Philippians Chapter 3 verse 9 Holy Bible

Philippians 3 : 9 Bible Verse Songs

• In Christ Alone My Hope is Found by Natalie Grant
• Say Anything by YWAM Kona Music
• In Christ Alone by Lauren Daigle

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - And be found in him; now, at the last day, always. In Christ; a member, that is, of his body, a living branch of the true Vine. Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law; rather, as R.V., not harding a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the Law. Not any righteousness of my own, such as that described in ver. 6, the righteousness which consists in and results from conformity to an external law. But perhaps the words are best rendered, as in the margin of R.V., "Not having as my righteousness that which is of the Law." St. Paul was blameless as regards that righteousness which lies in legal observances: in that he puts no confidence, he seeks a better righteousness. But that which is through the faith of Christ; rather, as R.V., through faith in Christ. There is no article, and the genitive is objective. Through faith. God is the Giver, the Source of righteousness; it is given through faith as the means, on condition of faith. The righteousness which is of God by faith. Greek, "upon faith," based upon faith, or on condition of faith. St. Paul speaks of "having" this righteousness. Then it is his; yet it is not any righteousness of his own, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done;" but a righteousness of God given to him, merited, not by his works, but by the perfect obedience and the precious death of Christ, and granted unto all who are found in Christ. It comes from God, the one only Giver of all good things; it is obtained through faith as the instrument or means; and it is given on that faith - on condition, that is, of a living faith abiding in the soul. Thus St. Paul states incidentally, but simply and forcibly, the great doctrine of justification by faith.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law.--This is not the same as "righteousness in the Law," that is, defined by law. It is a righteousness resulting from the works of the Law (Galatians 2:16), earned by an obedience to the Law, which is "mine own"--"not of grace, but of debt" (Romans 4:4)--such as St. Paul declares (in Romans 10:3-6) to have been blindly sought by Israel, which he there defines as "life by doing the things of the Law." We have here, and in the following words, a remarkable link of connection with the earlier Epistles of the Judaising controversy, corresponding to Ephesians 2:8-10, but cast more nearly in the ancient mould. Yet it is, after all, only the last echo of the old controversy, which we trace so clearly in the Galatian and Roman Epistles. The battle is now virtually won, and it only needs to complete the victory.But . . . the righteousness which is of God by (on condition of) faith.--This verse is notable, as describing the true righteousness; first imperfectly, as coming "through faith of Jesus Christ," a description which discloses to us only its means, and not its origin; next, completely, as "a righteousness coming from God on the sole condition of faith"--faith being here viewed not as the means, but as the condition, of receiving the divine gift (as in Acts 3:16). It may be noted that in the Epistle to the Romans, we have righteousness "through faith," "from faith," "of faith;" for there it was needful to bring out in various forms the importance of faith. Here, now that the urgent necessity has passed, we have the stress laid simply on the opposition of the gift of God through Christ to the merit of the works of the Law; and faith occupies a less prominent, though not less indispensable, position. (See Ephesians 2:8-10, and Note thereon.) . . .