Why does Paul say, "I count everything as loss" in Philippians 3:8?

Let us now seek, with the Lord's help, to meditate a little on the beautiful verse before us. It begins with five little words, one after the other, which literally translated are: "yea, indeed, therefore, at-least, also (or, even)". But we may not take them literally: we must try and find what the Holy Spirit is seeking to tell us by putting them together in this way. The three middle words form a combination which expresses the correction of a foregoing statement as either incorrect, or inadequate. It was inadequate to say, "I counted (long ago) these things to be loss - these national and religious privileges of which we have been speaking: No, indeed, not only did I count them loss long ago, when first I was converted, but I still do count them so. And not only these things, but all things, do I count loss, — my social standing, my family, my wealth, my all do I count loss for the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. As we have seen in our last chapter, Paul changes "counted" to "do count," and "these things," to "all things." This was to correct the inadequate statement in the seventh verse. This string of little words is to prepare us for this change, and I think helps us to see the vehemence and strength of Paul's conviction as to the worth of the exchange he had made "on account of Christ."

We have seen that our Lord Jesus Christ, "Who subsisting in the form of God, He counted not as a means of gain the being equal with God, but made Himself empty." His servant Paul sought to follow his Master, in such measure as a human being could. Paul, too, had his gains, and in his measure he emptied himself; cast them all away; counted them not as a means of gain, but rather reckoned them to be loss and refuse. And for what? "For the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." It is not for the sake of the superiority of the knowledge (the fact that it is superior, or more excellent), but for the sake of the knowledge which is surpassing all else, that he counts all things to be loss. And the more of that knowledge he gained, the more he longed for more of it; so when we get to Verse 10, we hear him cry: "That I may know Him!" O my beloved Readers, what do we know of that urgency to "know Him"? Of what have we suffered the loss, for the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord?

And you notice Paul does not say, "our Lord." No, it is "my Lord." Outside of this Epistle Paul does not often speak in this way: Rom. 1:8; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 2:20; Philem. 4; (perhaps there are others, I do not recall more): but in this little Epistle we find it three times: 1:3; 3:8; and 4:19. I think we can understand the suitability of this: there is a warmth, a fervour, that perhaps we see nowhere else: and so he writes: "Christ Jesus my Lord." We get something the same in The Song of Solomon: my Beloved is mine, and I am His." (2:16). "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine." (6:3). I wonder can we truthfully say, as shown out in our daily walk: "my Lord"?

Paul cried: "I even do count all things to be loss on account of the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of Whom I have suffered the loss of all those things, and do count them but refuse, in order that I may gain Christ: (or, have Christ for my gain.)" The word translated "suffered the loss of," echoes the word "loss" used twice before. But it has also the meaning of a fine, or penalty imposed by a court. "I was fined all things I possessed." Paul thus expresses the utter confiscation of all that he had: his aristocratic position, his wealth, comforts, reputation (you remember the One Who "made Himself of no reputation"), family, friends society, interests, prospects and ambitions; and still more, to such a man, all his religious advantages both by birth and training: hopes, standing, confidences, such as we saw in our last chapter. All were cast away in a moment, at the sight of the Lord of Glory. The God of Glory appeared also to Abraham, and he also left all. Beloved, were our eyes fixed more steadfastly on the Lord of Glory, — "looking off unto Jesus," — might not we too be more ready to cast away many of the things that now drag us down?

From that moment when it pleased God to reveal His Son to him the self-righteous Pharisee could say, "I count all things* loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them refuse that I may win Christ and be found in Him." What had been gain to him he cast aside. He had seen Christ and that was enough, he would have nothing else after that. Christ had become his all. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, whom the erstwhile persecutor now blessedly calls "my Lord," made it a joy to suffer the loss of all things, yea, to count them refuse. How he suffered the loss of all things, things needful in life, suffering, hunger, stripes; giving up all earthly distinction and advantage, we know from his own testimony (2 Cor. 11:22-31). He suffered the loss of all things and counted them refuse. "This is the marvelous estimate of one who had all the advantages in the world; and then had known all sufferings from it in behalf of Christ, looking upon the former as worse than nothing, as a detriment, and the latter to be nothing, because the knowledge he had already gained of Christ outweighed them all." All earthly things, all human attainments, everything which exalts man were counted as loathsome things in comparison with Him whom He had beheld in the glory light.

"But surely I count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (New Trans.). Thus the apostle sweeps the entire old creation into the discard, with no regrets, no looking back. In the knowledge of Christ there is supreme excellency, infinitely above everything that the most exalted experience on earth could afford. Nothing henceforth can turn his eye from Him whom He calls "Christ Jesus my Lord." For Him he had "suffered the loss of all things:" note the expression "all things" for the second time in the verse. It was not merely that he gave up certain advantages out of appreciation for what Christ had done for him; but that the blessed Person of Christ as now glorified at God's right hand, had so captivated his heart that he would deliberately and fully count everything as "refuse", that he "might win Christ!'

Next, he states his own case. Was he not circumcised the eighth day, of Israel's race, of Benjamin's tribe, a Hebrew of Hebrews? as to law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness that is in or of law, found irreproachable? But the Christ he had seen in glory made him regard this gain as a loss. Nor was it a hasty estimate, but so he counted all things because of the excellence of the knowledge of Him, his Lord, for whom he suffered the loss of all things. He was still counting them dung, that he might win Christ and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness which is of law, but that which is by faith in Christ, the righteousness of God on condition of faith. The same Paul in Romans 9 would have the Jews know that, far from disparaging, he exalted the privileges of Israel beyond their estimate; here he shows that the Christian has in Christ far better things than Israel's hopes (vers. 5-9). And so he continues, "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformed to His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection from out of (the) dead" (vers. 10, 11).

"That I may win Christ" - this is the great principle of the whole chapter, and you get perseverance in it, which is more. Suppose a man just saved, what does he think about the world? That it has deceived him. Leave him for a while, and his family twine round him, and soon he begins to seek the things of the world. Paul saw Christ on the way to Damascus, and he gives up his importance, his Pharisaism, his teaching, everything else, and he counts all but loss that he may win Him. "And do count them but dung that I may win Christ" - not "did count," which would be comparatively easy.

Instead of turning away grieved from Christ and going back to his great possessions, like the rich ruler, Paul forgot "those things which are behind" and reached forth to Christ. He saw the glory of Christ, and he saw Christ in the glory. The rich ruler came in contact with Christ, but apparently, in spite of all His wonderful miracles he only saw in Christ a good Man; he did not see the glory of Christ. This made the great difference between these two young men. Paul saw the glory of Christ with the immediate result that all the glory of this world — all those things which were gain to him as a man in the flesh — were counted loss for Christ. He did not belittle these natural advantages: on the contrary, he reckoned them up, and having done so he counted them loss when compared with the glory of Christ. His natural excellencies were eclipsed by the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" his Lord.

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7). What a marvelous change! Saul had many sources of gain. He had gathered many honors around his name. He had made progress in Judaism beyond many of his equals. He had achieved a legal righteousness in which no man could find a flaw. His zeal, his knowledge and his morality were of the very highest order. But from the moment Christ was revealed to him, there was a thorough revolution. Everything was changed. His righteousness, his learning, his morality, all that could in any wise be gain to Paul, became as dung. He does not speak of open sins, but of those things that could justly be esteemed as gain to him. The revelation of the glory of Christ had so completely changed the entire current of Paul's thoughts, that the very things which he had once esteemed as positive gain, he now regarded as positive loss.

(3) Again, Christ is brought before us as an object to be possessed. This aspect is unfolded to us in Philippians 3. In the beginning of the chapter the apostle gives a list of the advantages which he had as a Jew — as a man in the flesh — and which formed his ground of confidence as such. "If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the Church: touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." He thus had everything which could exalt a natural man in his own eyes before God. Morally, religiously, and ecclesiastically he wanted nothing, according to man's judgment. Nay, more; writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he is able to say that "touching the righteousness which is in the law" he was "blameless." Like the young man who asked of the Lord Jesus, "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" and, when referred to the commandments, replied, "All these things have I kept from my youth up," — so Saul; and he might have added with the young man, "What lack I yet?" (Matt. 19:16-20). But when Saul, in his zeal persecuting the Church, was on his way to Damascus, the Lord in glory met him — that same Jesus, whom Saul had with his nation rejected and cast out, but now risen from the dead and glorified, appeared to him; and thereon Saul discovered the true value of his precious things in the light of the glory which shone round about him — saw their utter worthlessness, and hence by grace was able to say, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for (because of — διὰ) the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for (because of — διὰ) whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3:7-8). Now he had discovered the fine gold, and by the side of it he could see that what he had been priding himself upon was but wretched tinsel, and, estimating it at its proper value, he now desired only to win Christ — i.e., to have Christ as his gain. Everything which had been so precious in his eyes disappeared, and Christ only remained; and it was Christ only that he now desired to possess, not only as his ground of confidence before God, but also as his everlasting possession. For Christ had won his heart, and the heart can never rest until it has gained the object of its affections.

Finally, we have the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord". Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, had moved in the most influential circles of his day, and in his own person he excelled among his fellows. Regarding himself he could say that he "advanced in Judaism beyond many my contemporaries in my nation, being exceedingly zealous of the doctrines of my fathers," (Galatians 1:14, New Trans.). As to his associations he was "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;" he was a citizen of "no mean city" (Acts 21:39); he was "free-born" — a coveted position (see Acts 22:28); he had sat at the feet of Gamaliel, who was "a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people", (Acts 5:34); and he was the greatest linguist of his associates (1 Corinthians 14:18). Truly a record of which the flesh could be proud! Yet it was all this, and more — "all things" — which the beloved apostle had counted and did still count as "but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus " his Lord.

Observe that the Lord gives here an ignominious name to the objects man covets — money, property, and everything of the kind. He calls it, not only mammon, in itself a word of ill omen, but "the mammon of unrighteousness." He heaps plentiful disdain upon it; just as the apostle Paul counts all that man values most, even religiously as the vilest refuse which should be kept or thrust out of doors. This is a great point; for Saul of Tarsus had not always been disposed thus to sacrifice the present in view of the future. His place as a Jew, his tribe, his family, his earthly thoughts and feelings, his personal advantages, he once estimated as much every way to cherish. But when he viewed them in the light of Christ and of that glory to which he was hastening, he counted them but dung. (Phil. 3:8.) Who would ever think the earth at its best an object to look back on, when they have the glory before their eyes? Who would talk of getting rid of dung as a great sacrifice? Certainly everything, yet in religion too, of which men are apt most to boast, Paul calls dung; such he counted it, and so to the last, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. Was not this really to act in the wisdom of the steward, not in his injustice, but in his looking out and onward? In Paul's case it was heavenly wisdom; and the love of Christ was its source and spring.