I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (Philippians 3:10, 11 NLT)
Prior to this verse, Paul had just finished a long litany of accomplishments and achievements which would have set him apart as successful in the world at that time. He ended by saying, “Once I thought this stuff was significant, but now I count it worthless in the light of what Christ did for me.” Then he goes into the statement, “I want to know Christ…” So in breaking down this verse, I discover this:
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I want to know – a desire to perceive, to take in knowledge. In this NT, this word indicates: becoming acquainted with, to know, of the knowledge of God and Christ, and of the things relating to them or proceeding from them.
His power – this is a familiar Greek word – dunamis, meaning miraculous power, might or strength. In this verse, it refers to the power which the resurrection of Christ has, for instructing, reforming, elevating, tranquilizing, the soul. Wow!
Resurrection – standing up, rising up.
So to rephrase that, I want to know Christ and experience His power means: I have a desire to attain knowledge of and perceive things about Jesus Christ and everything relating to Him and coming from Him including His resurrection power which instructs me, reforms me, elevates me and brings peace!
Paul then speaks of fellowshipping with the sufferings of Jesus. That’s kind of an odd phrase to me. The word for fellowship is fairly familiar – koinonia, which means participating in, communion, contributing to a community, having a share in something. Suffering is defined as the capacity and privilege of experiencing strong feeling; felt, deep emotion, like agony or passion. The word páthēma (“strong feeling”) includes affliction (suffering), which should always (ideally) result in knowing God’s glory – like going through difficulties (persecution, etc.) in faith. The lexicon mentions that the “ma” ending of this word points to the end result – knowing God! Essentially, Paul is saying that he has a desire to share these strong feelings and emotions, even agony or the physical result of affliction, knowing that the end result is knowing the glory of God.
How do we “share in His death”? The NKJV says to conform to His death which means, “being shaped by dying.” How are we shaped in the spirit? Through experiences, both physical and spiritual that bring us to greater places of intimacy with Jesus; through meditation on His word; through transformation through healing and renewal (Rom 12:1-2). Dying can mean a spiritual or physical death, and it seems the latter is what Paul was referring to. He did not seem to be fearful of laying down His life for Christ. We know this as he states it two chapters earlier in Phil. 1:21 – “For me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain.” For Paul this is a win-win situation.
Paul says, in verse 11, that he desires this so that somehow he can experience the resurrection from the dead. He desires to attain, become a part of, a partaker in this rising from a place of death — (literally), what lacks life; dead; (figuratively) not able to respond to impulses, or perform functions unable, ineffective, dead, powerless, unresponsive to life-giving influences (opportunities); inoperative to the things of God.
There are so many practical spiritual applications to these two short verses. They have such a broad, far-reaching impact on me when I think about them and tear them apart. Knowing God and the power of His resurrection causes me to examine myself and thank Him for the Ephesians 2 / Colossians 2 reality – that even when I was dead in my sin, He made me alive, forgave me, and offered me life eternal. This is why Paul was able to say so passionately that He was so grateful for this reality in his life that he wanted to fully immerse himself in sharing the sufferings of Christ so that he too could experience the power of the resurrection. Oh, that I would strive for this as well!