In Philippians 3:1010That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10), Paul expresses the wish “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” But the Apostle’s longing was not only to “know Him.” In the Greek Testament, there is no period, not even a comma, after “Him.” It reads: “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and partnership of His sufferings.” Another has said: “The essence of knowing Christ consists in knowing the power of His resurrection.” Every Christian knows that Christianity has its root and foundation in the death of our blessed Savior. But if it had been possible that death could have held the Savior in his power, death, instead of being the foundation of joy and the certainty of salvation, would have been the source of a black despair which nothing could have dissipated. It is the resurrection which throws its bright beams even into the dark tomb of Christ — that tomb which seemed to mean victory for the adversary. It is resurrection which explains the reason of that momentary submission to the power of the devil and subjection to the necessary judgment of God.
The Foundation of Christian Hopes
It is by resurrection and the glory which shall follow that the foundation and hopes of the Christian are bound together. It is by resurrection that justification and that which is the power of the Christian’s life — sanctification—are united. Not only is He raised again for our justification, but in Christ risen, we are in Him as risen and sanctified in the power of a new life.
So we may see that Paul found in the resurrection not only the evidence of the foundation of his faith (Rom. 1:44And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: (Romans 1:4)) and the proof of the accomplishment of the satisfaction for sin (1 Cor. 15:1717And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)), but much more. The resurrection was to Paul, as it was to Peter, the object and source of a living hope, the power of life within. So, he sought to know the power of His resurrection.
Except for John, in Revelation, Paul is the only one of the apostles of whom it is recorded that he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrection glory: “a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun” (Acts 26:1313At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. (Acts 26:13)). Did he not, then, know “the power of His resurrection”? Yes, surely, more and better, perhaps, than any other living man, but he wanted to know that power still more and still better. It was the sight of the God of glory (Acts 7:22And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, (Acts 7:2)) that kept Abraham true and faithful for a hundred years (Gen. 12:4; 25:74So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:4)
7And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. (Genesis 25:7)), and that sight taught him something of “the power of His resurrection.” And it was the sight of “the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:88Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)) in resurrection that also taught Paul something of “the power of His resurrection.”
A friend of mine told me that when he first came to China, he preached “Christ died for our sins,” and souls were saved, but the new Christians did not stand. In his anguish he searched himself and his preaching and realized that he had not preached “and He rose again the third day.” Now he preached not only the death of his Lord, but also His resurrection. As many, or more, were saved, but now they stood firm and true. They, too, learned something of “the power of His resurrection.”
Paul never forgot that sight on the Damascus road of the Lord of glory, in His resurrection power and glory. But that sight only gave him a deeper longing to know better “the power of His resurrection.” “As we look off unto Jesus, and with unveiled face behold the glory of the Lord [His resurrection glory], we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)).
But there is more in this one amazing sentence: “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and partnership of His sufferings.” Having seen the Lord in glory, the Apostle understood the path which led Him there — a path of suffering and death, and he longed to follow Him even in that path, if need be, in order to be where his Lord is and in the glory with Him. The two are inseparable.
Conformed Unto His Death
“Being conformed” is a remarkable word and tells of a process that is going on continuously. As we gaze on our suffering Savior, we are gradually conformed to His death. This is the only place in the New Testament it appears as a verb. But as a noun we meet it again in two other passages: Romans 8:2929For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29) and here in Philippians 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21) (JND): “We await the Lord Jesus Christ [as] Savior, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory.” Surely that should be motive enough to make the glories of this world fade, that our deepest longing may be that day by day we are “being conformed to His death.”
The opening words of verse 11 — “If by any means” — tell us of the difficulty. I do not think they are intended to suggest the slightest doubt in Paul’s mind as to his arrival at that resurrection. Rather, he is prepared to tread any path that is necessary to arrive at it, including the path that leads through death.
Resurrection From Among the Dead
When Christ arose, His was a resurrection from among the dead. That resurrection morning He came out from the grave, while all around were thousands of graves untouched by resurrection. He came “out from the dead ones” around Him. And this is a sample of the resurrection on which Paul had fixed his eyes. This is the resurrection Paul longed for, if by any means he shall arrive at it. “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:1010That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)).
G. C. Willis (adapted)