Bible Studies

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This two-part article was taken from the internet version of my paper titled, "A Verse-by-Verse Study of 1 Corinthians Chapters 10-14; Philippians Chapter 3; and James 3:1-4:10, which was published in March, 2000. In the original paper and in the internet version of this paper that in on my internet site (Google to Karl Kemp Teaching) I was able to use bold, italics, underlining, and footnotes. I always use the New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition, unless otherwise noted. Sometimes I will use double brackets [[ ]] and (( )) in this article to make them more obvious.

This entire chapter of Philippians is quite important, but one primary reason I wanted to discuss this chapter is Phil. 3:12, which is often listed as a verse that supposedly proves the widespread (but I believe wrong) viewpoint that the New Testament teaches that all Christians - starting with the apostle Paul - necessarily continue to sin to some extent as long as they live in this world. I don't believe this verse says anything whatsoever about Paul (or any other Christian) continuing to sin. All that Paul says in Phil. 3:12 is that he has not arrived - he has not finished the race - and he must, therefore, press on in faith (which includes disregarding the things of the past and the things of the flesh), as required by the new covenant in the blood of Christ, until his race is finished and he ends up in eternal glory. In Phil. 3:12 (with 3:7-15), Paul used himself as an example of what all Christians can, and should, and must, do in order to instruct/exhort those Christians at Philippi who needed to make some changes.

Rather than refer to his life in Christ to prove that Christians cannot stop sinning, Paul referred to his life in Christ to illustrate that Christians can live above sin. Compare, for example, Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Cor. 4:4, 16; 11:1 ("Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ"); 2 Cor. 1:12 ("For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you"); 2:17, 18; 4:1, 2; 6:1-10; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Phil. 1:20, 21; 3:7-10, 15, 17; 4:9; 1 Thess. 2:10-12 ("You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; (11) just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his children, (12) so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."); and 2 Thess. 3:7-9.

Much more important than the verses cited in the last paragraph, where the apostle spoke of his walk in Christ, are the large number of verses where he taught that walking in righteousness, holiness, and victory over sin (by the grace of God in Christ) is a big part of what Christianity is all about. (The gospel that God gave the apostle Paul to proclaim must be our primary standard, not the life of the apostle Paul.) Equally significant are the many similar verses in the New Testament that were not written by the apostle Paul. Many of those verses (from Paul and other writers) are discussed in my book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin," especially in the last three chapters of that book. And many such passages are discussed in my subsequent papers, especially "A Paper on Faith," "The Christian, the Law, and Legalism," "Verse-by-Verse Studies of Ephesians Chapters 1 and 4; and Romans 8:16-39" and "A Verse-by-Verse Study of 2 Peter." I will mention quite a few key verses where the apostle Paul taught the full victory over sin as we continue with this paper.

The New Testament does, of course, make it clear that Christians can sin and that they will sin to the extent they do not know and/or do not walk in the full truth of the gospel on a continuous basis by faith, being enabled by the Holy Spirit. Even though the church at Philippi was a solid church (as this epistle shows), there was room for improvement (cf. Phil. 1:9-11, 25; 2:1-5; 3:11-15; and 4:2), not that all such room for improvement would be classified as sin. God does not use the word sin in a loose way; it is a serious word. Everything short of total, absolute perfection does not constitute sin.

I'll quote Phil. 2:12-16, verses that do not fit well with the idea that Paul taught the Philippians that Christians cannot live in righteousness and holiness with the victory over all sin. "So then, my beloved, JUST AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS OBEYED, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence [Paul was not there to help them], work out your salvation with fear [[I had a footnote: Although many Christians in our day reject this concept, the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) makes it quite clear that God's people are supposed to fear sinning against Him. See the discussion of Phil. 2:12-16 on pages 28-30 of my paper titled "The Christian, the Law, and Legalism" on my internet site.]] and trembling; (13) FOR IT IS GOD WHO IS AT WORK IN YOU [His enabling grace is sufficient, but God does not force Christians to learn the full, balanced truth, to have faith in the truth, or to live in the righteousness and holiness of the truth (cf. Eph. 4:24)], BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE. (14) Do all things without grumbling or disputing; (15) SO THAT YOU WILL PROVE YOURSELVES TO BE BLAMELESS AND INNOCENT, CHILDREN ABOVE REPROACH IN THE MIDST OF A CROOKED AND PERVERSE GENERATION, AMONG WHOM YOU APPEAR [or, SHINE] AS LIGHTS IN THE WORLD, (16) HOLDING FAST THE WORD OF LIFE, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." Paul would have toiled in vain (at least in one sense) if the Christians he ministered to rejected the truth, chose sin instead of righteousness, and were not ready to stand before God on the day of judgment.

"(Phil. 3:1) Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord [cf. Phil. 4:4]. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. (2) Beware of the dogs [cf. Psalm 22:16, 20; Rev. 22:15], beware of the evil workers [cf. Psalm 22:16], beware of the false circumcision [The "false circumcision" is to be contrasted with the "true circumcision" mentioned in the next verse. I assume, in agreement with most commentators, that Paul was referring to the Judaizers here (throughout verse 2). The Christians at Philippi, who were (at least for the most part) Gentiles, would have been a target for the Judaizers.] (3) for we are the true circumcision [cf. Rom. 2:28, 29; Col. 2:11, 12.], who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus [cf. Gal. 6:14] and put no confidence in the flesh [Some of the Judaizers probably had become born-again Christians, but their faulty doctrine, which required Gentiles to be (physically) circumcised and to submit to other ceremonial works of the Mosaic Law in order to be accepted by God, significantly distorted the gospel and detracted from the work of the Spirit. To put confidence in the flesh, as Phil. 3:4-6 demonstrate, includes putting confidence in ceremonial works (like circumcision) and things like physical lineage instead of relying totally on the all-sufficient, new-covenant salvation freely given in Christ Jesus.], (4) although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more [[Compare 2 Cor. 11:13-12:13. Paul's point here in Phil. 3:4-9 is that if he, with his high-level credentials in Judaism, needed to disregard Judaism and the things of the flesh (especially referring to the ceremonial laws) and to be totally faithful to Christ and the new covenant in His blood, all the other Christians need to do the same thing. According to the gospel that Paul proclaimed, no one could legitimately "put confidence in the flesh

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