expert and it turns out to be a worthless fake. The person would take a huge loss since they cannot resale the item and recoup their investment. It is still a nice antique and might look nice good hanging over the mantel. It can still be enjoyed and valued. But it is really a total financial loss.
In a similar way, Paul’s “heavy investment” in training as a Pharisee and his dedicated practice of Judaism as a Pharisee have turned out to be a loss if the return on the investment was “righteousness before God.” He still has the value of a thorough knowledge of the Scripture and the satisfaction of a life well lived, good moral values and work ethic, etc. But with respect to being right with God, that investment is a total loss.
The second word Paul uses here is more picturesque. Rubbish (σκύβαλον) refers to refuse or garbage, the sort of thing the dogs would scavenge. Often refers to excrement (Josephus, JW 5.571, “sewers and cattle dung”; Sib.Or. 7.58, “the mournful refuse of war”). The word appears in the medical work of Aretæus the Cappadocian, Causes and Symptoms of Acute Disease (SD 2.9), in a section entitled “On Dysentery.” The third edition of Bauer’s Lexicon (BDAG) glosses the word in this context as “It’s all crap.” It is no coincidence Paul is more or less saying the opponents as “dogs” who they are still rooting around in their own skubalon!
It is important to understand Paul correctly here: Paul is not saying Judaism is bad, or that Jews keeping the Law is bad, or that Torah is “garbage.” He is saying that keeping the Law does not make one right with God, only faith in Jesus Christ will do that. In Galatians he will address the reasons why a Gentile is not under the Law, but here his point is only that human achievement (whether good or bad) counts for nothing with respect to being right with God, knowing the “power of the resurrection” or obtaining salvation at the resurrection of the dead.
The righteousness that counts is the righteousness that comes “through faith of Christ” (v.9). There is a serious interpretive issue here in verse nine. The ESV and the NIV both translate the line as “through faith in Christ Jesus” although “in” is not the natural way to read the text. “through the faith of Christ” is a better rendering of the Greek, but what does this mean? (Yes, this is the classic pistis christou debate!)
There are two options here. Paul might mean “the faith that I have in Jesus’ sacrifice saves me from sin.” On the other hand, “the faithful act of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross saves me from my sin (through the faithful obedience of Christ on the cross).” Since both of these options are taught in Scripture (you do place your faith in Jesus, Eph 2:8-9) and Jesus was faithful when he humbly submitted to death of the cross (Phil 2:5-11), it is possible most people do not catch Paul’s subtle teaching here. In the context of Philippians, Jesus is the one who humbly submitted himself to the Father and was obedient to death, Paul has submitted to the Father and suffers in prison at the moment; Epaphroditus humble serves the church at Philippi at the very moment even though he has suffered.
It is difficult to have Paul’s attitude toward personal achievement. In the Roman world, one would naturally boast of their achievements and claim honors for themselves. In contemporary American culture, humility is a virtue, but we still like to boast about our achievements. University professors put their PhD up on their office walls, athletes have personal trophy cases, pastors humble-brag about attendance in their church. How would our ersonal lives be transformed if we really had the attitude of Christ Jesus and set aside our honor in order to serve others? Do we really need to consider all our achievement to be “crap”?
When Paul talks of his achievements the way he does, in calling them rubbish and trash, I look upon my own life achievements and I think if Paul thinks his achievements are useless then mine cannot come even close to more than useless either. I believe that others reading this through the lens of the 21st century would see their achievements feel rubbish and garbage too. In the Roman society and in our society today we place a great deal of emphasis on our personal successes – whether that be through achievements such as awards, financial wealth, and other things that are materialistic that we used to advertise what we have done in our lifetime. I think it is good reading Philippians 3:7-11 where Paul voices, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ,” because it gives us the example of how we are truly supposed to be living as Christians. As American Christians we often pursue the idea of what Paul explains in Philippians as a sort of humility but as Phil Long explains in his blog, we keep things such as PHD letters, trophies, and other junk around in our houses. For what reason? Thinking about it further, these individual accolades we achieve during our lifetime have no eternal significance when we die. They will most likely be left up to our kids to take care of in sent into a landfill where they quite frankly belong. Paul sets an example that we should follow. These material things we collect should not be collected. The only we even receive these things in the first place is because God was grateful enough to bless us with the ability, the opportunity, and the intelligence to have the chance for these awards of rubbish. They aren’t individual awards. They are awards to be given to God.
Our personal lives are continually transforming as long as we follow Christ, we are constantly developing in our walk. It is common to boast about our testimonies and step up on a soap box of achievements through this we are giving ourselves the glory. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:31 that we are able to boast but when we do so we must boast in the Lord. I feel as though once we start to stop glorifying ourselves and glorifying the Lord for our achievements our relationship with the Lord will start to flourish. I do think that our “crap” in life is what makes us who we are in the present moment and when we minister or talk with others about it, we need to focus on the Lord’s work through us and use that as the main focus. I don’t personally think that our attitudes are in the wrong place. Rather, I think that we don’t notice how much we talk about our lives without giving God glory; it’s more or less we neglect giving Him the recognition.
If we had the attitude of Jesus and set aside our honor to serve others the Body of Christ would be more fruitful. The focus wouldn’t be on ourselves or the church building; it would be more geared towards loving those on the outside of the four walls. Christians today are more focused on building up the congregation in the church and not building up the believer population in general. If we set aside our self glorifying attitude and start to live life with an attitude of Christ we will then be more stratified and have more opportunities to introduce the Gospel to those who don’t have it.
Philippians 3:7-11 is written about how everything compared to Christ is worthless. Philippians 3:7 states, “But whatever gain I had, I counted loss for the sake of Christ.” Everything that we do is lost if we do not have Christ Jesus. Our testimonies, achievements and our goodness can only come from God because everything good is from God, this is why we cannot boast within ourselves. As a believer in Jesus, I should not boast in myself because I have given myself nothing. Philippians 3:9 states, “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.” We cannot boast in ourselves because God have given us everything, and He gave us righteousness. As a Christian it is important to see what God has done within our lives, and knowledge it and even share with others so that they might be encouraged. We cannot boast in ourselves though, and entirely focus on how “I” did something great to turn “my” life around. Specially since none of us actually have any control over our lives, but God can control our life. We should be using our accomplishments to serve God and allow Him to use us in His ways to humbly serve others. Christians should not boast in themselves because everything we are given is from God. Believers have a tendency to have a look at me attitude when they should be having a look at God attitude.