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