The big picture
The Book of Philippians puts Paul's impressive religious credentials on the table so their reassessment cannot be mistaken for the resentment of a man who had none. Circumcision, ancestry, Pharisaic commitment, zeal, and legal blamelessness once stood on the gain side of his account. Knowing Christ changes the scale itself. Righteousness from God, resurrection power, suffering, and conformity to Christ's death now belong together, with no suggestion that Paul has already reached completion. He presses forward because Christ has already taken hold of him. The chapter therefore joins confidence and unfinished pursuit without confusing them. Its final contrast is equally physical: heavenly citizenship does not end in abandoning embodiment, but in awaiting the Savior who will transform the present lowly body into conformity with his glorious body.
Central truth
Philippians 3 shows Paul counting inherited status and achievement as loss beside knowing Christ, then pressing toward resurrection, heavenly citizenship, and promised bodily transformation.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Philippians 3:1: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”
Slow down at the turning point
Philippians 3:7: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”
Keep this word trail visible
Christ, Jesus, already, beware, Brethren, count
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Philippians 3:1-3
Rejoice, and beware
Explain first that Finally here means as for the rest, not that the letter is ending. Paul repeats "rejoice in the Lord" because joy anchored in Christ is a safeguard. Then the tone changes sharply: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." All three describe one group, teachers who insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised to belong (Acts 15:1; Galatians 5:2-3). Concision means mutilation, a bitter play on circumcision. Then read 3:3 and list the three marks of the true people of God: worship in the spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and "no confidence in the flesh". Teach this first because the rest of the chapter explains that last phrase.
Philippians 3:4-6
A résumé worth having
Paul answers the false teachers on their own ground: "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more". Put the seven items on the board in two groups, four inherited and three achieved. Explain each briefly: the eighth day is the day the law set for circumcision; Benjamin was the tribe of Israel's first king, Saul, whose name Paul carried; a Hebrew of the Hebrews was raised in the language and ways of his people. Blameless means faultless by the measurable standard of law-keeping, not sinless before God. Teach the list with respect, because these were real goods, and the next step only works if they are.
Philippians 3:7-11
Gain counted loss for Christ
Draw two accounting columns and move everything from the gain column to the loss column as you read 3:7-8. Paul does this twice, first for his credentials and then for "all things". Explain dung honestly as refuse, a word meant to shock. Then slow down at 3:9 and contrast the two righteousnesses, one "of the law" and Paul's own, the other "of God by faith". Finish with the longing of 3:10-11: to know Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. The phrase "If by any means" expresses eagerness, not doubt. Teach this step as the heart of the chapter; everything after it describes how a person lives once the columns have changed.
Philippians 3:12-16
The runner who has not arrived
Read 3:12-14 as a race. Paul has not "already attained"; so he follows after, forgets what is behind, reaches forth, and presses "toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". Point out the lovely turn in 3:12: he presses on to lay hold of that "for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus". Christ took hold of him first, on the Damascus road (Acts 9). Explain perfect in 3:15 as mature, and draw out the paradox: the mature are those who know they are not finished. Teach this after 3:7-11 because pressing forward is what counting all things loss looks like on an ordinary day.
Philippians 3:17-19
Examples to follow, and tears for the enemies
Paul offers himself and others as patterns: "be followers together of me". Explain that the early church learned the faith by imitation as much as by instruction, which is why the choice of examples matters. Then read 3:18-19 slowly. Many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, and Paul tells it weeping. Describe the four marks: their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, they boast in what should shame them, and they mind earthly things. Readers debate whether these were self-indulgent libertines or people who trusted in food laws and the flesh; either way their life is governed by the earthly. Make sure the class notices the tears.
Philippians 3:20-21
Citizens waiting for the Saviour
Explain "our conversation is in heaven" as our citizenship, our commonwealth. Philippi was a Roman colony; its citizens lived in Macedonia but belonged to Rome, under Rome's laws and honoring its emperor, who was hailed as saviour. Paul turns the picture: believers live in Philippi but belong to heaven, and they await the true Saviour, "the Lord Jesus Christ". Then read 3:21. The hope is not escape from the body but its change, from a lowly body to one "fashioned like unto his glorious body", by the power that can subdue all things. Close the chapter here, because this hope is what makes the earlier losses worth it.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Paul is saying his Jewish heritage, and Judaism itself, is dung."
What Paul counts as loss is "confidence in the flesh" (3:3-4), trusting his credentials as the ground of standing with God. He does not stop being an Israelite: in Romans 11:1 he writes, as a believer, that he is of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin, and Romans 9:4-5 lists Israel's privileges with love. The dogs of 3:2 are teachers pressing circumcision on Gentile Christians, not the Jewish people. Teach this carefully; this chapter has been misused for contempt, and the text gives no ground for it.
"In verse 15 Paul says he is perfect, so Christians can reach a sinless state in this life."
Three verses earlier he denied it: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect" (3:12), and in 3:13 he says again that he has not apprehended. The perfect of 3:15 are the mature, and their maturity shows in pressing on. Traditions describe Christian growth differently, and some speak of perfection in love; present them fairly, but every account must keep 3:12-13 in view. Paul's own picture is a runner still running.
"Forgetting what is behind means I should never think about my past."
Paul remembers his past clearly; he has just listed it in 3:5-6, and in 1 Timothy 1:13-15 he calls himself a former blasphemer and persecutor. Forgetting in a race means not running while looking over your shoulder. Neither past achievements nor past failures decide the finish. This does not cancel the need to confess sin or make things right with people we have wronged; it frees a person to run forward rather than live in either glory or shame.
"Our citizenship is in heaven, so the body and this world do not matter."
Verse 21 promises that the body will be changed, not thrown away, and the Saviour comes from heaven to us. The Philippians understood citizenship of a distant city as a way of living where they were, as Roman citizens lived Roman lives in Macedonia. Those who "mind earthly things" in 3:19 are rebuked for making the earthly their god, not for caring about it. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, where the body is raised in glory.
Learning objectives
- List the credentials Paul names and explain why they would have counted as religious gain.
- Explain why Paul reclassifies those gains as loss and dung for the excellency of knowing Christ.
- Distinguish Paul's own righteousness from the righteousness he seeks through faith in Christ.
- Explain the tension between not having already attained and still pressing toward the prize.
- Describe Paul's use of imitation and examples in verses 17–19.
- Explain how heavenly citizenship leads to expectation of Christ's return and bodily transformation.
Teacher preparation
- Mark gain, loss, dung, know, righteousness, faith, resurrection, attained, press, prize, walk, example, heaven, and body.
- Clarify KJV 'dogs' in verse 2 as a harsh polemical insult and 'concision' as Paul's cutting wordplay against teachers insisting on circumcision.
- Explain KJV 'conversation is in heaven' in verse 20 as citizenship or commonwealth, not merely speech.
- Use a simple runner image for verses 13–14: forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward, pressing toward the mark.
- Prepare to distinguish Paul's rejection of confidence in flesh from contempt for Jewish identity.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Verses 4–8 explicitly list Paul's credentials and then call them loss for Christ, culminating in the severe word 'dung' beside the excellency of knowing Christ.
Scripture-supported
Verses 20–21 support bodily hope: believers' citizenship is in heaven, from which they look for the Saviour who will transform the vile body to be fashioned like his glorious body.
Strong inference
Because Paul says 'not as though I had already attained' immediately before pressing forward, it is a strong inference that Christian maturity in this chapter includes dissatisfaction with spiritual complacency.
Possible or traditional reading
Some readers interpret the 'enemies of the cross' in verses 18–19 as libertines, others connect them with another form of fleshly confidence.
Limit
The chapter does not erase Paul's Jewish ancestry, teach that bodily existence is evil, or claim he has reached sinless perfection.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Which items appear on Paul's religious résumé in verses 4–6?
What a good answer contains
Seven items. Four were inherited: "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews" (3:5). Three were achieved: "as touching the law, a Pharisee"; "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church"; and "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (3:5-6). A strong answer notices that Paul really had these, and that by any standard of his day they were impressive. He is not mocking credentials he lacked; he is setting down credentials he held.
Show teacher guidance
He names circumcision, Israelite descent, Benjamin, Hebrew identity, Pharisaic law-keeping, zeal in persecution, and blamelessness under the law's righteousness.
2. What changes Paul's accounting in verses 7–8?
What a good answer contains
Christ changes it. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (3:7). Then the accounting widens: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (3:8). Notice the personal words, my Lord. The gain is not a better list but a person. Explain dung as refuse or rubbish, a deliberately shocking word. A good answer sees that the change happened because of what Paul found, not merely because of what he gave up.
Show teacher guidance
What counted as gain is reclassified as loss for Christ and for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.
3. What kind of righteousness does Paul reject and what kind does he seek in verse 9?
What a good answer contains
He rejects "mine own righteousness, which is of the law", a standing built from his own record. He seeks "that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (3:9). The difference is the source: one comes from Paul, the other from God, received by faith. Readers differ on whether "the faith of Christ" means faith in Christ or Christ's own faithfulness; both readings agree that the righteousness is God's gift and not Paul's achievement. A weak answer says Paul stopped caring about righteousness; he wants it more than ever, from the right source.
Show teacher guidance
He rejects his own righteousness from the law as the basis of confidence and seeks righteousness through faith in Christ, from God by faith.
4. Why does Paul say he has not attained and then use 'perfect' language in verse 15?
What a good answer contains
Because the word means two things. In 3:12 he denies being "already perfect", that is, finished or complete. In 3:15 "as many as be perfect" means the mature, and Paul says the mature are "thus minded": they know they have not arrived and keep pressing on. So maturity is marked by knowing you are not finished. A good answer catches the irony and notices 3:15-16: God will correct those who think otherwise, and meanwhile all should "walk by the same rule".
Show teacher guidance
He denies completed attainment in verses 12–13, then calls mature believers to share this pressing mindset.
5. Why does Paul tell the Philippians to mark those who walk like his example in verse 17?
What a good answer contains
Because people learn the faith by watching lives as well as hearing words: "be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample" (3:17). The reason follows: "many walk" as "the enemies of the cross of Christ" (3:18), whose "God is their belly" and who "mind earthly things" (3:19). A strong answer notices Paul's tears, "even weeping", and sees that the choice of examples is not a matter of taste: some lives lead toward the cross and some away from it.
Show teacher guidance
The next verses contrast such examples with enemies of the cross whose end, appetite, glory, and earthly mind point the other direction.
6. What does heavenly citizenship produce in verses 20–21?
What a good answer contains
It produces expectation. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (3:20). Conversation here means citizenship or commonwealth, which the Philippians, proud Roman citizens in a colony, would understand at once. The hope is bodily: he "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (3:21). Explain vile as lowly, a body of humiliation, not a wicked body. A good answer keeps both the waiting and the transformed body, and the power behind both, by which he is able to "subdue all things unto himself".
Show teacher guidance
It produces expectation of the Saviour from heaven and hope that he will transform the body into conformity with his glorious body.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Audit the résumé.
Relationships and community
Choose examples carefully.
Keep reaching forward
Do not let either past achievement or past failure become the finish line.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Rejoice and beware
Read 3:1-3. Explain dogs and concision briefly, and list the three marks of 3:3.
The résumé
Read 3:4-6 and write the seven items on the board in two groups. Take question one.
Gain and loss
Read 3:7-11 with two columns on the board. Take questions two and three, and confusion one.
Pressing on
Read 3:12-16. Take question four and confusion two, and confusion three if time allows.
Citizens waiting
Read 3:17-21. Take questions five and six.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for grace to press on.
90 minutes
Two columns
Ask the group to name, without personal confession, what people today rely on to feel right with God: family, church record, good behavior, knowledge. Draw gain and loss columns.
Rejoice and beware
Read 3:1-3 with Acts 15:1 and Galatians 5:2-3. Explain the three warnings and the three marks of 3:3.
Paul's résumé
Read 3:4-6 with Romans 11:1. Take question one and confusion one.
Counted loss
Read 3:7-11. Take questions two and three, and explain the two readings of "the faith of Christ".
The runner
Read 3:12-16 and Acts 9:3-6. Take question four and confusions two and three.
Examples and enemies
Read 3:17-19. Take question five and draw attention to Paul's tears.
Citizens of heaven
Read 3:20-21 with 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Take question six and confusion four.
Application and prayer
In pairs, take one application; then read the key verse together, point to the take-home line and pray.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Give each child a paper backpack with labels: born in a good family, goes to church every week, knows lots of Bible verses, never gets in trouble. Read 3:7-9 and let them take the labels out and put in one card that says Jesus. Make clear that the labels are not bad things; they just cannot carry us to God. For 3:13-14, run a short race toward a prize at the far wall and talk about looking ahead instead of over your shoulder.
Youth
Ask what goes on a résumé that impresses their world: grades, followers, sport, a reputation for being good. Build Paul's résumé beside theirs, then read 3:7-8 and let the strength of the word dung land without crudeness. Spend time on 3:12-14, since many youth carry past achievements they must live up to or past failures; both are behind the runner. Keep the warnings of 3:2 on teaching, not on people.
Adults
Give careful attention to righteousness in 3:9 and the debate over "the faith of Christ", then to knowing Christ and the resurrection in 3:10-11. Discuss what adults rely on before God: years of service, theological knowledge, a respectable family. Present the identity of the enemies of 3:18-19 as debated. Close on bodily resurrection in 3:21, which matters for the ill, the aging and the bereaved in the room.
One to one
Ask the person to write two short lists: what they have counted on to be acceptable to God, and what they are ashamed of from the past. Read 3:7-9 over the first list and 3:13-14 over both. Do not hurry them; this can touch deep places. If they are ill or grieving, end with 3:20-21 and the promise of a changed body, and pray with them.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Philippians 3
The passage in brief
In Philippians 3 Paul warns against trusting in religious credentials. He had an impressive record: the right family, the right tribe, strict law-keeping and great zeal. But he counts all of it as loss compared with knowing Christ, and he wants to be found in Christ with a righteousness that comes from God by faith. He has not yet arrived, so he presses on like a runner toward the prize. Believers are citizens of heaven, waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our bodies to be like his glorious body.
A verse to keep
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What did Paul once count as gain (3:5-6), and how does he count it now (3:7-8)?
Where does the righteousness Paul wants come from, according to 3:9?
What are we waiting for, according to 3:20-21?
This week
Write down one thing you have been relying on to feel right with God, and pray this week to trust Christ instead.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
