to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,
Paul has just called everything he once counted as gain a loss. Verse 10 says what he wants instead. The surprise is that a man who already knew Christ still speaks of knowing Him as something ahead of him.
One writer traces the opening words back to an earlier phrase. The verse, he says, is about the road Paul walks, not the goal at the end of it.
The beginning of verse 10 connects back to "Christ Jesus my Lord" in verse 8. The words in between are a parenthesis. The apostle says, "Indeed, I count" — not only counted in the past, but still count — "everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." … Verse 9 goes on to the future … whereas verse 10 gives us the apostle's desires in view of his path through this world.
Everything in the verse hangs on one small word.
He says "that I may know HIM". Not only to know about Him, but to know HIM; the pronoun is what gives these statements their point. "The power of His resurrection", "share His sufferings", "becoming like Him in His death". Not only death, but "His death".
One writer meets the obvious objection. Paul already knew Christ, so why ask to know Him?
Of course he already knew Him. But the knowledge of Christ has no end. Every bit of closeness He gives us only sharpens the desire to know Him more fully. We shall grow in the knowledge of Himself throughout eternity. But why does "the power of His resurrection" follow? Because it detaches us from this scene and brings us to His side, where He now is. That is the only place we can know Him now.
The order of the clauses matters. Paul does not ask for resurrection power to make life easier. He asks for it so he can go further into Christ's rejection.
"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection" — that is, the power of the place where He has joined us to Himself. He seeks this not so that peace may be more perfect, or any blessing better enjoyed, but so that we may go further down the path of rejection with Him here, and "share His sufferings." We shall never know such fellowship in the eternal glory. If we miss it now, we miss it for ever. … There is a fellowship of His sufferings sweeter even than the fellowship of His glory. David's mighty men were never so close to him in the glories of the kingdom as when he was a hunted man in the hills.
Not every part of what Christ endured can be shared.
One side of Christ's death was His alone: He suffered for sins, and no one could follow Him there. But many devoted believers have followed their Master into a martyr's death, so that they will come out like Him in resurrection from among the dead.
The last clause is not a single event but something under way. The grammar itself carries the point.
The word translated "being conformed" is passive and present in tense. It tells of something being done to us, a process going on all the time. As we gaze on our suffering Saviour, we are conformed to His death little by little. It is the same as when we gaze on the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same image.
The same writer shows what that looks like day to day:
Anyone who truly shares Christ's sufferings cannot enjoy the world's pleasures. He cannot settle down to a life of ease and luxury in it.
Commentators also differ over one phrase. Is "the power of His resurrection" something known now, or something reached later? One reads it as inward and present, with the suffering side as the practical part:
Until the Lord comes, we can know the power of His resurrection only in an inward, spiritual way. But sharing His sufferings and being made like Him in His death are very practical things.
Another says Paul already had that inward power, and was reaching past it:
He wanted to know the power of His resurrection. Many think he meant a present power of resurrection in his soul, but he already knew that. He was risen with Christ and knew it. He was not thinking of a state to be reached down here. He meant the thing that will put him in the place where he longs to be.
- Him — The request is for a Person, not information. The pronoun, not the doctrine, carries the weight.
- More — Paul already knew Christ. Every step closer only deepens the hunger, and that growth runs on into eternity.
- Power — Paul asks for resurrection power first. It pulls the heart away from this scene and sets it beside Christ where He is.
- Fellowship — That power is not spent on comfort but on going down into His rejection. His atoning suffering is His alone; His rejection is shareable — and only shareable now.
- Conformed — The last clause is a slow work, done in us as we gaze at a suffering Saviour. It shows in what we will and will not settle for here.
if any way I arrive at the resurrection from among [the] dead.
Paul has just said he wants to know Christ, share His sufferings, and become like Him in His death. This verse names where that road ends, and it raises two questions: why from the dead rather than of the dead, and why does Paul sound unsure?
Commentators say the older English wording blurs something important. This verse is not about a rising shared by everyone.
In common Bibles it reads "the resurrection of the dead," but I have no hesitation in saying that this is a complete mistake. According to the best authorities, the true and only meaning is, "if by any means I might attain to the resurrection out of (or from among) the dead." It may seem to some only a slight change. But if we want to know the mind of God, it makes a weighty difference. "Resurrection from the dead" implies that the rest of the dead remain in their graves. It points to a resurrection not common to all mankind, bad and good, but belonging only to those who are dear to God.
The word Paul uses here is unusual. It points to God's own pleasure in the one He raises.
The word for resurrection here in Philippians 3:11 is a special one in the Greek. It is found nowhere else in the New Testament… What was Christ's resurrection? God raised Him from the dead because His delight was in Him, because of His perfect righteousness, and because He glorified Him. And it is the same with us. Resurrection is the expression of God's satisfaction in those raised; it is His seal on Christ's work.
Many readers hear hesitation in these words. Commentators say they leave the route open, not the outcome.
It is a resurrection from among the dead, a resurrection after the pattern and example of Christ's resurrection. As for the expression "if by any means," it does not imply any doubt. It simply declares that the apostle was quite ready to reach that glorious goal by any route his Lord and Master might choose.
Paul names the goal he was ready to lose everything to reach.
The apostle's great desire was to reach Christ in the glory. With this in view he was ready to be conformed to Christ's death — to die to all that Christ had died to. He would accept even a martyr's death, if that was the way to reach the blessed condition of "the resurrection from among the dead."
Some read the verse as though only outstanding Christians reach this resurrection. Commentators reject that, and point to the word behind "attain," which means simply to arrive.
There is no such thing as a special or select resurrection of a certain company of believers. Scripture speaks of only two resurrections: first, that of the just when the Lord comes; then, when time itself is over, the resurrection of the unjust to judgment… It is for them as for Him a resurrection from among the dead, which is simply what Paul refers to in Philippians 3:11. It belongs to all who are His, and depends altogether on Christ, and in no way on the condition of the believer… "If by any means I may arrive at" — the word is not the one for attainment — "resurrection from among the dead."
Commentators differ on what "attain" adds here. One reading takes it as pointing to how Paul would rise, not when.
Paul is not saying that God would raise him before the rest of the saints. That is not in view. He would rise with all the rest of the saints at the coming of the Lord, but he would rise as one who had given his life for the testimony… We know that all saints will rise at the coming of the Lord. Paul, though, is looking at it as a prize to be won.
Certainty about the end did not slow Paul down. It made him run.
He was like a well-trained athlete running in an obstacle race with a mighty enthusiasm for reaching the goal. The earlier verses have told us how he had flung away seeming advantages as hindrances to his course. These verses tell us that no obstacle would hold him back. He would tear his way through the barbed wire of suffering and plunge into the watercourse of death, if that was the way to reach his goal.
- Out from among. The verse speaks of resurrection from among the dead — one that leaves the rest in their graves.
- God's delight. God raised Christ because He delighted in Him. That same resurrection is His seal of satisfaction on all who are Christ's.
- No doubt. "If by any means" is not doubt about arriving. It is willingness to come by whatever road the Lord appoints.
- No elite. This resurrection belongs to all who are Christ's. It rests on Him, not on how well a believer has done.
- Full speed. Paul's settled hope did not relax him. It turned him into a runner who would push through suffering and death to reach the goal.