Where do we put our trust: our credentials, or Christ?
In Philippians 3, the apostle Paul transitions to direct his writing against some who were troubling the Philippian church with false doctrine. It appears that they were pushing for a form of Jewish Christianity that would mandate circumcision in a similar fashion to those who caused problems for the Galatian churches.
Paul warns of these false believers, calling them dogs, evildoers, and those who mutilate the flesh (Phil. 2:2). For truly, circumcision was an inward matter of the heart (Rom. 2:28-29) and the church of Jesus Christ is the circumcision, that is they are the ones in covenant with God (Phil. 3:3a). As the church, we worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 2:3).
In fact, to glory in Jesus Christ and to put confidence in the flesh are complete opposites, even more so than light versus darkness!
By putting confidence in the flesh, the apostle is referring to a reliance on personal merit before God. That is, believing that God will accept us on the basis of what we bring to the table.
If this were the case, according to human standards Paul was doing pretty good.
In fact, his credentials were impeccable:
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:4b-6).
Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He belonged to God through and through. Not only did he have the right heritage being born into the people of God, but he also applied himself diligently to studying the law and applying it. By means of his background and his own effort he was beyond compare!
Yet, Paul takes all of these things and casts them aside.
Using profit and loss terminology, Paul concluded that everything that he formerly considered gain, or an asset, was actually a liability! These things caused him to trust in himself and prevented him from realizing his need for salvation.
Let us never be confused—our only hope before God is the perfect merit of Christ, not our own.
No amount of church attendance, soup-kitchen-serving, evangelism, Sunday school teaching, volunteering, giving, or anything else we do for God merits our salvation. We could never earn our way to God, no matter how righteous we might think we are.
Instead, we must rely on the righteousness that comes by faith (Phil. 3:9). That is, when we believe, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account (see 2 Cor. 5:21). In the greatest exchange, Christ Jesus received the penalty for our sins whereas we receive the credit for His perfect life of obedience.
The only righteousness that saves is that which is received as a gift from Christ. Our righteousness is as a polluted garment (Is. 64:6) but Christ’s is pure and perfect.
This is the gift of God that is received through faith. Then, all that we do is essentially a great big, “Thank you!” to God for all that He has done for us. We just have to get the order right.
My credentials are Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The only reason that I should be let into God’s perfect abode in heaven is because Jesus suffered and died for my sins. Nothing I could ever do would be sufficient but thank God the work of Christ is finished. As a result, I rest in the merits of Christ, today. I glory and put all my boast in Jesus and as a result have no confidence in the flesh.