Philippians 3:9

We now heard what the apostle renounced; let us now see what he laid hold on, and resolved to cleave to, namely, Christ and heaven. He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion.

I. The apostle had his heart upon Christ as his righteousness. This is illustrated in several instances. 1. He desired to win Christ; and an unspeakable gainer he would reckon himself if he had but an interest in Christ and his righteousness, and if Christ became his Lord and his Saviour: That I may win him; as the runner wins the prize, as the sailor makes the port he is bound for. The expression intimates that we have need to strive for him and after him, and that all is little enough to win him. 2. That he might be found in him (Phi 3:9), as the manslayer was found in the city of refuge, where he was safe from the avenger of blood, Num 35:25. Or it alludes to a judicial appearance; so we are to be found of our Judge in peace, Pe2 3:14. We are undone without a righteousness wherein to appear before God, for we are guilty. There is a righteousness provided for us in Jesus Christ, and it is a complete and perfect righteousness. None can have interest or benefit by it but those who come off from confidence in themselves, and are brought heartily to believe in him. "Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law; not thinking that my outward observances and good deeds are able to atone for my bad ones, or that by setting the one over against the other I can come to balance accounts with God. No, the righteousness which I depend upon is that which is through the faith of Christ, not a legal, but evangelical righteousness: The righteousness which is of God by faith, ordained and appointed of God." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord our righteousness, Isa 45:24; Jer 23:6. Had he not been God, he could not have been our righteousness; the transcendent excellence of the divine nature put such a value upon, and such a virtue into, his sufferings, that they became sufficient to satisfy for the sins of the world, and to bring in a righteousness which will be effectual to all that believe. Faith is the ordained means of actual interest and saving benefit in all the purchase of his blood. It is by faith in his blood, Rom 3:25. 3. That he might know Christ (Phi 3:10): That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. Faith is called knowledge, Isa 53:11. Knowing him here is believing in him: it is an experimental knowledge of the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, or feeling the transforming efficacy and virtue of them. Observe, The apostle was as ambitious of being sanctified as he was of being justified. He was as desirous to know the power of Christ's death and resurrection killing sin in him, and raising him up to newness of life, as he was to receive the benefit of Christ's death and resurrection in his justification. 4. That he might be conformable unto him, and this also is meant of his sanctification. We are then made conformable to his death when we die to sin, as Christ died for sin, when we are crucified with Christ, the flesh and affections of it mortified, and the world is crucified to us, and we to the world, by virtue of the cross of Christ. This is our conformity to his death.

II. The apostle had his heart upon heaven as his happiness: If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead, Phi 3:11.

1. The happiness of heaven is here called the resurrection of the dead, because, though the souls of the faithful, when they depart, are immediately with Christ, yet their happiness will not be complete till the general resurrection of the dead at the last day, when soul and body shall be glorified together. Anastasis sometimes signifies the future state. This the apostle had his eye upon; this he would attain. There will be a resurrection of the unjust, who shall arise to shame and everlasting contempt; and our care must be to escape that: but the joyful and glorious resurrection of saints is called the resurrection, kat' exochēn - by eminence, because it is in virtue of Christ's resurrection, as their head and first-fruits; whereas the wicked shall rise only by the power of Christ, as their judge. To the saints it will be indeed a resurrection, a return to bliss, and life, and glory; while the resurrection of the wicked is a rising from the grave, but a return to a second death. It is called the resurrection of the just, and the resurrection of life (Joh 5:29), and they are counted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, Luk 20:35.

2. This joyful resurrection the apostle pressed towards. He was willing to do any thing, or suffer any thing, that he might attain that resurrection. The hope and prospect of it carried him with so much courage and constancy through all the difficulties he met with in his work. He speaks as if they were in danger of missing it, and coming short of it. A holy fear of coming short is an excellent means of perseverance. Observe, His care to be found in Christ was in order to his attaining the resurrection of the dead. Paul himself did not hope to attain it through his own merit and righteousness, but through the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ. "Let me be found in Christ, that I may attain the resurrection of the dead, be found a believer in him, and interested in him by faith," Observe,

(1.) He looks upon himself to be in a state of imperfection and trial: Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect, Phi 3:12. Observe, The best men in the world will readily own their imperfection in the present state. We have not yet attained, are not already perfect; there is still much wanting in all our duties, and graces, and comforts. If Paul had not attained to perfection (who had reached to so high a pitch of holiness), much less have we. Again, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (Phi 3:13), ou logizomai. "I make this judgment of the case; I thus reason with myself." Observe, Those who think they have grace enough give proof that they have little enough, or rather that they have none at all; because, wherever there is true grace, there is a desire of more grace, and a pressing towards the perfection of grace.

(2.) What the apostle's actings were under this conviction. Considering that he had not already attained, and had not apprehended, he pressed forward: "I follow after (Phi 3:12), diōkō - I pursue with vigour, as one following after the game. I endeavour to get more grace and do more good, and never think I have done enough: If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Observe, [1.] Whence our grace comes - from our being apprehended of Christ Jesus. It is not our laying hold of Christ first, but his laying hold of us, which is our happiness and salvation. We love him because he first loved us, Jo1 4:19. Not our keeping hold of Christ, but his keeping hold of us, is our safety. We are kept by his mighty power through faith unto salvation, Pe1 1:5. Observe, [2.] What the happiness of heaven is: it is to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ. When Christ laid hold of us, it was to bring us to heaven; and to apprehend that for which he apprehended us is to attain the perfection of our bliss. He adds further (Phi 3:13): This one thing I do (this was his great care and concern), forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before. There is a sinful forgetting of past sins and past mercies, which ought to be remembered for the exercise of constant repentance and thankfulness to God. But Paul forgot the things which were behind so as not to be content with present measures of grace: he was still for having more and more. So he reaches forth, epekteinomenos - stretched himself forward, bearing towards his point: it is expressive of a vehement concern.

(3.) The apostle's aim in these actings: I press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, Phi 3:14. He pressed towards the mark. As he who runs a race never takes up short of the end, but is still making forwards as fast as he can, so those who have heaven in their eye must still be pressing forward to it in holy desires and hopes, and constant endeavours and preparations. The fitter we grow for heaven the faster we must press towards it. Heaven is called here the mark, because it is that which every good Christian has in his eye; as the archer has his eye fixed upon the mark he designs to hit. For the prize of the high calling. Observe, A Christian's calling is a high calling: it is from heaven, as its original; and it is to heaven in its tendency. Heaven is the prize of the high calling; to brabeion - the prize we fight for, and run for, and wrestle for, what we aim at in all we do, and what will reward all our pains. It is of great use in the Christian course to keep our eye upon heaven. This is proper to give us measures in all our service, and to quicken us every step we take; and it is of God, from whom we are to expect it. Eternal life is the gift of God (Rom 6:23), but it is in Christ Jesus; through his hand it must come to us, as it is procured for us by him. There is no getting to heaven as our home but by Christ as our way.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9. be found in him] at any moment of scrutiny or test; alike in life, in death, and before the judgment-seat. The truth of the believer’s deep incorporation in his Lord and Head, and identification with Him for acceptance and life, is here full in view. In the surrender of faith (Eph_2:8-10; cp. Joh_3:36) he becomes, in the deep laws of spiritual life, a true “limb” of the sacred Head; interested in His merits, penetrated with His exalted Life. In the Epistles to Colossæ and Ephesus, written from the same chamber as this, we have the large development of this truth; and cp. Joh_15:1-8; 1Co_12:12.

Lightfoot remarks (on Gal_2:17, and here) that the verb “to find” is very frequent in Aramaized Greek, and has somewhat lost its distinctive meaning. Still, it is seldom if ever used in the N.T. where that meaning has not some place.

mine own righteousness] Rather more precisely, with R.V., a righteousness of mine own. The word “righteousness” is highly characteristic, and of special meaning, in St Paul. In very numerous passages (examine Rom_3:5-26; Rom_4:3; Rom_4:5-6; Rom_4:9; Rom_4:11; Rom_4:13; Rom_6:16; Rom_10:3; 1Co_1:30; 2Co_3:9; and cp. Tit_3:5) its leading idea evidently is that of acceptance, satisfactoriness, however secured, to law; whether to special or to general law as the case may be. (See Grimm’s Greek-Eng. Lexicon of the N.T., Thayer’s edition, on the word δικαιοσύνη, for a good statement of the matter from the purely critical point of view.) “A righteousness of mine own” is thus a title to acceptance, a claim on Divine justice, due to my own doings and merits, supposed to satisfy a legal standard.

which is of the law] Literally, again “of law.” But R.V. retains the definite article, as practically right in translation, as it was in Php_3:6.—How shall we define the word “Law” here? Is it the Mosaic law from the Pharisee’s point of view, as in Php_3:6? Or is it the far larger fact of the Divine preceptive moral code, taken as a covenant of life, in which the terms are, “Do this, truly and perfectly, and live; do this, and claim acceptance as of right”? We take the answer to be that it means here this latter as an extension of the former; that the thought rises, or developes itself, in this passage, from the idea of special ordinance to the idea of universal covenanting precept. And our reasons lie, partly in this context, partly in the great parallel passages in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians. In the present context the ideas immediately contrasted or opposed to that of “the law” are ideas not of “work,” in any meaning of that word, but of “faith.” And for exposition of this we turn to the argument of Romans 1-5, and of Gal_2:3, and of Eph_2:1-10, and (a passage closely parallel to this; see notes in this Series) 13–17; and of Col_2:8-14. In this whole range of teaching it is apparent that the idea of Law, as a whole, cannot possibly be satisfied by explaining it to mean merely a Divine code of observances, though that is one of its lower and subsidiary meanings. It means the whole system of Divine precept, moral as well as ceremonial, eternal as well as temporal, taken as a covenant to be fulfilled in order to acceptance of the person before God. The implicit or explicit contrary is that such acceptance is procured for us by the merits of the Redeeming Lord, appropriated to the sinner by the single profound means of faith, that is to say, acceptance of Him as Sacrifice, Saviour, Lord, on the warrant of God’s word. Such faith, in the spiritual order of things, unites to Christ, and in that union the “member” receives the merit of the “Head” for his acceptance, and the life and power of the Head for obedience. That obedience (see esp. Eph_2:8-10) is now rendered not in fulfilment of a covenant for acceptance, but in the life, and for the love, given to the believer under the covenant in which he is accepted, from first to last, for the sake of his meritorious Lord and Head. Cp. further, Hebrews 10, esp. 15–18; with Jer_31:33-34.

Such is the general Pauline doctrine of acceptance, a doctrine such as to give its opponents or perverters, from the very first, a superficial excuse to make it out to be antinomian (Rom_3:8; Rom_6:1); a fact of the utmost weight in the estimate of its true bearing.

Such a general doctrine assists us in interpreting this great incidental passage. And we infer here accordingly that the primary idea is that of acceptance for Christ’s sake, as against acceptance on the score of any sort of personal merit. The spiritual development of the regenerate being comes in nobly here, as in the other and larger passages referred to; but it comes in upon the basis, and as the sequel, of a gratuitous acceptance for Christ’s sake alone. See notes on Php_3:10.

that which is through the faith of Christ] So lit., but better, in regard of English idiom, that which is through faith in Christ. For the Greek construction (“faith of,” meaning “faith in”) cp. e.g. Mar_11:22; Act_3:16; Gal_2:16; Gal_2:20; Eph_3:12; 2Th_2:13. Here again, as with the words “law” and “righteousness,” St Paul’s writings are a full commentary. See especially Rom_3:22-28, a passage most important as a parallel here. It brings out the fact that “faith,” in the case in question, has special regard to Christ as the shedder of His sacred blood in propitiation, and that the blessing immediately received by faith thus acting is the acceptance, the justification, of the sinner before the holy Lawgiver and Judge, solely for the Propitiator’s sake. See further Romans 4, 5; Rom_8:33-34; Rom_9:33; Rom_10:4; Rom_10:9-10; Gal_2:16; Gal_3:1-14; Gal_3:21-24; Eph_2:8-9.

Much discussion has been raised over the true meaning of “faith” in Scripture doctrine. It may suffice to point out that at least the leading and characteristic idea of the word is personal trust, not of course without grounds, but on grounds other than “sight.” It is certainly not mere assent to testimony, a mental act perfectly separable from the act of personal reliance. Setting aside Jas_2:14-26, where the argument takes up and uses designedly an inadequate idea of faith (see Commentary on the Romans in this Series, p. 261), the word “faith” consistently conveys in Scripture the thought of personal reliance, trustful acceptance of Divine truth, of Divine work, of the Divine Worker and Lord[23]. And if we venture to ask why such reliance takes this unique place in the process of salvation, we may reply with reverence that, so far as we can see into the mysterious fact, it is because the essence of such reliance is a going forth from self to God, a bringing of nothing in order to receive everything. There is thus a moral fitness in faith to be the saving contact and recipient, while yet all ideas of moral worthiness and deservingness are decisively banished from it. It is fit to receive the Divine gift, just as a hand, not clean perhaps but empty, is fit to receive a material gift. Certainly in the reasonings of St Paul every effort is made to bring out the thought that salvation by faith means in effect salvation by Christ only and wholly, received by sinful man, as sinful man, simply and directly in and by personal reliance on God’s word. The sinner is led off, in a happy oblivion of himself, to simple and entire rest in his Saviour.

[23] Fides est fiducia (Luther). See this admirably developed and illustrated by J. C. Hare, Victory of Faith, pp. 15–22 (ed. 1847).

the righteousness which is of God] On the word “righteousness” see above, note 2 on this verse. Here, practically, it means acceptance, welcome, as a child and saint, in Christ and for Christ’s sake.

“Of God”:—lit., “out of God,” originating wholly in Him, uncaused by anything in man. Its origin is the Father’s love, its reason and security, the Son’s merits, its conveyance, the Holy Spirit uniting the sinner in faith to the Son.

For some good remarks, of caution as well as assertion, on justifying righteousness, see G. S. Faber’s Primitive Doctrine of Justification, ch. i, pp. 25–32, with footnotes (ed. 1839).

by faith] Lit., upon faith; in view of, under circumstances of, faith. We may render, “on condition of faith.” But faith, in the Pauline view, is not a mere condition; it is the recipient act and state. It is a condition, not as paying for a meal is a condition to getting good from it, but as eating it is a condition.

On the doctrine of this verse cp. the Sermon of Salvation (being the third in the First Book of Homilies), referred to in Art. xi. as “the Homily of Justification”; and the short treatise of Bp Hopkins, of Londonderry (cent. 17), The Doctrine of the Two Covenants. See further Appendix F; and cp. at large O’Brien, Nature and Effects of Faith, and Hooker’s Discourse of Justification, esp. §§ 3–6, 31–34.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_3:9

And be found in him

I.

Trusting.

II. Justified.

III. Concealed.

IV. Complete. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Found in Christ

I. Show how or when God comes to search and the saints are found in Christ. The world is a confused heap, and many times the counterfeits are found among the jewels, but God hath searching times and will find them out.

1. The preaching of the Word is a time of plain searching in Christ.

2. A time of temptation.

3. A season of the Churchs trouble and persecution. A true friend is known in adversity, so is Christ to the believer, and he to Christ.

4. The time of death and judgment.

II. How and when they shall be found who are found in Christ.

1. As branches in the true vine (Joh_15:1-6). So are they safe, for barren trees shall be cut down for the fire, but Christ mystical is a tree the axe cannot approach.

2. In a place of refuge. The Lord shall be as a sanctuary to them. They are in the city of refuge where one drop of wrath cannot fall.

3. Under a covert, in a hiding place--even the Mediators covenant blood.

4. In the covenant, in Christs chariot (Son_3:9-10; Isa_27:4-5).

III. The reasons.

1. God will search and find out every one of us, be where we will. We may deceive ourselves and others, but God is not mocked who searchest the reins.

2. If God find us out of Christ we are undone. We shall have nothing to shelter us when He draws us out of our lurking holes.

3. if we are found in Christ we shall be safe in time and eternity, blow the storm as it may. Over trouble He will lift up our head; and when death comes it shall be without its sting.

IV. The uses. Let it be your great care to be found in Christ as Noah in the ark, and Lot in Zoar.

1. Let not the searching time find you at a disadvantage.

(1) In an unregenerate state--dead in trespasses and sins. This is a soul-ruining state, fire meeting stubble; the judge the criminal.

2. Be found in Christ.

(1) United to Him by His Spirit through faith.

(2) Walking in Him.

(3) Living in Him and upon Him (Gal_2:20).

V. The motives.

1. If you be found in Christ, He will be found in you, so shall you have a double security in time of trial (Joh_17:21-23). Christ is found in believers as in His own house.

(1) His dwelling, and who will not defend that.

(2) His banquetting house. What provisions He brings with Him for storm and Beige.

(3) His fortified house. None shall pluck them out of My hand.

(4) His temple, which He will not allow to be profaned.

(5) His garden. He will water it every moment, hedge it about and preserve it.

(6) As the soul in the body (Col_3:4; Gal_2:20; Act_2:25-27).

2. If you be not found in Christ you will be found in a bad case in time and in eternity. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Found in Christ

The phrase implies--

1. That there is an estate in Christ.

2. An abiding in it.

I. Let us explain the phrase. It is taken from plants which are grafted into stocks, or from the branches which are in the tree. Of this union there are three degrees.

1. We are in Christ in the eternal love and purpose of God.

2. When Christ died we were in Him as a public person.

3. More properly now by faith, as friends are in one another by love. But as Christ is in heaven, how can we be united to Him? I answer, If a tree did reach to heaven and have its root in the earth, doth this hinder the union of root and branches. And although Christ be in heaven, yet are we united to Him by His Spirit, and receive influence from Him of all grace and goodness.

II. The doctrines that are cleared hereby.

1. Justification by faith. For if the question is, How are we saved by Christs righteousness? I answer, Christ and we are one, and whatsoever He hath is ours.

2. The sacrament. The Paoists would have the bread transubstantiated, that the body of Christ may be united to us. But I ask, How is the foot united to head? By spiritual vigour passing to and fro through the body. It is not, therefore, necessary that there should be corporal union. Christ comforted His disciples more by His Spirit when He departed, than He did by His corporal presence.

III. The comfort of this. Before we were in Christ we were in a state of horror and condemnation. But now we are in Him--

1. Our nature is exalted to the Godhead.

2. Whatever we may lose in other states here is a state that cannot be shaken.

3. Blessed are those who die in the Lord.

4. After death we shall be with Him in our Fathers house. 5, All who touch us touch Him (Act_9:4).

IV. The duties which spring out of this.

1. In duties towards God how thankful we ought to be to Him.

2. It ought to stir us up to duties in respect to our fellow members, particularly in charity to Christs poor.

3. Towards ourselves. We are to carry ourselves with dignity, and to grow up into our living head.

V. How shall we come to be found in Christ.

1. We must come where He is.

2. We must separate ourselves from what is contrary to Christ.

Learn--

1. That a Christian is continually under Christs wing till he be in heaven.

2. There is such a time when God will search men out and lay them open as they are.

3. The foundation of future happiness must be laid now. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)

Not having mine own righteousness--

The two righteousnesses

I. The distinction between two sorts of righteousness.

1. His own is either.

(1) The false, superficial righteousness which He had as a Pharisee (Php_3:6), or

(2) any that might stand in competition with Christ.

2. The righteousness of God is His gracious method of pardoning penitent believers in the gospel, and accepting them to life in Christ. This is so called because--

(1) It is found out by God (Job_33:24).

(2) Given by God (1Co_1:30; 2Co_5:21).

(3) Accepted by God (Mat_3:17).

II. The description of these opposite righteousnesses.

1. His own is by the law, the other that which is by the faith of Christ, i.e. appointed by God, merited by Christ, and received by faith.

2. These are often opposed (Rom_3:21-22; Rom_10:3).

3. The law may be taken in two ways, either for--

(1) The law of works, which required a man to be justified by a perfect, sinless obedience of his own. This is opposed to the righteousness of God by faith in Christ (Rom_1:17-18; Rom_3:20), and by justification is impossible, for none of us have it. If we had, there were no sin, and no place for Christ; but we have all broken with God, and can show no work justifiable by the law (Rom_3:12).

(2) Or the ceremonial law. By this Paul proves that no man can be justified, and therefore the Jews sought righteousness where it was not to be found, and were guilty of a three-fold error.

(a) They thought that pardon and acceptance were to be secured by the bare works of that law.

(b) They overlooked and rejected Christ, who is the end of righteousness to every believer.

(c) They would keep up this law when it was to be abrogated.

III. His different respect to either.

1. That which he renounced was

(1) partly the superficial righteousness of conformity to the external law, a mere speculative righteousness, and

(2) partly the righteousness of the law covenant which some falsely fancied they might fulfil.

2. That which he affected was to be found in Christ, etc.

(1) The state of His person, or the way this is applied.

(a) The word found is emphatic, and often used with respect to the day of judgment (2Co_5:3; 2Pe_3:14; Mat_24:46). It implies that the last day is one of exact search and trial.

(b) In Christ, i.e., incorporated into His mystical body, or united to Him by the Spirit (Joh_15:2; Rom_8:1). Being united to Him by faith, love, and holiness, we are made partakers of His righteousness.

(2) The righteousness with which He would appear before God. The righteousness of the new covenant is two fold.

(a) The supreme righteousness is Christs obedience unto death (Rom_5:18-19), i.e., our great righteousness before God by which His justice is satisfied, and by the merit of which all the blessings of the new covenant are procured for us.

(b) The subordinate righteousness, or the way and means and conditions by which we get an interest in and a right to this supreme righteousness is faith (Rom_4:3), and our continuance in it is conditional on a new obedience (1Jn_3:7; 1Jn_2:29). This has respect to the final judgment (Mat_25:46), where the righteous are those who are fruitful in good works. Conclusion: We are justified by faith only, without works, as Paul asserted; and by works and not by faith only, which is the assertion of James. Justification hath respect to some accusation, and as there is a two-fold law of works and grace, there is a two-fold accusation and justification. Now when we are accused as breakers of the law of works we plead Christs satisfaction as our righteousness, no works of our own. But when we are accused as non-performers of the conditions of the covenant of grace, as being neglecters of Christ the Mediator, we are justified by producing our faith or sincere obedience. Whence learn--

1. That the day of judgment will be a day of exact search and trial (Rom_14:12).

2. That in this day there is no appearing before God with safety and comfort without righteousness of some sort or another (1Sa_6:20).

3. The righteousness of the law of works we cannot have (Gal_3:10; Rom_3:23; Psa_143:3).

4. Man having broken this law, is lost or disabled to his own recovery, or to do anything whereby to satisfy God (Rom_5:6).

5. Because man was under such an impotency Christ became the Mediator, and

(1) Became a sacrifice to offended justice (Eph_5:2).

(2) A ransom for sinners (1Ti_2:6).

6. Upon His death Christ acquired a new right of dominion over the world, to save on His own terms (Rom_14:9 : Act_2:36; Php_2:7-11).

7. Being possessed of this Lordship, He has made a new law of grace for our recovery (Mar_16:16; Joh_3:16-18).

(1) He hath set down the terms of life and death.

(2) The privileges of the new grant are exceeding great--pardon, peace, adoption, the gift of the Spirit, and the right to glory.

(3) The danger of final impenitency and refusing these things, and not submitting to this righteousness is very grievous (Heb_10:39).

8. The terms of the new law are repentance, faith, and new obedience. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Righteousness

I. The righteousness of the law--

1. Consists in works.

2. Is our own.

3. Is defective and useless.

II. The righteousness of faith--

1. Is through Christ.

2. Perfect.

3. Acceptable to God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

I. What is meant by Christs righteousness. Righteousness is the result of obedience to the law. Christ fulfilled the law in our room.

1. By His active obedience to its commands. Now the law demands of the sinner were very high.

(1) Spotlessness of nature, for if the fountain be poisoned, how can the streams be wholesome. The Son of God satisfied this demand by taking on Himself a sinless body and soul.

(2) An obedience as broad as the law--Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things. Christ fulfilled all righteousness and did no sin.

(3) An obedience raised to the highest degree the law requires. It is not enough to be sincere or do ones best. Christ answered this by His perfect love to God and man.

(4) Continuance to the end without the least failure (Gal_3:10). Christ became obedient unto death.

2. By his passive obedience. Failing in active righteousness the law takes hold of the sinner and says, Pay what thou owest.

(1) The law required life as the penalty of transgression--In the day that thou eatest, etc. Christ satisfied this demand by dying the just for the unjust.

(2) The sufferings must be voluntary, for God hates robbery for burnt offering. Christ for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.

II. This righteousness is received by faith. It is received and becomes ours by faith, as faith unites us to Christ. Upon this union follows a communion with Christ in His righteousness. The soul by faith marries with Christ and the righteousness is its dowry. The soul flies to Christ for refuge, and that righteousness is its cover.

III. Confirm the doctrine.

1. That only can shelter us from the wrath of God which satisfies His law, and this righteousness alone satisfies His law.

2. It is the righteousness of God, so called because--

(1) It is of Him who is God (Jer_23:6).

(2) Accepted of God.

3. It is the righteousness of the only wise God to save sinners, when nothing else could do it (Psa_40:6-7).

Conclusion.

1. Never entertain low thoughts of sin. It is the worst of evils, which could not be remedied but by the sufferings of Christ.

2. Never entertain low thoughts of forgiveness. Every pardon is the price of blood more precious than a thousand worlds. (T. Boston, D. D.)

The believers righteousness

I. Its nature.

1. Not personal, but through Christ.

2. Not of the law but by faith.

II. Its enjoyment.

1. In Christ in whom the believer dwells.

2. Is found here and hereafter.

III. Its sufficiency.

1. It is purposed.

2. Originated.

3. Effected.

4. Approved by God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Christ and faith

History and our own personal life has no more strange and pathetic page than is suggested by the words, I have suffered the loss of all things.

1. We are started on an infinite journey; and no surer witness to this exists than in the easy and familiar way in which we let object after object fall from our lives in our pursuit of what seems to be greater. Or like a general who leaves the stronghold he is defending, deserting cannon and baggage and the unfinished toil of months because the tide of battle has set elsewhere and all his force must be concentrated there, so are we in the great battle of life.

2. The same thing is true in higher regions. We cannot rest in intellectual attainment. We climb where thought is giddy; and at last, here is law. Where is God? Without that discovery know ledge is dross, and we can suffer the loss of it if we can but reach Him and be right with Him.

I. The failure of legal righteousness to being us peace. Through such a process as that to which we have referred the apostle had passed in the urgent march of his spirit to its home in the heart of Christ. There is a tone almost of solemn mocking in the appeal he makes to the past. My Saviour did not find me among the offscourings of the world. He did not pick me from the mire. If any man had a right to boast I had. But it all led him to the O wretched man that I am, etc. This law, under the mountain shadow of which we have been standing, brought him, brings us, no peace. All that it can do is to open the doors of the temple, which by faith we must enter if we would behold God.

II. The hearts cry for a righteousness of God.

1. There is a condition where no such cry is heard--the Pharisaical. A man may go on looking at the outward so long, and so succeed in stifling his spiritual aspirations as to arrive at the conclusion that all he can do is to obey the letter of the law.

2. But a man who has found out that even strict obedience to the moral law cannot reveal God will understand this cry. The highest commands that law ever laid, and the lowliest obedience ever rendered, have no Divine significance but in the revelation of an Infinite Person, to whom we stand personally related. We ask to be clothed with Himself.

III. The righteousness that is revealed to faith. To the apostle the voice of faith that is in Christ was a sufficient answer to this cry. Not having mine own righteousness. The Incarnation was the only possible answer for God to give and for us to receive. The law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might receive Himself. This is enough, and in Christ we have the righteousness of God. (L. Mann.)

The righteousness of God by faith

This righteousness is the only ground of acceptance with God. It is not of mine, but of God, as in His grace He has provided it, so that it is said of us we are justified freely by His grace. It is wrought out by Christ and in His blood (Rom_5:9); or it is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It becomes ours through faith. This faith is counted for righteousness, or subjectively with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Of the possessor of such righteousness it may be said that a man is justified in the sight of God. Christ obeyed the law for us and suffered its penalty, and the merit of this obedience unto death becomes ours as soon as we can say, We have believed in Jesus. He that was unrighteous becomes righteous, and escapes the condemnation which sin merits (Rom_8:1; Rom_1:18); nay, enjoys the benefit of redemption (Eph_1:7). When works of law are disclaimed, and faith is simply reposed on God, guilt is cancelled, acceptance enjoyed, and such a change of state involves a change of character (Rom_8:4). The sinner is not indeed held by any legal fiction to be innocent. The entire process implies his guilt, but he is no longer exposed to its penalty; he is held, or dealt with, as a righteous person, the external justice of Christ Jesus being imputed to Him (Hooker). And the result is (Rom_8:30). This righteousness, Divine in its origin, awful in its medium, and fraught with such results, was the essential element of Pauls religion and the distinctive tenets of His theology. (Professor Eadie.)

Imputed righteousness

The grand truth of this doctrine lies just here--when a sinner casts himself in penitence on the mercy of his Saviour, God estimates him not according to what he has been, or is in himself, but according to what he is in relation to Christ. We ourselves are constantly estimating things and persons as they stand related to other things and persons. The geologist estimates the significance of certain remains according to the strata in which they are found. The chemist estimates the action of certain elements according as they are found in this or that combination. The merchant estimates goods according as they stand related to the needs of this or that market. You present your sample; he refuses. These things wont sell now out yonder in Brazil. You say, Oh! but judge them on their own merits; see what excellent cloth, what beautiful patterns. But it is of no use. You go into a garden in the early spring when the leaves are just beginning to appear. Two branches are touching each other. The gardener says, This branch will be laden with fruit, but that will have little or none upon it. You see no difference. The leaves are as fresh and green on the one as on the other. But the gardener judges them according to their relations. The one branch is found in a tree which he knows to be fruitful, the other in one he knows to be almost barren. Is it a fiction when he imputes the qualities of the stock to the branch? Or he comes into your garden and sees in one of your borders a plant which is not thriving. That plant, he says, will die here, put it in the hothouse. He comes back in a few weeks, and the same plant is found in the hothouse. It is all right now, he says. He does not mean that it has recovered vitality or beauty, but it is in the fair way to health. Its change of relation has saved it. Or, say that you go into the studio of a famous artist, and you see him sketching a picture on the canvas. It is but little--only a faint outline; but he tells you his idea, and you know how he has worked out other ideas. It is only a beginning as yet; but it stands related to a master hand, and you can imagine what it will be when finished. Your estimate of the same picture would be very different if you found it in the studio, and under the hand of an inferior artist. Or again, you may be told that a newborn babe and a newborn ape are each a mere piece of flesh and blood, and that under the dissecting knife little difference could be detected between them. But the babe is found in humanity. It stands related to the human race, and you estimate it according to its latent capacities, although at present there may be no sign of distinctive intelligence. Or, you may apply to have your life insured, and you go to a physician to be examined. He inquires as to any illness you may have had, and into your present state. But he also asks about your parents; when, and of what they died, and also about your brothers and sisters. You might say, Why not judge of my case purely upon its own merits? No; his judgment will depend partly on the family stock in which you are found, and he will impute to you the healthy or unhealthy qualities of the family stock. And is God not to estimate men according to their relation to Himself, and to His Son? No man is justified in living a life of sin, nor in living a life of self-confident Pharisiasm; but when a man comes in a humble and contrite heart and throws himself on the mercy of the righteous One, praying for pardon, and cleansing, and strength to live a better life, his relation is changed and he is justified. (T. C. Finlayson.)

Salvation in Christ

A man had been condemned in a Spanish court to be shot, but being an American citizen, and also of English birth, the consuls of the two countries interposed, and declared that the Spanish authorities had no power to put him to death. What did they do to secure his life when their protest was not sufficient? They wrapped him up in their flags, they covered him with the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack, and defied the executioners. Now fire a shot if you dare, for if you do so, you defy the nations represented by those flags, and you will bring the powers of those two great empires upon you. There stood the man, and before him the soldiery, and though a single shot might have ended his life, yet he was as invulnerable as though encased in triple steel. Even so Jesus Christ has taken my poor guilty soul ever since I believed in Him, and has wrapped around me the blood-red flag of His atoning sacrifice; and before God can destroy me or any other soul that is wrapped in the atonement, He must insult His Son and dishonour His sacrifice, and that He will never do, blessed be His name. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Php_3:9. Through the faith of Christ.—Better without the article as R.V. Faith is the medium by which righteousness comes. The righteousness which is of God.—Which originates from God as the fount of all righteousness. By faith.—R.V. margin, “upon”; that is, resting upon faith as its condition; above it was the medium.

Php_3:10. The power of His resurrection.—The wide-reaching and conquering force and efficacy which render death inert (2Ti_1:10) and draw “the sting of death” (1 Corinthians 15). And the fellowship of His sufferings.—The apostle has no desire to go by any other way to his glory than that by which his Lord went—per crucem ad lucem. Being made comformable unto His death.—R.V. “becoming conformed.” The original is one word where we have three, “being made conformable,” taking that lowly guise which will agree with the bearing of Him who “took the form of a servant.” “The agony of Gethsemane, not less than the agony of Calvary, will be reproduced, however faintly, in the faithful servant of Christ.” (Lightfoot).

Php_3:11. If by any means I might attain.—How little is there here of the spirit of those who profess themselves “as sure of heaven as though they were there.” Meyer thinks the expression excludes moral security, but not the certitudo salutis in itself. Unto the resurrection of the dead.—By a very slight change “from the dead” instead of “of the dead” the R.V. indicates rather too feebly the only use of the term in the New Testament. “From amongst” would have been more likely to arrest attention. Whilst Meyer says the compound word for resurrection in no way differs from the ordinary one, Lightfoot thinks the form of expression implies and the context requires the meaning “the final resurrection of the righteous to a new and glorified life.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_3:9-11

Features of the Believer’s Life in Christ.

I. The believer’s life has its home and stronghold in Christ.—“And be found in Him” (Php_3:9). Once lost, now found: found by Christ; found in Him by others. Once homeless, now safely sheltered. One day Charles Wesley was sitting by an open window looking over the bright and beautiful fields in summertime. Presently a little bird, flitting about in the sunshine, attracted his attention. Just then a hawk came swooping down towards the little bird. The frightened thing was darting here and there, trying to find some place of refuge. In the bright sunny air, in the leafy trees or green fields, there was no hiding-place from the fierce grasp of the hawk. But seeing the open window and a man sitting by it, the bird, in its extreme terror, flew towards it, and with a beating heart and quivering wing found refuge in Wesley’s bosom. He sheltered it from the threatening danger, and saved it from a cruel death. Wesley was at that time suffering from severe trials, and was feeling the need of a refuge as much as the trembling bird that nestled safely in his bosom. So he took up his pen and wrote the well-known hymn—

“Jesu, Lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly.”

To be found in Christ means more than mere shelter, more than external fellowship. It means a union as close and vital and abiding as between the members of the body and the head; a union effected by the Spirit, and being the very Spirit of Christ dwelling in us.

II. The believer’s life consists of righteousness, not self-acquired, but divinely inspired through faith.—“Not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ” (Php_3:9). The apostle now touches upon a theme—justification by faith—which he has argued out with a clearness and fulness unequalled by any other New Testament writer. The righteousness which was his own was out of the law, or originated by the law, and was acquired by his own effort; but the righteousness which he finds in Christ is not his own, but God’s, and is acquired, not by his own merits or efforts, but by faith in Christ. “This righteousness, divine in its origin, awful in its medium, and fraught with such results, was the essential element of Paul’s religion, and the distinctive tenet of his theology.” When a friend happening to say to the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, “I suppose you make not your labours for the good of the Church the ground of your comfort,” he, with uncommon earnestness, replied, “No, no, no! it is the finished righteousness of Christ which is the only foundation of my hope; I have no more dependence on my labours than on my sins. I rather reckon it a wonder of mercy that God took any of my labours of my hand. Righteousness belongeth unto Him, but unto me shame and confusion of face.”

III. The believer’s life is the creation of divine power.—It is a life communicated by the exercise of the divine power that raised Christ from the dead. “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Php_3:10). The power exerted by Christ’s resurrection is exerted in raising the divine life in the believing soul, and raising it to still higher developments of power and enjoyment. The aspirations of the soul after Christ are aspirations to know more and more the power of His resurrection.

2. It is a life that will be consummated by the ultimate resurrection of the body.—“If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Php_3:11). Towards this consummation the apostle yearns with intense desire. All his hopes, all his soul longed for, seem gathered up in this: perfect freedom for ever from sin and sorrow; knowledge of Christ up to the fullest measure of his capacity of knowledge; perfect experimental acquaintance with the power of His resurrection, through perfect fellowship of life with Him; the ineffable and everlasting blessedness of being with Him and like Him; to rise out of the ashes of the tomb and assume the glorious body of the resurrection. We can never forget a corridor in the Vatican Museum, exhibiting on the one side epitaphs and emblems of departed heathens and their gods, and on the other side mementoes of departed Christians. Face to face they stand, engaged, as it were, in conflict, the two armies clinging to their respective standards; hope against despair—death swallowed up in victory. Opposite to lions seizing on horses, emblems of destruction, are charming sculptures of the good Shepherd bearing home the lost lamb—a sign of salvation.

IV. The believer’s life is in sympathetic fellowship with the suffering Christ—“And to know the fellowship of His sufferings” (Php_3:10). The sufferings of Christ are not ended—they are prolonged in the sufferings of His people—and of these the apostle desired to know the fellowship. He longed so to suffer, for such fellowship gave him assimilation to his Lord, as he drank of His cup and was baptised with His baptism. It brought him into communion with Christ, purer, closer, and tenderer than simple service for Him could have achieved. It gave him such solace as Christ Himself enjoyed. To suffer together creates a dearer fellow-feeling than to labour together. Christ indeed cannot be known unless there be this fellowship in His sufferings (Eadie). An intimate friend of Handel’s called upon him just as he was in the middle of setting the words to music, “He was despised,” and found the great composer sobbing with tears, so greatly had this passage and the rest of his morning’s work affected the master.

Lessons.—

1. The soul finds its highest life in Christ.

2. Life in Christ is secured by the co-operation of man’s faith with Divine power.

3. To live in Christ is to share the fruits of His mysterious passion.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Php_3:10. Knowledge of the Power of Christ’s Resurrection.

I. To know Christ includes a clearly defined conception and familiar acquaintance with the special characteristics and unrivalled excellencies of His person.

II. To know the power of His resurrection.—

1. As it is a public and universal vindication of the proper dignity of His person.

2. As it seals the doom of human sin.

3. As it ensures the destruction of pain and death, and provides for the perpetuation of the believer in a state of immortal felicity.

The Power of Christ’s Resurrection—

I. As a miracle attesting His divine mission.

II. As an evidence of His divinity.—Resurrection does not always prove divinity, but in these circumstances (Rom_1:3-4).

III. As an indication of the acceptance of His sacrifice.

IV. As an incentive to the pursuit of holiness.—Risen with Christ; risen in Him, sharing His life.

V. As an instrument of social amelioration.—The gospel has civilised where it has not Christianised, has repressed and refined where it has not renewed or regenerated.

VI. As a pledge and preassurance of the glorious resurrection of His people.—G. Brooks.

The Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings.

I. We have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings in the pain caused by coming in contact with sin.

II. In having our motives misinterpreted and our conduct misjudged.

III. In the purifying influence of suffering.

Php_3:11. The Resurrection of the Dead as an Object to aim at.

I. The object which Paul contemplated.—

1. The resurrection as the proof of final escape from all evil.

2. The resurrection as the occasion of public recognition by the Saviour-Judges 3. The resurrection as the pledge of eternal happiness in heaven.

II. His desire for that object.—It supplies—

1. A high appreciation of its value.

2. A deep sense of its difficulty.

3. A persuasion that it may be attained in various degrees.

4. A submission to all the divine arrangements in reference to it.—G. Brooks.

The Resurrection of the Just.

I. What is that entire satisfaction and climax for which we are to long and labour?

II. What are the scriptural representations of its accompaniments and consequences?—

1. The power of recognising all those whom they have known in holy fellowship on earth.

2. The resemblance of our nature to Christ.

3. High honour is destined for Christians.

III. What are the determinations by which it is to be won?—

1. The relation which the present happy spiritualism of deceased saints bears to the resurrection.

2. The representation of the intermediate state. It is a relic and disadvantageous condition of death, though of death as far as possible mitigated. It shall be overthrown, not only as a state, but as a separate power, in the destruction of death.—R. W. Hamilton.

The Attainment of the Resurrection.

I. Paul’s aim.—“The resurrection of the dead.”

1. The risen Christ is the pledge of a risen life for man.

2. The rising of Christ is a power to elevate life.

3. Hence arises the gradual attainment of the resurrection.

II. Paul’s endeavour.—“If by any means.” The necessity for this agonising endeavour arises from—

1. The difficulty of accomplishing it.

2. The glory of its attainment.—E. L. Hull.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 12

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH.

Php_3:9 (R.V.)

RIGHTEOUSNESS is a term which is applied in different ways. Often it denotes excellence of personal character. So used, it suggests the idea. of a life whose manifestations agree with the standard by which lives are tried. Sometimes it denotes rectitude or justice, as distinguished from benevolence. Sometimes a claim to be approved, or judicially vindicated, is more immediately in view when righteousness is asserted. Paul himself freely uses the word in different applications, the sense, in each passage, being determined by the context. Here we have the righteousness of faith, as distinguished from the righteousness of works, or righteousness by the law. The passage belongs to a large class in which righteousness is spoken of as accruing, through Christ, to those who are unrighteous, or whose own righteousness has proved unreliable. Let us try to fix the thought which the Apostle designed to inculcate in such passages.

The Apostle, then, conceives of the righteousness, of which he has so much to say, as Gods: it is the "righteousness of God." {Rom_1:17; Rom_3:22; Rom_10:3} Yet it is not Gods in the sense of being an attribute of His own Divine nature: for (in the passage before us) it is called "the righteousness from God"; it arises for us by our faith in Jesus Christ; and 2Co_5:21 "we are made the righteousness of God in Christ." It is, therefore, something that is from God to us believing, a "gift of righteousness." {Rom_5:17} At the same time it is not, on the other hand, an attribute or quality of the human mind, whether natural or imparted; for it is something "revealed." {Rom_1:17} Also, it is opposed to the wrath of God. Now, that wrath is indeed an element of our state as sinners, but not a feature of our character. Further, it could not be said of any internal character of our own, that we are to be "obedient," or are to "submit" to it. {Rom_10:3}

In the latter part of Rom. 5 we have set before us two counter conceptions: the one of sin and condemnation, deriving from Adam, antecedent to the personal action and offence of those who descend from him; the other of free gift unto justification, following from the righteousness or obedience of Christ, this being a gift of grace abounding unto many. In either case the Apostle sees arising from one a relation which pertains to many, and which brings forth its results to them: on the one hand, sin and death; on the other, righteousness and life. In both cases a common relation is recognised, under which individuals are found existing; and in either case it traces up to the one-to Adam or to Christ. Whatever difficulties may be felt to attach to this passage, the Apostles doctrine of the righteousness of faith must be understood so as to agree with the way of thinking which the passage expresses.

It appears, then, that the righteousness which is from God, unto or upon faith, expresses a relation between God and believers that is the proper basis for fellowship with God, confiding on their part, communicative of the best blessings on His. It is analogous to the relation conceived to arise when a perfectly righteous man is approved and set apart to weal; and like that it stands in contrast with the relation due to sin as it incurs wrath. It follows that this righteousness, if it exists or becomes available for those who have sinned, includes the forgiveness of sins. But it includes more than forgiveness, in so far as it is not merely negative. It is the concession to us of a standing which is a positive basis for experiences, pointing towards eternal life, and rising into it.

This relation to Himself God has founded for us sinful men in Christ, and specially in His atonement. It is part of what is divinely held out to us, as life or well-being in Christ. When we do awaken to it, our whole religious attitude towards God takes character from it, and is to be ordered accordingly. This way of being related to God is called Gods righteousness, or righteousness "from God," because it is not set up by us, but by Gods grace, through the redeeming work of Christ ("being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"- Rom_3:24). On the other hand, it is righteousness "of faith," or "through faith of Christ," because faith subjects itself to the order of grace, revealed and made effectual in Christ, and therein finds the reconciliation. For the believing man the relation becomes effectual and operative. He is "accepted in the Beloved." He is "constituted righteous," {Rom_5:19} and his intercourse with his Heavenly Father regulates itself accordingly, he being justified "from-or upon-his faith." The harmony with God on which he has entered becomes, in some degree, matter of consciousness for himself. {Rom_5:1} With this connection of things in view, the Apostle teaches that righteousness is imputed, or reckoned, to him who believes in Jesus. {Rom_4:24}

Whatever opinion we may choose to entertain of this scheme, it ought not to be disputed that this, in general, is Pauls conception of the matter. However, let us emphatically note that it is as "in Christ," "found in Him," the Apostle possesses this form of well-being. If there be such a thing as a real union between the Saviour and Paul, then in the Saviour and with the Saviour Paul is thus righteous. The faith to which this righteousness arises is faith that unites to Christ, and not any other kind of faith. And so, if it be possible for Paul to fall from Christ, then also he must fall from the righteousness of faith. In Christ a relation to God appears, made good, maintained, and verified, in which He gathers to Himself and comprehends all true believers: "for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Hence also this Christian benefit, though it is distinguishable, is not separated radically from the other benefits. It is not possible to take the one and leave the rest; for Christ is not divided. But there is an order in His gifts; and, for Paul, this gift is primary. God is ours in Christ; therefore religion, true religion, may begin and go on. It is of weight with Paul that this righteousness of faith, arising for him who is "found" in Christ, is founded for us in the atonement. That is to say, the new relation is not represented as a relation created for us by a mere Divine fiat that it shall be so. It is represented as arising for sinful men out of the redemption of Christ; which redemption is represented as in its own nature fitted to fructify into this result, as well as into other fruits which are due to it. Christs atonement is the way which grace has taken to bring in the righteousness of faith. In particular we are made righteous (in this sense) through Christ, in a manner corresponding to that in which He was made sin for us, {2Co_5:21} Hence the blood, the sacrifice, the obedience of Christ are referred to on all occasions, in connection with the righteousness of faith, as explicative causes to which this is to be traced. The relation is first of all a relation completely grounded and made good in Christ; and then we are participant in it with Him, in virtue of our faith in Him. Clearly the Apostle thinks of this righteousness. of faith as something very wonderful. It is for him fundamental. It is the first article in which he celebrates the worth of the knowledge of Christ; no doubt, because he felt it transforming his whole moral and spiritual experience; and, in particular, because it contrasted so vividly with the nugatory righteousness of earlier days.

In earlier days Paul sought righteousness-an approved and, accepted standing with God-by the works of the law. That project failed when the great discovery on the road to Damascus showed him to himself as all astray; in particular, when the law itself, coming home to him in the fulness of its meaning, both revealed to him the beggarliness of his own performance, and, at the same time, stung into appalling activity ungodly elements within him. Then he saw before him the law rising from its deep foundations in eternal strength and majesty, imperative, unalterable, inexorable; and over against it his own works lay withered and unclean. But another vision came. He saw the Son of God in His life, death, and resurrection. Mere love and pity were the inspiration of His coming: obedience and sacrifice were the form of it. So in that great vision one element or aspect that rose into view was righteousness, -righteousness grounded as deep as the law itself, as magnificent in its great proportions, as little subject to change or decay, radiant with surpassing glory. As he saw, and bowed, and trusted, he became conscious of a new access and nearness to God Himself; he passed into the fellowship of Gods dear Son; he found acceptance in the Beloved. Here was the answer to that woeful problem of the law: righteousness in Christ for a world of sinners, coming to them as a free gift to faith. Here was the strong foundation on which faith found itself set to learn its lessons, and perform its service, and fight its battles. In Christ he received the reconciliation-merciful, and also righteous. As Paul thought of the ground on which he once had stood, and of the standing granted to him now, in Him, it was with a "yea, doubtless" he declared that he counted all to be loss for the gain of Christ, in whom he was found, not having his own righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ.

Righteousness of faith, as the Apostle conceives it, is to be distinguished from personal righteousness, or goodness, as an attribute of human character, but yet is most closely connected with it. Righteousness of faith opened what seemed to Paul the prosperous way into righteousness of daily living. In the very hour when he first believed for righteousness, he felt himself entering a kingdom of light, and love, and power, in which all things were possible; and ever after the same order of experience verified itself for him afresh. The righteousness of faith being the relation in which, through Christ, he found himself standing to God, fixed at the same time his relation to all Christian benefits, including, as a principal element, conformity to the likeness of Christ. To the man in Christ all these benefits pertained; in Christ he could claim them all: in Christ he found himself before doors that opened of their own accord to let him in; in Christ it proved to be a fit thing, grounded deep in the congruities of Gods administration, that God should be for him; there fore, also, the pathway of holiness lay open before him. The fulness of blessing had not yet come into possession and experience. But in the righteousness of faith he apprehended all blessings as stretching out their hands to, him, because through Christ they ought to be his. That he should find himself in a relation to God so simple and so satisfying was wonderful; all the more, when it was contrasted with the condemnation belonging to him as a sinner. This was the righteousness from God to faith, in the strength of which he could call all things his own.

If Paul had succeeded in the enterprise of his earlier days, when he sought righteousness by the law, he would, as he hoped, have found acceptance in the end; and various blessings would have followed. He would have emerged from his task a man stamped as righteous, and fit to be treated accordingly. That would have been the end. But now, in reference to his present enterprise, he has found, being Christ, acceptance at the beginning. So often as faith lifts him into the heavenly places where Christ is, he finds all things to be his; not because he has achieved righteousness, but because Christ has died and risen, and because God justifies him who believes in Jesus. The platform he hoped to reach by the efforts of a lifetime is already under his feet. Paul faces each arduous step in his new enterprise, strong in the conviction that his standing before God is rooted, not in his doings nor in his feelings, but in his Saviour in whom he holds the righteousness of faith.

We need not conceal from ourselves, however, that many find the doctrine thus ascribed to Paul unacceptable. If they do not count it positively misleading, as some do, they yet regard it as unprofitable theory.

Apart from objections drawn from theology or| morals or texts, they argue, for example, that it is all in the air, away from real experience. Christian religion is a practical matter, -a question of improved dispositions, improved habits, and improved prospects. If, through Christ, such things as these arise for us, if, through Him, influences reach us that tend to such results, then those are the practical specimens which interpret to us a Saviours kindness. To know Christ in these must be the true knowledge of Him. To carry us away beforehand into the region of a supposed relation to God is a precarious, and may be a delusive business; it is, at any rate, a dogmatic nicety rather than a vital element in religion. If we are to experience Gods mercy or Christs kindness in any practical form, then that is to be so; and it is shorter to say so at once. Let us fix on that, without interposing any doctrine of "righteousness by faith."

But it must be said, in reply, that to speak of this righteousness of faith as unpractical is a strange mistake. All religion aims at fellowship with God; and in Christian religion that fellowship becomes real and authentic in Christ. Through all exercises and attainments of Christian religion that are genuine, this thread goes. We have access to God, and we abide in the Father and the Son. How imperfectly this takes place on our part need not be said. The imperfection on our part is, indeed, only exceeded by the condescension on His. Yet our faith is that this is real, otherwise Christianity would not be for us the opening of an eternal blessedness. How can it be judged unpractical, if God reveals to men, first, that in the room of those confused and melancholy relations to God which arise for us out of our own past history, He has constituted for us a relation, apprehensible by faith, in which we find ourselves pardoned, accepted, commended to God to be made partakers of life eternal; and, secondly, that this is grounded in the service and sacrifice of His Son, sent forth to save us; so that we enter this relation and hold it, not independently, but in fellowship with the Son of God, His sonship becoming the model of ours? Is this unpractical? Is it unpractical to be conscious of such a relation between God and men, for ever embodied and made accessible in His Son our Saviour? Is it unpractical to apprehend God in the attitude towards us which is due to such a relation, and to take, ourselves, the attitude of gratitude and penitence and trust which on our side corresponds to it? It cannot be unpractical. It may be pernicious, if it takes the form of a cold, presumptuous arrogance, or of a self-satisfied Pharisaism; that is to say, if God be not in it. But if God in Christ is reaching us along those lines, or if we, alive to His eternal character, and conscious of our guilt and need, are reaching out to real relations and real fellowship with Him through His Son our Lord, then it cannot be unpractical. And, indeed, however men may differ as to theological explanations, some sense of the worth of the thing intended has reached the hearts of all true Christians. Perhaps the state of the case will more clearly appear if we fix attention on one Christian benefit. Let us take the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the primary grace, and it sets the type of the grace to which we owe all benefits. Forgiveness, as it were, leads in all other blessings by the hand; or, each blessing as it advances into a Christian life, comes with a fresh gift of forgiveness in the heart of it. If this is so, then the tendency, which is observable in various quarters, to pass forgiveness by, as a matter of course, and to hurry on to what are reckoned more substantial, or more experimental benefits, must be attended with loss. It must, so far, damage our conceptions of the manner in which it befits God to bestow blessings on sinful men, and also our conception of the spirit in which we should receive them. But then, in the next place, the forgiveness of sins itself is referred to the mediation of Christ, and the work accomplished in that mediation, as its known basis. Forgiveness of sins was to arise out of an order of grace, embodied in history-namely, in the history of the Incarnate Son of God; and we are not entitled to take for granted it could fitly arise otherwise. Apparently Christ Himself came into the inheritance which He holds for us, by an order of things which it was imperative on Him to regard, and by a history which He must fulfil. And we, believing m Him, find, in consequence, a new place and standing; we receive a "gift of righteousness" which contains the forgiveness of sins; we obtain, through Christ, a mode of access to God, of which forgiveness is a feature. So the place of forgiveness in the Divine administration is vindicated and safeguarded; and while forgiveness comes to us as a gift of the Fathers compassionate heart, it is found to be true also that "Christ washed us from our sins in His own blood." "God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." "God hath sent Him forth for a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, that He might be just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Our forgiveness is a free gift of Gods goodness; yet also, it is our participation with Christ, sent to us from the Father, in a wonderful relation which He has come to hold to sin and to righteousness. If we overlook this, we conceal from ourselves great aspects of the work undertaken for us by the love of God.

But if forgiveness, which is itself a meeting with God in peace, refers itself to the mediation of Christ as preparing for us a blessed relation to God-a righteousness of faith-how should our whole fellowship with God, in grace, fail to presuppose the same foundation?

But argument upon this topic might lead us far. Let us close the chapter in another vein.

All religion, worth recognising in that character, implies earnestness, serious aspiration, and endeavour. It supposes human life to place itself under the influence of an order of motives that is to be comprehensive and commanding. And this is true also of Christian religion. But Christian religion, as we know, does not begin with a consciousness of ability to achieve success; it is not grounded in an expectation that by strenuous or apt effort of ours, we may achieve the aims and secure the benefits at which religion points. That is not the root of Christian religion. It begins with a consciousness and confession of weakness: the soul owns its incompetency to deal with the great interests that reveal themselves in the light of Christ; it is without strength for tasks like these. And so the deepest and earliest exercise of Christian religion is Prayer. It asks great things from a great God. "This poor man cried," and the Lord heard him. Pauls Christianity began thus: "Behold, he prayeth."

Now just so Christian religion does not begin with a consciousness of deserving something, or an idea that by taking pains we may deserve something, may single ourselves out for at least some modest share of favourable recognition. Rather it often begins with the fading away of such ideas when they were present before. Christian religion roots itself in the confession of sin, and therefore of ill-desert; it signalises itself by a deepening sense of the seriousness of the situation in this respect. With this it comes face to face before God. "I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord." "God be merciful to me a sinner." We have nothing that is not sinful to bring before Him; so, at length, we come with that. It is all we have. Our prayer rises not merely out of the sense of weakness, but out of the consciousness of demerit. But in Christian religion we are aware, as of strength which can remedy our weakness, so of forgiveness which can put away our sins. There is forgiveness with Thee." "Through this Man is preached to us the forgiveness of sins." It is clear also that this forgiveness comes, wherever it comes, as full and free forgiveness, "forgiving you all trespasses." So that in Christian religion we listen at Christs feet to the testimony directed to all penitent believers, that instead of reckoning in part or whole about the guilt of sins committed, we are to find God in Christ to be One who simply puts away our sin. That shall hold us apart from God no more. Rather, the putting of it away brings with it the strangest, lowliest access to God. "O God, thou art my God." "Who is a God like unto Thee?" Forgiveness is by no means mere immunity (least of all for Christian religion). Punishment, certainly, in the sense of the separation and evil which sin deserves, passes away. But forgiveness, "in Christian religion, is forgiveness with the Forgiver in it. We meet God in the forgiveness of sins. We abide with God in the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness, too, as we already foresee, is but the foundation and beginning of a history in which we are called to go forward. This history may have sad passages in it; but in going forward in it in faith we are assured that on Gods part it is a history of most painstaking and most sublime benefaction: all of it ordered so as to be of a piece with His sending of His Son; all of it instinct with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith looking to Christ believes this, and receives it. And to faith upheld by Him on whom we trust all this is more and more made good, and comes true. It is a history of progress in true goodness. And the end is life everlasting.

Now the words before us suggest, upon the one hand, very strongly, the simply gratuitous character of the Christian benefits, and the sense of undeserved kindness with which they are to be received. In Christian religion we begin as those who have no righteousness, who plead no merit, who owe and are to owe all to Divine mercy. From the base upwards Christian religion is a religion of grace; and "it is of faith, that it might be by grace." Whatever activities, whatever successes may fall into the Christians career, whatever tong possession of accustomed good may eventually mark his experience, all is to be informed and inspired by this initial and perpetual conviction, "Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law."

At the same time, the same words of the Apostle suggest very strongly the Divine stability of the good which meets us in Christ. A very strong foundation has been laid for those who flee for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them in the gospel. To our sense, indeed, things may seem to be most mutable. But when faith reaches to the things not seen, it learns another lesson. In Christ believers are graced with entrance into an order of salvation divinely strong and durable. When God gave us Christ, He gave us, in a sense, "all things," and indeed all things ordering themselves into an eternal expression of fatherly love and care. In Christ comes into view not goodness only, but goodness allying itself for us with Wisdom and Power and Right. It makes its way by incarnation and atonement and resurrection to a kingdom which, being first Christs, appointed to Him, is also His peoples, appointed to them. Now a relation to God which looks forward to all this, which is the basis for it and the entrance to it, descends on the believing man through Christ. It is due to Christ that it should come so. It is the Fathers loving will that it should be so. All that is needful to ground and vindicate that most gracious relation is found in Christ, who of God is made unto us righteousness; in whom we hold the righteousness which is of God on faith.

The Apostles course of thought has not led us to raise any question about the nature and the virtue of the faith which apprehends and receives the righteousness of God. It is a subject on which much has been said. What seems needful here may be soon spoken.

The only way of entering on new relations with God, or ourselves becoming new men, is the way of faith. This Christian way is the only way.

Every other is simply impossible. Let any man seriously try it, and he will find it so. But the question, What kind of faith? is best answered by saying, Such faith as is called for by the object of faith set before us, when that is honestly and intently regarded. As the gospel is, the faith must be; for the gospel is the instrument by which faith is evoked, sustained, and guided. The great object of faith is God, graciously revealing Himself through Christ. Every genuine aspect of this revelation takes its significance from its disclosure of God. The faith, so called, which misses this, is wrong faith; the faith which marks and welcomes this is right faith. And such faith is already, even in its earliest life, breaking forth into repentance and love and obedience. It must be, for God is in it.

So, to confine ourselves to the aspect of things which occupies this chapter, the faith which meets God in the forgiveness of sins through Christ, and genuinely accepts from Him the wonderful position of holding fellowship with God forgiving, is already, virtually, repentance as well as faith. The man who so meets with God, is therein agreed with God about his own sin: he feels God to be in the right and himself to be wholly in the wrong; he feels, in particular, God to be most sublimely and conclusively in the right in the holy pity of His forgiveness. The man who does not feel this, is not accepting forgiveness. He may be posturing as if he were, but he is not doing it.

There is just one difficulty in faith-the difficulty of being real. But when it is real, it makes all things new.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

3:9 Paul here summarizes the contrast between his understanding of salvation and that of his opponents (3:2). • Believers become one with Christ by trusting him for salvation and sharing his life (cp. John 15:1-5). • We become righteous, not by observing the law of Moses, but through faith in Christ. This is God’s way of making us right with himself: Salvation cannot be earned, but only received as a free gift (see Rom 1:17; 3:21-26; 4:5-8; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Php 3:9. Εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ) viz. ὤν.—μὴ ἔχων, not having) The words, to suffer loss, to win, to be found, to have, are figurative. The immediate consequence of being, and being found, in Christ, is to have righteousness by faith in Christ. The book מחזור, the collection of prayers for the Jews, has אני ממעשים שולל וערום וצדקתך לבדה היא כסתי, .e. In regard to works I am quite empty and bare, and Thy righteousness alone is my clothing.—ἐμὴν, own) The antithesis is, (the righteousness) is of () ; but ἐμὴν without the article serves to indicate oblivion of the past.[41]—τὴν ἐκ νόμου, that which is of the law) Php 3:6; comp. of, Rom 4:14. The antithesis is, that which is by faith.—διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ) by the faith of Christ, viz. in Christ.—ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει) [which rests] upon faith.

[41] i.e. A wish to forget his former kind of righteousness, as if not his at all.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_3:9. Καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ] and to be found in Him. The emphasis, which previously lay upon Χριστόν, is laid not upon ἐν αὐτῷ (Hofmann), but upon the εὑρεθῶ placed first for that reason, and introducing a new feature of the relation aimed at, annexing to the (subjective) gaining of Christ the (objective) moulding of life corresponding to it. The apostle desires to be found in Christ, as in the element of his life; by this he means (comp. Ignatius, Eph. 11) the whole perceptible manifestation of his Christian being and nature; so that εὑρ. must neither be limited to the judicium Dei (Beza, comp. Flatt), nor taken as sim (Grotius and others). Calvin erroneously makes εὑρεθῶ active: Paulum renuntiasse omnibus quae habebat, ut recuperaret in Christo.

μὴ ἔχων κ.τ.λ.] Specific modal definition to εὑρ. ἐν αὐτῷ: so that I, in accordance with this design, may not have, etc. Van Hengel erroneously connects (Lachmann, also, and Tischendorf have omitted the comma after αὐτῷ) μὴ ἔχων κ.τ.λ. immediately with εὑρ. ἐν αὐτῷ· et deprehendar in communione ejus non meam qualemcunque habere probitatem. Thus, indeed, ἐν αὐτῷ would be utterly superfluous! The subjective negation μή flows from the conception of design (ἵνα), see Baeumlein, Partik. p. 295; Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 302 [E. T. 351]; and ἔχων is the simple habens, possessing, not: holding fast (am Ende, Rheinwald, Baumgarten-Crusius).

ἐμὴν δικ. τὴν ἐκ νόμου] See on Php_3:6; comp. Rom_10:3. It is the righteousness acquired as a self-achievement (ἐμήν), which proceeds from the law by means of a justifying compliance with it (Rom_2:13). As to the nature of this righteousness, and the impossibility of attaining it, comp. Gal_2:16; Gal_3:10; Rom_3:19 f., Rom_4:4, Rom_7:7 ff., Rom_9:31, et al.

τὴν διὰ πίστ. Χριστοῦ] contrast to ἐμήν: that procured by faith in Christ[160] (as the causa apprehendens). The causa efficiens is God (His grace, see Eph_2:8); hence, for the complete exhaustion of the matter, τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δικ. is added, in which ἐκ Θεοῦ, correlative to the preceding ἐκ νόμου, expresses the causal issuing from God. As to the way in which this ἐκ Θεοῦ takes place, namely, by Gods imputing faith as righteousness,[161] see Rom_1:17; Rom_3:24 f., Php_4:3 ff.; 2Co_5:19; Gal_3:6.

ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει] on the ground of faith (Act_3:16), added at the end with solemn emphasis, and dependent on ἔχων, which is again to be supplied after ἀλλά. So also Weiss. The repetition of ἔχων after ἐπὶ τ. πίστει, which Hofmann feels the want of in this explanation, would be simply superfluous and clumsy. Ἐπὶ τ. π. is usually attached to δικαιοσύνην (justitiam superstructam fidei, Hoelemann, Wiesinger), some having taken ἐπί as in fide (Vulgate, Calvin), or in fide sitam (Castalio); others as per fidem (Beza, Grotius); others, for the sake of faith (de Wette); others, upon the condition of faith (Storr, Flatt, Matthies, Rilliet, van Hengel, J. B. Lightfoot). But it may be urged against this connection, first, that, in accordance with the previous definitions, we could not but expect the repetition of the article; secondly, that δικαιοῦσθαι with ἐπί nowhere occurs in the N. T.; and lastly, that δικαιοσύνη in its quality as righteousness of faith was already distinctly designated by τὴν διὰ πίστ. Χ., so that the same attribute of it would be expressed twice, and, on the other hand, the ἔχων which is to be repeated after ἀλλά (the basis of which is still ἐπὶ τ. π.) would be without any more precise definition. In opposition to Hofmann, who makes ἐπὶ τ. πίστει belong to the following infinitive clause, see on Php_3:10.

[160] On the genitive of the object with πίστις, comp. Php_1:27. Against taking it as the genitive auctoris, see on Rom_3:22.

[161] In this passage also, therefore, justification by faith is the basis and presupposition of further Christian development up to the blessed consummation, ver. 11. Comp. Köstlin, in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1856, p. 121 f.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Phi 3:9 . εὑρεθῶ . It is probably used here in the semi-technical sense which it received in post-classical Greek = τυγχάνω with participle (French se trouver ), “turn out actually to be”. “And actually be in Him,” from the eschatological standpoint (see Viteau, Le Verbe , p. 192). The idea is involved of a revelation of real character. Cf. Gal 2:17 , εἰ δὲ … εὑρέθημεν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἁμαρτωλοί . ἐν αὐτῷ . The central fact of Paul’s religious life and thought, the complete identification of the believer with Christ. μὴ ἔχων . μή either depends directly on ἵνα or is used to express Paul’s own view of what is implied in εὑρεθ . ἐν α . This last thought must be regarded as the basis on which the clauses immediately following rest. ἐμὴν δικ . “A righteousness of my own.” Cf. Apoc. of Bar. , lxiii. 3 “then Hezekiah trusted in his works and had hope in his righteousness”. The noun δικ . is anarthrous to emphasise the idea belonging to it in its essential force. ἐμήν is added to define, and then the definition is elaborated by the clause with the article. An instructive parallel is Gal 2:20 , ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ (see an important note in Green, Gram. of N.T. , pp. 34 35). δικαιοσύνη , as usually in Paul’s writings, means a right relation between him and God. The retention of the word by Paul to denote the position of the Christian before God is, as Holst. ( Paulin. Theol. , p. 64) points out, a proof of his close connexion with the Jewish consciousness. We may call it a “forensic” word, for certainly there always lies behind it the idea of a standard appointed by God, a law, the expression of the Divine will. The qualifying words here show what Paul has in view. τὴν ἐκ νόμου . Cf. the lament for the destruction of Jerusalem in Apoc. of Bar. , lxvii. 6, “the vapour of the smoke of the incense of righteousness which is by the law is extinguished in Zion” (and see Charles’ note on xv. 5). This hypothetical δικ ., which he calls his own, could only spring from complete conformity to the will of God as revealed in precepts and commands. That is the kind of relation to God which Paul has found to be impossible. On νόμος without the article see on Phi 3:5 supr. τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χ ., τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δικ . ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει . The exact character of this δικαιοσύνη which Paul prizes must be carefully noted. The presupposition of possessing it is “to be found in Christ”. It is not a righteousness which he can win by legal observances. It springs from God. What does this new relation to God precisely mean? The one condition of understanding the Apostle’s language is to remember that he combines in his thinking two conceptions of δικαιοσύνη , or perhaps we should rather say that his own experience has made vivid for him a two-sided conception of this relation. On the one hand, he thinks of δικ . as connected with God, the Judge of men. God, strictly marking sin, might condemn men absolutely, because all have sinned. Instead of that, because of His grace manifested in Jesus Christ the crucified and working through Christ’s death, He deals mercifully with sinners, treats them as righteous on account of the propitiation made by the Righteous One , treats them as standing in a right relation to Himself, i.e. , pardons them. δικαιοσύνη thus comes to be God’s gracious way of dealing with us, “forgiveness with the Forgiver in it” (Rainy, op. cit. , p. 231), the relation with God into which we are brought by His grace for Jesus’ sake, regarded more or less as an activity of His, practically = salvation (which, already in O.T., rested upon the rectitude of God’s character, see, e.g. , Isa 51:5-8 , Psa 98:2 ). God’s justifying of us makes us δίκαιοι in His sight: we possess δικαιοσύνη . That, however, might appear arbitrary. But the Apostle gives no ground for such a suspicion. This δικ . ἐκ Θεοῦ is only reached “through the faith of Christ,” i.e. , the faith which Christ kindles, of which He is the author, which, also, He nourishes and maintains (see esp [46] . Haussleiter, Greifswald. Studien , pp. 177 178). This δικ . is securely founded on faith in Christ ( ἐπὶ τῇ π .). But what does such faith effect? It is that which makes the believer one with Christ. He shares in all that his Lord possesses. Christ imparts life to him. Christ’s relation to the Father becomes his. But this is no longer a being regarded or dealt with by God as if he were δίκαιος . Union with Christ makes it possible for the Christian to be δίκαιος , to show himself such in actual behaviour. Thus δικαιοσύνη may express something more than the relation to God into which believers are brought by God’s justifying judgment (which for their experience means the sense of forgiveness with the Forgiver in it). It embraces the conduct which is the response to that forgiving love of God, a love only bestowed on the soul united to Christ by faith (see esp [47] . Pfieid., Paulin. , i., p. 175; Hltzm [48] . , N.T. Th. , ii., pp. 127 129, 138 139; Häring, Δικ . Θεοῦ bei Paulus , Tübingen, 1896; Kölbing, SK [49] . , 1895, 7 ff.; Denney, Expos. , vi., 3, p. 433 ff., 4, p. 299 ff., Holst., Paulin. Th. , pp. 65 66).

[46] especially.

[47] especially.

[48] tzm. Holtzmann.

[49] . Studien und Kritiken .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. εὑρεθῶ. “Found,” at any moment of scrutiny, here or hereafter. Lightfoot (on Gal 2:17, and here) remarks that εὑρίσκειν is very frequent in Aramaized Greek, and has somewhat lost its distinctive meaning. In the N.T. however it is seldom if ever used where that meaning has no point. Such a passage as 2Pe 3:14 is a parallel here; σπουδάσατε … ἀμώμητοι αὐτῷ εὑρεθῆναι ἐν εἰρήνῃ, where the reference is to the Lord’s Coming.

ἐν αὐτῷ. Here the Christian’s incorporation with his Lord, for acceptance and spiritual life, is full in view. In the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, written from the same chamber as this Epistle, we have this truth fully developed. See further above on Php 1:1; Php 1:8.

μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην. “Not having a righteousness of mine own” (R.V.). The ἐμὴν is slightly emphatic by position.

Δικαιοσύνη is a word characteristic, and often of special meaning, in St Paul. In numerous passages (see esp. Rom 3:5-26; Rom 4:3; Rom 4:5-6; Rom 4:9; Rom 4:11; Rom 4:13; 1Co 1:30; 2Co 3:10; Gal 2:21, with context) its leading idea is of satisfactoriness to law, to legal judgment. “A righteousness of mine own” is thus a title to acceptance before God, on my own merits, supposed to satisfy the legal standard. See further, Appendix K.

τὴν ἐκ νόμου. “The (righteousness) which is derived from the law,” on the Pharisaic theory of law and law-keeping, or any theory akin to it. For though he has the Pharisee proper, and the Christian Judaist, first in view, he looks beyond them to the whole principle they represent; this we may surely affirm in the light of the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. From the special Mosaic code he rises to the larger fact of the whole Divine preceptive code, taken as a covenant of “righteousness,” of acceptance: “Do this, perfectly, and live; do this, and claim your acceptance.” Against this whole idea he places in its radiant simplicity the idea of “faith”; an acceptance procured for us by the Redeeming Lord, and appropriated by us by the single means of faith, that is to say, acceptance of Him as our all, on the warrant of His promise. Such “faith” unites us to Christ, in the spiritual order; and in that union, by no “fiction” but in fact, we receive His merits for our acceptance, and His power for our life and service. See further, Appendix K.

Here we infer (from the general line of Pauline teaching) that the primary thought is that of an acceptance for Christ’s sake, as against acceptance for any personal merits of the man. Then comes in the spiritual development of the accepted person, as he receives the Christ who has died for him to live in him.

τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ. “That which is through faith in Christ.” For the construction πίστις Χριστοῦ, with Χριστός for object not subject, cp. Mar 11:22, ἔχετε πίστιν θεοῦ: Act 3:16, ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ: Gal 2:20, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. In such cases the genitive gives the idea of cohesion, nexus; it presents the Object as clasped by πίστις.

Here again, as with νόμος and δικαιοσύνη, St Paul’s writings are the best commentary; see esp. Rom 3:21-28, χωρὶς νόμου δικαιοσύνη … δικ. δὲ Θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ … εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον καὶ δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ, κτλ. In that passage there comes out, what is only latent here, the thought that the “faith” has reference specially to Christ in His propitiation, and that the blessing which it immediately receives is the justification (acceptance) of the believer. See further Romans 4, 5, Rom 8:33-34; Gal 3:1-14; Gal 3:21-24; Eph 2:8-9. As to the πίστις itself, at least its leading idea is personal trust in a promise, or, better, in a Promiser. Setting aside Jas 2:14-26, where the argument takes up and uses an inadequate notion of πίστις, namely correct creed (see Lightfoot, Gal., detached notes following ch. iii.), the word constantly conveys in Scripture the thought of personal reliance, trustful acceptance[5]. The essence of such reliance is that it goes forth from self to God, bringing nothing that it may receive all. Thus it has a moral fitness (quite different from deservingness) to be the recipient of Divine gifts. In faith, man forgets himself, to embrace his Redeemer.

[5] Fides est fiducia, Luther. See this admirably developed by J. C. Hare, Victory of Faith, pp. 15–22 (ed. 1847). Below, Appendix K.

τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην. “The righteousness,” the way of acceptance, “which has its origin in God.” Its source is the pure Divine love, flowing out in the line of Divine holiness.

ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει. “On terms of faith.” Cp. Act 3:16, ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ.

On the doctrine of this verse see Appendix K.

K. “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF GOD BY FAITH.” (CH. Php 3:9)

THE following extract from the Editor’s running Commentary on Romans (Expositor’s Bible), p. 32 (on Rom 1:17), may be appended to the remarks in the notes above:

“This message of power unfolds first, at its foundation, in its front, ‘the Righteousness of God,’ not first His Love, but ‘His Righteousness.’ Seven times elsewhere in the (Roman) Epistle comes this phrase (Rom 3:5; Rom 3:21-23; Rom 3:26; Rom 10:3 twice); rich materials for ascertaining its meaning in the spiritual dialect of St Paul. Out of these passages, Rom 3:26 gives us the key. There ‘the righteousness of God,’ seen as it were in action, ascertained by its effects, is that which secures ‘that He shall be just, and the Justifier of the man who belongs to faith in Jesus.’ It is that which makes possible the mighty paradox that the Holy One, eternally truthful, eternally rightful, infinitely ‘law-abiding’ in His jealousy for that Law which is in fact His Nature expressing itself in precept, nevertheless can and does say to man, in his guilt and forfeit, ‘I, thy Judge, lawfully acquit thee, lawfully accept thee, lawfully embrace thee.’ … Thus it stands practically equivalent to God’s way of justifying the ungodly, His method for liberating His love while He magnifies His law. In effect, not as a translation but as an explanation, God’s Righteousness is God’s Justification.

“Then again we note the emphasis and the repetition here of the thought of faith.… Here, if anywhere, we shall find ample commentary in the (Roman) Epistle. Only let us remember from the first that … we shall see “faith” used in its natural and human sense; we shall find that it means personal reliance.… It is in this sense that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospels, invariably uses the word. For this is its human sense, its sense in the street and the market; and the Lord, the Man of men, uses the dialect of His race. Faith, infinitely wonderful … from some points of view, is the simplest thing in the world from others. That sinners … should be brought so to see their Judge’s heart as to take His word of peace to mean what it says, is miracle. But that they should trust His word, having seen His heart, is nature—illuminated and led by grace, but nature still.… (Faith) is not a faculty for mystical intuitions. It is our taking the Trustworthy at His word.… Hence the overwhelming prominence of faith in the Gospel. It is the correlative of the overwhelming … prominence of Jesus Christ. Christ is all. Faith is man’s acceptance of Him as such. ‘Justification by Faith’ is not acceptance because faith is … a merit … a virtue. It is acceptance because of Jesus Christ, whom man, dropping all other hopes, receives.”

See this last point admirably explained by Hooker, A Disc. of Justification, § 31. And see Julius Hare, The Victory of Faith (1847), p. 21:

“It was with the fullest right that Luther and Melanchthon, when the true idea of Faith and of its power was reasserted at the Reformation, were anxious to urge again and again that faith is trust, that faith signifies trust: fides est fiducia; fides significat fiduciam. This was only to assert that the faith required in the New Testament is a feeling of the same kind with the trust enjoined in the Old Testament; as is proved—to take a single instance—by the passage in the Gospels, where the disciples are frightened by the tempest, while their Master is asleep …, and where … He rebukes them for their want of faith (Mat 8:26), that is … for their want of confidence in Him.”

The Editor ventures to refer to his Tract, Justifying Righteousness (Seeley, 1885), for a discussion in some detail, with quotations.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In Christ: for they that are found without Christ, are subject to condemnation.

That is, to be in Christ, to be found not in a man’s own righteousness, but clothed with the righteousness of Christ imputed to him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

be found in him--"be found" at His coming again, living spiritually "in Him" as the element of my life. Once lost, I have been "found," and I hope to be perfectly "found" by Him (Luk 15:8).

own righteousness . . . of the law-- (Phi 3:6; Rom 10:3, Rom 10:5). "Of," that is, from.

righteousness . . . of God by faith--Greek, "which is from God (resting) upon faith." Paul was transported from legal bondage into Christian freedom at once, and without any gradual transition. Hence, the bands of Pharisaism were loosed instantaneously; and opposition to Pharisaic Judaism took the place of opposition to the Gospel. Thus God's providence fitly prepared him for the work of overthrowing all idea of legal justification. "The righteousness of faith," in Paul's sense, is the righteousness or perfect holiness of Christ appropriated by faith, as the objective ground of confidence for the believer, and also as a new subjective principle of life. Hence it includes the essence of a new disposition, and may easily pass into the idea of sanctification, though the two ideas are originally distinct. It is not any arbitrary act of God, as if he treated as sinless a man persisting in sin, simply because he believes in Christ; but the objective on the part of God corresponds to the subjective on the part of man, namely, faith. The realization of the archetype of holiness through Christ contains the pledge that this shall be realized in all who are one with Him by faith, and are become the organs of His Spirit. Its germ is imparted to them in believing although the fruit of a life perfectly conformed to the Redeemer, can only be gradually developed in this life [NEANDER].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. And be found in him] Be found a believer in Christ, not having mine own righteousness-not trusting in any thing I have done or could do, in order to my salvation; relying on no scheme of justification, set up either formerly by myself or by others.

But that which is through the faith of Christ] That justification which is received by faith through the atonement made by Christ.

The righteousness which is of God] God's method of justifying sinners through faith in his Son. See the notes on Ro 3:21; Ro 3:23; Ro 3:25, where this subject is treated at large.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. And may find them in him The verb is in the passive voice, and hence all others have rendered it, I may be found. They pass over the context, however, in a very indifferent manner, as though it had no peculiar force. If you read it in the passive voice, an antithesis must be understood — thatPaul was lost before he was found in Christ, as a rich merchant is like one lost, so long as he has his vessel laden with riches; but when they have been thrown overboard, he is found? For here that saying is admirably in point — “I had been lost, if I had not been lost.” But as the verb εὐρίσκομαι, while it has a passive termination, has an active signification, and means — to recover what you have voluntarily given up, (as Budaeus shews by various examples,) I have not hesitated to differ from the opinion of others. For, in this way, the meaning will be more complete, and the doctrine the more ample — that Paul renounced everything that he had, that he might recover them in Christ; and this corresponds better with the word gain, for it means that it was no trivial or ordinary gain, inasmuch as Christ contains everything in himself. And, unquestionably, we lose nothing when we come to Christ naked and stript of everything, for those things which we previously imagined, on false grounds, that we possessed, we then begin really to acquire. He, accordingly, shews more fully, how great the riches of Christ, because we obtain and find all things in him.

Not having mine own righteousness Here we have a remarkable passage, if any one is desirous to have a particular description of the righteousness of faith, and to understand its true nature. For Paul here makes a comparison between two kinds of righteousness. The one he speaks of as belonging to the man, while he calls it at the same time the righteousness of the law; the other, he tells us, is from God, is obtained through faith, and rests upon faith in Christ. These he represents as so directly opposed to each other, that they cannot stand together. Hence there are two things that are to be observed here. In the first place, that the righteousness of the law must be given up and renounced, that you may be righteous through faith; and secondly, that the righteousness of faith comes forth from God, and does not belong to the individual. As to both of these we have in the present day a great controversy with Papists; for on the one hand, they do not allow that the righteousness of faith is altogether from God, but ascribe it partly to man; and, on the other hand, they mix them together, as if the one did not destroy the other. Hence we must carefully examine the several words made use of by Paul, for there is not one of them that is not very emphatic.

He says, that believers have no righteousness of their own. Now, it cannot be denied, that if there were any righteousness of works, it might with propriety be said to be ours. Hence he leaves no room whatever for the righteousness of works. Why he calls it the righteousness of the law, he shows in Romans 10:5; because this is the sentence of the law, He that doeth these things shall live in them. The law, therefore, pronounces the man to be righteous through works. Nor is there any ground for the cavil of Papists, that all this must be restricted to ceremonies. For in the first place, it is a contemptible frivolity to affirm that Paul was righteous only through ceremonies; and secondly, he in this way draws a contrast between those two kinds of righteousness — the one being of man, the other, from God. He intimates, accordingly, that the one is the reward of works, while the other is a free gift from God. He thus, in a general way, places man’s merit in opposition to Christ’s grace; for while the law brings works, faith presents man before God as naked, that he may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. When, therefore, he declares that the righteousness of faith is from God, it is not simply because faith is the gift of God, but because God justifies us by his goodness, or because we receive by faith the righteousness which he has conferred upon us.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law.—This is not the same as “righteousness in the Law,” that is, defined by law. It is a righteousness resulting from the works of the Law (Gal_2:16), earned by an obedience to the Law, which is “mine own”—“not of grace, but of debt” (Rom_4:4)—such as St. Paul declares (in Rom_10:3-6) to have been blindly sought by Israel, which he there defines as “life by doing the things of the Law.” We have here, and in the following words, a remarkable link of connection with the earlier Epistles of the Judaising controversy, corresponding to Eph_2:8-10, but cast more nearly in the ancient mould. Yet it is, after all, only the last echo of the old controversy, which we trace so clearly in the Galatian and Roman Epistles. The battle is now virtually won, and it only needs to complete the victory.

But . . . the righteousness which is of God by (on condition of) faith.—This verse is notable, as describing the true righteousness; first imperfectly, as coming “through faith of Jesus Christ,” a description which discloses to us only its means, and not its origin; next, completely, as “a righteousness coming from God on the sole condition of faith”—faith being here viewed not as the means, but as the condition, of receiving the divine gift (as in Act_3:16). It may be noted that in the Epistle to the Romans, we have righteousness “through faith,” “from faith,” “of faith;” for there it was needful to bring out in various forms the importance of faith. Here, now that the urgent necessity has passed, we have the stress laid simply on the opposition of the gift of God through Christ to the merit of the works of the Law; and faith occupies a less prominent, though not less indispensable, position. (See Eph_2:8-10, and Note thereon.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And be found in him,.... This is another end the apostle had in view, in counting all things loss and dung, and suffering the loss of all for Christ. Calvin, different from other interpreters, reads the words actively, "and may find in him"; and thinks the sense is, that the apostle renounced all things for Christ, that he might recover all in him: and true it is, that for the loss of carnal privileges, he found in Christ spiritual blessings; and for the loss of his own righteousness, another, and a better, even the righteousness of God; and in lieu of external goods, or worldly substance he was stripped of, true and lasting riches; and in the room of outward credit, peace and plenty, true honour, real peace, and spiritual pasture; and instead of the comforts of life, and life itself, spiritual and eternal life; though it is best to read the words passively, "and be found in him"; that is, "be in him", as the Ethiopic version renders it; so the word found is used in Gal 2:17 Phi 2:8; and he means not a nominal being in Christ, or a being in him by profession, but a real one; and watch is either secret or open: a secret being in Christ he had from everlasting, being chosen in him, given to him, loved by him, betrothed unto him, preserved in him, and represented by him; and an open one he had at conversion, when he became a new creature, and was created in Christ Jesus unto good works: and here he intends a more clear and evident manifestation of his being in Christ; and his desire is, that he might appear to be in him, in life and at death, and at the day of judgment, and in the following manner:

not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law; by which he means his obedience to the moral, as well as the ceremonial law; for the one was as much his own as the other, and more properly his righteousness: this he calls his "own", because performed by him, and wrought out in his own strength; and which he had an high opinion of, as if it was perfect and blameless; and which he had before put his trust and confidence in; as also to distinguish it from another's righteousness, even that which he had in Christ: he moreover calls it, "the righteousness which is of the law"; which the law required, and he performed in obedience to it, seeking for justification by it; this character distinguishes it from the righteousness of God, which is revealed in the Gospel, and is manifested without the law: and this his own legal righteousness he did not desire to "have", and to be found in; not but that he desired to live soberly and righteously, to have, and do works of righteousness, but not depend on them; he would not have, and account this his moral righteousness, as a justifying one; he knew it was imperfect, filthy, and unprofitable, and that by it he could not be justified and saved, therefore he desired to have another,

But that which is through the faith of Christ; not through that faith which Christ himself, as man, had and exercised on God, as his God; but that which he is the author and finisher of, and which has him and his righteousness for its object; not through faith, as the cause of it; for the moving cause of justification is the free grace of God, and the efficient cause is God himself: and it appears from hence, that faith is not the matter of our justification, or is not our righteousness; for faith and righteousness are two distinct things, otherwise righteousness could not be said to be "through" faith. The righteousness of Christ is here meant, and which is the sole matter of justification, and comes to us through faith apprehending, receiving, and embracing it; and which shows, that it must be before faith, or it could not be through it; as water that runs through a bridge must be before and after that bridge through which it runs. This righteousness is further described, as

the righteousness which is of God by faith; that righteousness which Christ, who is the true God, is the author of, hence it is a pure and perfect one, infinite, and serves for many; which God the Father approves of, and is well pleased with, because his law is magnified, and made honourable by it; and what he graciously gives, and freely imputes without works, to his people: and this is "by faith", which beholds the excellency of it, acknowledges its sufficiency, renounces its own righteousness, and submits to, and lays hold on this, and rejoices in it; and thus men are justified openly and manifestly by faith, receiving the justifying righteousness of Christ: or the words may be rendered "upon faith". This righteousness is as a garment put upon faith, or put upon him by God, who has true faith in Christ; see Rom 3:22. This last clause, "by faith", is omitted in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, and seems to be read by them as belonging to the beginning of Phi 3:10. Now this righteousness the apostle desired to have, and be found in; and this he says not, as supposing that a person may be found in Christ, and yet not have his righteousness; nor as if he himself had not this righteousness, and an interest in it; but to show his value for it, and his desire to be continually exercising faith on it, and the trust and confidence he placed in it; well knowing that in this he was safe and secure from all condemnation; this would answer for him in a time to come; being found in this he should not be naked nor speechless, and should have a right and an admission into the kingdom and glory of Christ Jesus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Ver. 9. And be found in him] Out of whom all are lost in the wilderness of worldly lusts, and woefully wander; yet not so wide, as to miss hell. Paul’s desire is therefore to be found in Christ, at such time as he is sought for by the justice of God, to be brought to condign punishment.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And be found in him - That is, united to him by a living faith. The idea is, that when the investigations of the great day should take place in regard to the ground of salvation, it might be found that he was united to the Redeemer and depended solely on his merits for salvation; compare the notes at Joh 6:56.

Not having mine own righteousness - That is, not relying on that for salvation. This was now the great aim of Paul, that it might be found at last that he was not trusting to his own merits, but to those of the Lord Jesus.

Which is of the law - see the notes at Rom 10:3. The “righteousness which is of the law” is that which could be obtained by conformity to the precepts of the Jewish religion, such as Paul had endeavored to obtain before he became a Christian. He now saw that no one complied perfectly with the holy law of God, and that all dependence on such a righteousness was vain. All people by nature seek salvation by the law. They set up some standard which they mean to comply with, and expect to be saved by conformity to that. With some it is the law of honor, with others the law of honesty, with others the law of kindness and courtesy, and with others the law of God. If they comply with the requirements of these laws, they suppose that they will be safe, and it is only the grace of God showing them how defective their standard is, or how far they come from complying with its demands, that can ever bring them from this dangerous dependence. Paul in early life depended on his compliance with the laws of God as he understood them, and supposed that he was safe. When he was brought to realize his true condition, he saw how far short he had come of what the law of God required, and that all dependence on his own works was vain.

But that which is through the faith of Christ - That justification which is obtained by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; see at Rom 1:17, note; Rom 3:24, note; Rom 4:5, note.

Righteousness which is of God by faith - Which proceeds from God, or of which he is the great source and fountain. This may include the following things:

(1) God is the author of pardon - and this is a part of the righteousness which the man who is justified has.

(2) God purposes to treat the justified sinner as if he had not sinned - and thus his righteousness is of God.

(3) God is the source of all the grace that will be imparted to the soul, making it really holy. In this way, all the righteousness which the Christian has is “of God.” The idea of Paul is, that he now saw that it was far more desirable to be saved by righteousness obtained from God than by his own. That obtained from God was perfect, and glorious, and sufficient; that which he had attempted to work out was defective, impure, and wholly insufficient to save the soul. It is far more honorable to be saved by God than to save ourselves; it is more glorious to depend on him than to depend on anything that we can do.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I may be found in him not having my justice, which is of the law; i.e. not pretending to be justified either by my own works or by the works of the Jewish law, but by that which proceedeth from faith in Christ, and by his merits. (Witham) --- St. Augustine expounds the sense thus: not that justice which is in God, or by which God is just, but that which is in man from God, and by his gifts. (lib. 3. cont. 2. ep. Pelag.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And be found in him; a learned interpreter reads it actively, and may find, or recover, in him, all my losses. But following our own translation: by winning of Christ, the apostle doth not only mean the profession of the faith of the gospel, but his union with Christ, and participation of him, which, in the judgment of the all-seeing God, will answer all damages, when a man comes to stand in judgment at his tribunal here or hereafter, Rom 8:1; this being the only course can be taken to be found of him in peace at the last, 2Pe 3:14, for out of him is to be under the curse, Gal 3:10; Eph 2:3,12,13. It is necessary, therefore, that a man be implanted into him, who in his priestly office acted in our name towards God, Heb 5:1; 10:7; and that he abide in him, our Head, Joh 6:56; 15:4; Eph 5:30; Col 2:6,7; 1Jo 5:12, and not be found in himself.

Not having mine own righteosness; that we might more fully understand his meaning of being found in Christ, he defines it negatively and positively, by distinguishing of a twofold righteousness, supposing one necessary to his acceptance with God:

1. Inherent, within him, which he called his own, as being personally performed by him.

Which is of the law, he describes it to be in a conformity to the law, and the righteousness which the law requires, and those works of it, which if a man do, loving God with all his heart, he shall live in them, Rom 2:13; 3:27,28; 10:5. He makes no distinction of any works done by him before or after conversion, but declares he dare not adventure to be found in any personal inherent righteousness of his own, as to the special end of his justification before God, Gal 3:10-12. He doth not say, not having good works, unto which he was created in Christ Jesus to walk in them, Eph 2:10; but, not having mine own righteousness; he could not trust to any thing within him, as to his standing before God; however he was now enlightened, and acted by a better principle, having a better end than while a Pharisee, he could not upon that account have confidence towards God, no more than Noah, who was a prophet and preacher of righteousness, and in his generation, as to his inherent righteousness, the most perfect and just man; or Abraham, Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3; or David, Psa 130:3; 143:2. But:

2. He stays upon a righteousness without him, which is not his own by any acquisition of his, but the righteousness of another, Tit 3:5-7, viz. of Christ, without which he would not be found, and in which he would be found, i.e. that which is through the faith of Christ, having him for its object; which he doth elsewhere oppose to the deeds of the law, or works of righteousness that he had done, Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16; Tit 3:5; as he doth believing unto doing, which describe these two sorts of righteousness, in the one of which he would be found at his trial for justification, in the other he would not, Rom 1:17; 10:5,10,11.

Hence, he doth by the following expression signify more clearly the righteousness he stays himself upon, and wherein he would be found at God’s tribunal, viz. the same righteousness which Noah had an eye upon (typified by the ark) when, by preparing an ark, he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb 11:7; the righteousness which is of God by faith; not his own, but counted unto him for righteousness; as unto Abraham, who believed God, Rom 4:3; as unto David, unto whom God imputed righteousness without works, Rom 4:6. This righteousness of God which he imputes upon believing, is not originally the believers’ own inherent righteousness, but the righteousness of another in another, and theirs only derivatively from him, in whom believers are made the righteousness of God, 2Co 5:21 (who are not said to be made the mercy of God): unto them, being in Christ Jesus, he is made righteousness, 1Co 1:30, yea, the righteosness of God, Rom 1:17, (these are spoken of by the apostle distinctly, as here, so elsewhere, Rom 10:3, with Rom 9:30,31), as not only freely given and imputed of God, but as being only of value in the judgment of God to justify, because performed by him, who is not only man but God, Act 20:28; Rom 3:21,24,25; 10:3. Not that it can be meant of the essential righteousness of God; for the righteousness by the faith of Christ, Rom 3:22, or that which constitutes them righteous in God’s sight, upon their receiving of Christ and being implanted into him, was that obedience which he yielded unto God for them, voluntarily doing and suffering his will, Joh 15:13; Rom 5:6-8; Phi 2:8; 1Ti 6:13; Heb 9:14. For this obedience in their stead being fully performed by him who had the Divine and human nature conjoined in himself, was of infinite value, so that his mediatorial righteousness being some way imputed to those who are found in him, they are found righteous before God in his just judgment, as living members of Christ, to whom they are united by the Spirit and faith, Joh 6:56; 15:4; Eph 5:30,32; Col 1:27. This mystical head and body making but one Christ, and thereupon his righteousness is reputed theirs (and thereby they are set right with God) in such a measure as is meet for it to be communicated from Head to members, who partake of the thing imputed, the righteousness which satisfied the law, and therefore most proper to justify against it, and answer the demands of it. And in that it is said to be

the righteoueness of God by faith, we consider faith as the means whereby we came to be interested in it. Faith itself is not the righteousness, which is upon, not in the believer, Rom 3:22, entering into judgment with God; but the righteousness which believers find in Christ, which was ordained of God to denominate them righteous. The law (which requires obedience) having its end in nothing but the righteousness which satisfied it, called the righteousness of Christ, Rom 10:4, with Tit 2:13; 2Pe 1:1; wherein the law is established, Rom 3:31, and its righteousness fulfilled, Rom 8:4; inherent graces are not called the righteousness, but our own, Mat 5:20; Luk 21:19; Rom 10:8; 2Co 8:8; Col 1:4; 1Pe 1:21. Christ is so far righteousness as he is the end of the law, and that he is in the satisfaction itself, not in remission, which is an effect of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Found in him—Now, by both God and men, in him, as the element in whom the soul lives and moves.

Righteousness—Legal and evangelical justification are put in sharp contrast. One originates in the law, the other in God. The former is mine own; the result of personal obedience to the law’s commands, as possessing power or merit toward procuring acceptance with God; the latter is obtained through faith in Christ, inspired by God, on account of the merit of Christ, and through faith as the condition. That self-righteousness in which Saul of Tarsus had been so confident he had found utterly vain; and renouncing all hope therefrom, he turned to Christ, receiving his justification as a flee gift of divine grace. By faith, or, upon faith, shows it to be God’s plan to bestow acceptance on the condition of faith in his Son. (See notes on Rom_3:21-25.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And be found in him; now, at the last day, always. In Christ; a member, that is, of his body, a living branch of the true Vine. Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law; rather, as R.V, not hoarding a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the Law. Not any righteousness of my own, such as that described in ver. 6, the righteousness which consists in and results from conformity to an external law. But perhaps the words are best rendered, as in the margin of R.V, "Not having as my righteousness that which is of the Law." St. Paul was blameless as regards that righteousness which lies in legal observances: in that he puts no confidence, he seeks a better righteousness. But that which is through the faith of Christ; rather, as R.V, through faith in Christ. There is no article, and the genitive is objective. Through faith. God is the Giver, the Source of righteousness; it is given through faith as the means, on condition of faith. The righteousness which is of God by faith. Greek, "upon faith," based upon faith, or on condition of faith. St. Paul speaks of "having" this righteousness. Then it is his; yet it is not any righteousness of his own, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done;" but a righteousness of God given to him, merited, not by his works, but by the perfect obedience and the precious death of Christ, and granted unto all who are found in Christ. It comes from God, the one only Giver of all good things; it is obtained through faith as the instrument or means; and it is given on that faith on condition, that is, of a living faith abiding in the soul. Thus St. Paul states incidentally, but simply and forcibly, the great doctrine of justification by faith.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And be found by God ingrafted in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law - That merely outward righteousness prescribed by the law, and performed by my own strength. But that inward righteousness which is through faith - Which can flow from no other fountain. The righteousness which is from God - From his almighty Spirit, not by my own strength, but by faith alone. Here also the apostle is far from speaking of justification only.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the righteousness

(See Scofield "Rom 3:21").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. The subject matter of St. Paul’s desire was to be found in Christ. Beza, upon the place, brings in the justice of God pursuing Paul as a malefactor; and Christ, as a city of refuge which he desires to flee into and be found in. By being found in Christ, then, understand ingrafting and incorporating into him by faith; to find acceptance with God, through him, as our surety and representative, and to perserve in our obedience to him to the end of our lives.

Learn, That such as desire above all things to be found in Christ, are willing to do, to suffer, any thing, yea, all things; and care not in what condition they be found, how poor and low, how afflicted and despised soever, so they may be found in Christ.

Observe, 2. The manner how St. Paul desires to be found in Christ; this is expressed both negatively and postively.

1. Negatively, Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law; that is, not depending upon any thing he could call his own, neither upon his spiritual privileges, nor natural accomplishments, nor religious performances, nor upon his most perfect righteousness and best obedience, for his justification before God; knowing it to be both unwarrantable and unsafe so to do; unwarrantable, because our good works never had the impress of God’s ordination for that end; they were never designed to justify our persons, but to justify our faith; and unsafe is it to trust to our own righteousness and best services, because of the many sinful imperfections cleaving to them.

Alas! they cannot justify themselves, how then should they justify us? Our best duties deserve to be thrown as so much dung upon our faces. Surely, we may plead the excellency, and preach the necessity, of good works, though we do not set them in Christ’s chair: such then as would be found in Christ, though they be ever so careful to maintain good works, (which it is their duty and interest, their daily care and endeavour, to do,) yet they dare not rest in them, nor rely upon them for justification, or make any thing in themselves, or done by themselves, the ground of their confidence.

Christ’s perfect obedience entitles us to heaven; our own imperfect (if sincere) obedience will evidence that title. Some rely upon a natural righteousness, that which they call good nature; others rely upon a negative righteousness, because they are not so unrighteous as some; others rely upon a positive righteousness, a moral righteousness, in observing the duties of the second table: a religious righteousness, in performing the outward duties of prayer, hearing the word, receiving the sacraments. But though St. Paul was one of the most religious men that the Jewish religion ever had, yet he durst not be found with this righteousness alone, but desires to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law.

Observe farther, The way how the apostle desired to be found in Christ, is not only, 1. Negative, but, 2. Postively declared: That which is through the faith of Christ, that righteousness which is of God by faith.

Here note, 1. The righteousness which secures a guilty sinner from the dint of God’s wrath, is Christ’s righteousness; he is made unto us of God, righteousness, 1Co 1:30.

Now this righteousness is here called,

1. The righteousness of God, because of his appointing, ordaining and accepting it.

2. The righteousness of faith, because this righteousness is made ours by faith; faith apprehending and applying the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ, the fruit and benefit of his undertaking become the believing sinner’s, and God is at peace with him: such as will be found in Christ, must have a righteousness, the meritorious righteousness of Christ, to answer the demands of the law, and a personal righteousness of their own, to answer the commands of the gospel.

St. Paul here, though a transcendent saint, though an eminent apostle, yet divests himself of his own righteousness, that he might be clothed upon with the righteousness of the Mediator, be found in him as his surety in the day of account, and obtain pardon for the sake of his satisfaction.

Note, 2. That there is no gain to be had from this righteousness by a lost sinner, except it be apprehended by faith; it was not a righteousness of his own that St. Paul desired to be found in, but faith was his own, inherent in him, and acted by him, which did entitle him to that righteousness, called therefore here, The righteousness which is of God, by faith.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. And be found in him. In him “there is no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1). Not having mine own righteousness. Those in Christ trust not in a legal righteousness, obtained by keeping the law, but in the righteousness which the gospel provides to those who accept Christ through faith. That righteousness is the forgiveness of sins, which is of God by faith. Note that, although the definite article is omitted in our Versions before faith, the Greek supplies it. “The faith” is equivalent to “the gospel.” It is faith in Christ acted upon, causing an acceptance and steadfast obedience to Christ, which secures the righteousness (forgiveness) of which Paul speaks.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9. καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ: For εὑρεθῶ, see on 2:7. Often in the passive in the sense of ‘to be seen, discovered, or proved to be.’ (See Act 5:39; Rom 7:10; 1Co 4:2; 2Co 11:12; Gal 2:17.) Here pointing to the recognition by others of Paul’s union with Christ. (Comp. Ign. Eph. xi.; Trall. xiii.) By some commentators it is referred to the last day, either wholly or in part (see Lightf.:); but the entire line of thought refers to union with Christ in this life. The final result appears in vs. 11. Calv. wrongly makes εὑρεθῶ active, and explains that Paul had renounced all that he had in order that he might find it in Christ.

ἐν αὐτῷ: See on ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (1:1). The same idea appears in 1:21; Gal 2:20: the state of identification with Christ’s life as the principle of salvation; the immanence of that principle in the human life. Comp. also Joh 14:20, Joh 14:15:2, Joh 14:4, Joh 14:5, Joh 14:7, Joh 14:17:21, Joh 14:23. “The Christian,” says Weiss, “exercises all the functions of his life in Christ. In him, or in fellowship with him, are rooted trust (Php 2:19, Php 2:24), joy (Php 3:1, Php 3:4:4, Php 3:10), boldness (Phm 1:8), Christian refreshment (Phm 1:20). In him one speaks (Eph 4:17); executes his ministry (Col 4:17); entertains another (Php 2:29); maintains unanimity with another (Php 4:2); obeys another (Eph 6:1). In him one is strengthened, and can do all things (Eph 6:10; Php 4:13).”—Bib. Theol. § 101. Christ, the personified revelation of the divine love, is the ruling principle of the human personal life, so that this life moves in Christ as in its own peculiar element. To be in Christ is to have the Spirit of Christ and to be one Spirit with him (Rom 8:9; 1Co 6:17). See note at the end of this chapter on Paul’s conception of righteousness by faith.

μὴ ἔχων: Expressing the mode, not the condition of being in Christ.

ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην: ‘a righteousness of my own.’ Not ‘my own righteousness,’ as A.V., for no such thing exists; but a righteousness which might be described as my own. ‘My own righteousness’ would be τὴν ἐμὴν δικ. (Comp. Rom 10:3.)

τὴν ἐκ νόμου: Defining ἐμ. δικ. A righteousness which could be called ‘mine’ would be a righteousness ‘proceeding from (ἐκ) the law.’ He lays down a general proposition: Human righteousness is legal righteousness. It is contained in the law (vs. 6), and passes from the law to the man as the man obeys the law (Rom 10:5). The man’s righteousness is generated by its precepts.

διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ: ‘through faith of (in) Christ.’ Διὰ marks faith as the medium of attaining righteousness. (Comp. Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8.) For ‘faith of Christ’ = ‘faith in Christ,’ comp. Mar 11:22; Rom 3:22; 2Co 10:5; Gal 2:16, Gal 2:3:22; 2Th 2:13; Jas 2:1.

τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει: ‘the righteousness which is from God resting upon faith.’ A further definition of τὴν διὰ πίς. Χρ., describing its source and its basis. It proceeds from God, and is therefore in contrast with ἐμὴν δικ. The phrase is not synonymous with δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ (Rom 1:17), which signifies righteousness which is God’s; which resides in him as his attribute; not, as commonly explained, righteousness which is from God, and is bestowed by him upon man. Δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ is of course assumed in τ. ἐκ θε. δικ. The ideal and the source of righteousness are in God. God is the source of the atoning work of Christ which contemplates man’s righteousness, and Christ is ‘the image of his substance’ (Heb 1:3; see 2Co 5:21, and Sanday on Rom. p. 162). As related to man, the righteousness of God rests upon (ἐπὶ) faith, the (τῇ) faith which each man exercises towards God in Jesus Christ. This is the only instance of the phrase ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει in N.T. It expresses διὰ πίστεως a little more definitely, and sets forth the only true basis of all human righteousness. It is, indeed, true that righteousness rests ultimately on God, and not on faith; but if that is an objection, the same would lie against δικ. ἐκ πίστ. (Rom 9:30, Rom 10:6). Lightf., following Ril. and van Heng., renders ἐπὶ ‘on condition of.’ But Paul is here speaking rather of the essential character of this righteousness than of the terms on which it is received by men. It belongs to the nature of God’s righteousness as imparted to man that it rests upon faith (Rom 4:5).

Lightf. refers to Act 3:16, though ἐπὶ there is a doubtful reading. WH. omit, with א* B. Tisch., R.T., and Weiss retain.

Mey. supplies ἔχων, repeated after ἀλλὰ; ‘having on the ground of faith righteousness through faith,’ which is harsh and quite unnecessary. Equally awkward is the connection of ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει with εὐρεθῶ, as Weiss. Rather it is to be connected with δικαιοσύνην immediately preceding. The omission of the article before ἐπὶ τ. πίστ. has numerous precedents in cases where the whole expression represents one idea.

He goes on to show in what this righteousness by faith consists.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be found [ευρεθω] . Discovered or proved to be. See on ch. Phi 2:8. Compare Rom 7:10; Gal 2:17.

Mine own righteousness [εμην δικαιοσυνην] . Rev., correctly, a righteousness of mine own. The A. V. would require the article with ejmhn mine, and assumes the existence of a personal righteousness; whereas Paul says, not having any righteousness which can be called mine.

Which is of the law [την εκ νομου] . Rev., better, even that which is of the law; thus bringing out the force of the article which defines the character of that righteousness which alone could be personal, viz., righteousness consisting in the strict fulfillment of the law.

Through the faith of Christ [δια πιστεως χριστου] . Rev., better, through faith in Christ. Faith as opposed to the law. The change of prepositions, through [δια] faith, and of [εκ] the law, as turning on the distinction between faith represented as the medium, and the law as the source of justification, cannot be insisted upon as a rule, since both the prepositions are used with faith, as in Gal 2:16. Compare Rom 3:30; Rom 5:1.

Of God. Contrasted with my own.

By faith [επι] . Resting upon faith, or on the condition of. Compare Act 3:16.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.