For those who believe that the Bible means what it says, the truth of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a given. There is no debate on that point. But this does not mean that the truth and fact of the resurrection merely hangs suspended in the air without application. The Apostle Paul provides inspired applications in Philippians 3. The first application is directed toward the attitude regarding what was previously considered valuable. For Paul, and by extension every Christian, to come to Christ is to renounce all of those things that we thought would commend us to God. Paul says that he gave away "all things" and he truly did. He realized that he could bring nothing into the relationship with Christ except his need. He could bring nothing except the confession that he was a poor miserable sinner and that Jesus Christ is the only Lord and Savior. The reason he could give away everything was because he had come to value union with the risen Savior more than the pile of dung that his self-righteousness truly was. So even though he sacrificed every material benefit, he considered it no loss at all because he has been offered a deal he cannot refuse: give away nothing in order to gain everything.
The second application is found in what Paul says in verse 9. When Paul says that he loses everything, he does not mean that he is now left impoverished. On the contrary, he finds himself "in Christ". That is, he has been "…blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ…" (Eph. 1:3) Paul indicates that he has actually gained greatly by giving away everything he formerly valued because he gained Christ: His righteousness, His priesthood, His sacrifice, His intercession, His love and watch-care. He gained what was not, and could not, be his by any other means. But to gain it, he had to abandon all pretense of self-righteousness and self-worth. But lest we misunderstand, Paul is not saying that righteousness is not required in order to be acceptable to a holy God. The issue is what kind of righteousness is acceptable. And the answer to what kind of righteousness is acceptable is that only the righteousness which is of divine origin is acceptable – it is a righteousness which is acquired by the means of faith. It is not your faith itself, but faith in Christ as your only Lord and Savior which gives you the righteousness which is necessary.
Thirdly, Paul expresses that the relative value of his previous self-righteousness and the blessings of union with Christ are not comparable. Indeed, he declares that he so greatly desires union with Christ that he would do so "by any means". He is even willing to "share in the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." The reality of resurrection necessarily implies death – for the Savior and for us. The apostle is not deceiving us. Resurrection has an antecedent: that antecedent is death. The Lord Jesus Christ had to die in order to be raised victorious. If you want to experience the resurrection power of Christ – yes, you too must die. All your self-will, self-law, spiritual self-sufficiency, self-promotion, and self-salvation must be renounced. But if you follow the apostle's instruction, you will see that giving up all of that is not a loss at all. Wouldn't you want to gain what you cannot lose in exchange for what you cannot keep? When you understand the significance of the offered exchange, death for eternal life, sins for righteousness, filthy rags for clean garments of white, the choice is clear: you exchange what is nothing for everything.
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