This post contains the comments of Albert Barnes and John Calvin on Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”
Also, 5 different Bible versions of the verse are pasted in the intro, because I think it is valuable to read various translations when one is trying to grasp the meaning of a verse, and wanted to demonstrate that.
Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; [KJV as commentator uses]
Php 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [ESV]
Php 3:10 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, [NLT]
Php 3:10 All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, [CEV –Contemporary English Version]
Php 3:10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [NIV]
Page of the various Bible translations at Bible Hub: https://biblehub.com/niv/philippians/3-10.htm
Following are the comments of Barnes and of Calvin on Php 3:10. I read Calvin at Bible Hub this morning, on Php 3:9 and 10. I thought I would paste Calvin in this post for those who are not familiar with his commentaries.
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Philippians 3:10 [KJV] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
That I may know him – That I may be fully acquainted with his nature, his character, his work, and with the salvation which he has worked out. It is one of the highest objects of desire in the mind of the Christian to know Christ; see the notes at Eph_3:19.
[Eph 3:19 excerpts from Barnes’ Notes:
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
And to know the love of Christ – The love of Christ toward us; the immensity of redeeming love. It is not merely the love which he showed for the Gentiles in calling them into his kingdom which is here referred to; it is the love which is shown for the lost world in giving himself to die.
This love is often referred to in the New Testament, and is declared to surpass all other which has ever been evinced; see the Rom_5:7-8, notes; Joh_15:13, note.
To know this; to feel this; to have a lively sense of it, is one of the highest privileges of the Christian.
Nothing will so much excite gratitude in our hearts; nothing will prompt us so much to a life of self-denial; nothing will make us so benevolent and so dead to the world; see the notes on 2Co_5:14.
Which passeth knowledge – There “seems” to be a slight contradiction here in expressing a wish to know what cannot be known, or in a desire that they should understand that which cannot be understood. But it is the language of a man whose heart was full to overflowing. …It was love which led the Son of God to become incarnate; to leave the heavens: to be a man of sorrows; to be reviled and persecured; to be put to death in the most shameful manner – on a cross.
Who could understand that? Where else had there been anything like that? What was there with which to compare it? What was there by which it could be illustrated? And how could it be fully understood Yet “something” of it might be seen, known, felt; and the apostle desired that as far as possible they should understand that great love which the Lord Jesus had manifested for a dying world.
That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God – What an expression! How rich and glorious Who can comprehend all that it implies? Let us inquire into its meaning. There “may” be here in these verses an allusion to the “temple.”
The apostle had spoken of their being founded in love, and of surveying the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of that love, as of a vast and splendid edifice, and he now desires that those whom he addressed might be pervaded or filled with the indwelling of God. The language here is cumulative, and is full of meaning and richness.
(1) They were to be “full of God.” That is, he would dwell in them.
(2) They were to be filled with “the fulness of God. …It means here, “that you may have the richest measures of divine consolation and of the divine presence; that you may partake of the entire enjoyment of God in the most ample measure in which he bestows his favors on his people.”
(3) It was to be with “all” the fulness of God; not with partial and stinted measures of his gracious presence, but with “all” which he ever bestows.
Religion is not a name. It is not a matter of form. It is not a trifle. It is the richest, best gift of God to man. It ennobles our nature. It more clearly teaches us our true dignity than all the profound discoveries which people can make in science; for none of them will ever fill us with the fulness of God.
Religion is spiritual, elevating, pure, Godlike. We dwell with God; walk with God; live with God; commune with God; are like God. We become partakers of the divine nature 2 Peter 1:4; in rank we are associated with angels; in happiness and purity we are associated with God!
END Barnes’ on Ephesians 3:19]
Back to: Philippians 3:10 [KJV] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
And the power of his resurrection – That is, that I may understand and experience the proper influence which the fact of his resurrection should have on the mind.
That influence would be felt in imparting the hope of immortality; in sustaining the soul in the prospect of death, by the expectation of being raised from the grave in like manner; and in raising the mind above the world; Rom_6:11
[Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.] [Since Barnes merely alluded to the verse, it was pasted in without comments.]
There is no one truth that will have greater power over us, when properly believed, than the truth that Christ has risen from the dead.
His resurrection confirms the truth of the Christian religion (notes, 1 Cor. 15); makes it certain that there is a future state, and that the dead will also rise; dispels the darkness that was around the grave, and shows us that our great interests are in the future world.
The fact that Christ has risen from the dead, when fully believed, will produce a sure hope that we also shall be raised, and will animate us to bear trials for his sake, with the assurance that we shall be raised up as he was.
[Barnes’ notes on 1 Cor. 15 Since he did not give a specific verse, I cannot paste in all the comments on this chapter. If you do not know, this chapter says much about the resurrection. The following link to Bible Hub is for those who might want to read notes on some of that chapter: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/15-1.htm ]
One of the things which a Christian ought most earnestly to desire is, to feel the power of this truth on his soul – that his great Redeemer has burst the bands of death; has brought life and immortality to light, and has given us the pledge that our bodies shall rise.
What trials may we not bear with this assurance?
What is to be dreaded in death, if this is so?
What glories rise to the view when we think of the resurrection!
And what trifles are all the things which people seek here, when compared with the glory that shall be ours when we shall be raised from the dead!
And the fellowship of his sufferings – That I may participate in the same kind of sufferings that he endured; that is, that I may in all things be identified with him.
Paul wished to be just like his Saviour. He felt that it was an honor to live as he did; to evince the spirit that he did, and to suffer in the same manner. All that Christ did and suffered was glorious in his view, and he wished in all things to resemble him.
He did not desire merely to share his honors and triumphs in heaven, but, regarding his whole work as glorious, he wished to be wholly conformed to that, and, as far as possible, to be just like Christ.
Many are willing to reign with Christ, but they would not be willing to suffer with him; many would be willing to wear a crown of glory like him, but not the crown of thorns; many would be willing to put on the robes of splendor which will be worn in heaven, but not the scarlet robe of contempt and mockery. They would desire to share the glories and triumphs of redemption, but not its poverty, contempt, and persecution.
This was not the feeling of Paul. He wished in all things to be just like Christ, and hence he counted it an honor to be permitted to suffer as he did.
So Peter says, “Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings;” 1Pe_4:13. So Paul says Col_1:24 that he rejoiced in his sufferings in behalf of his brethren, and desired “to fill up that which was behind, of the afflictions of Christ,” or that in which he had hitherto come short of the afflictions which Christ endured.
The idea is, that it is an honor to suffer as Christ suffered; and that the true Christian will esteem it a privilege to be made just like him, not only in glory, but in trial.
To do this, is one evidence of piety; and we may ask ourselves, therefore, whether these are the feelings of our hearts.
Are we seeking merely the honors of heaven, or should we esteem it a privilege to be reproached and reviled as Christ was – to have our names cast out as his was – to be made the object of sport and derision as he was – and to be held up to the contempt of a world as he was?
If so, it is an evidence that we love him;
if not so, and we are merely seeking the crown of glory, we should doubt whether we have ever known anything of the nature of true religion.
Being made conformable to his death – In all things, being just like Christ – to live as he did, and to die as he did.
There can be no doubt that Paul means to say that he esteemed it so desirable to be just like Christ, that he would regard it as an honor to die in the same manner. He would rejoice to go with him to the cross, and to pass through the circumstances of scorn and pain which attended such a death.
Yet how few there are who would be willing to die as Christ died, and how little would the mass of people regard it as a privilege and honor!
Indeed, it requires an elevated state of pious feeling to be able to say that it would be regarded as a privilege and honor to die like Christ to have such a sense of the loveliness of his character in all things, and such ardent attachment to him, as to rejoice in the opportunity of dying as he did!
When we think of dying, we wish to have our departure made as comfortable as possible. We would have our sun go down without a cloud. We would wish to lie on a bed of down; we would have our head sustained by the kind arm of a friend, and not left to fall, in the intensity of suffering, on the breast; we would wish to have the place where we die surrounded by sympathizing kindred, and not by those who would mock our dying agonies.
And, if such is the will of God, it is not improper to desire that our end may be peaceful and happy; but we should also feel, if God should order it otherwise, that it would be an honor, in the cause of the Redeemer, to die amidst reproaches – to be led to the stake, as the martyrs have been – or to die, as our Master did, on a cross.
They who are most like him in the scenes of humiliation here, will be most like him in the realms of glory.
Calvin on Php 3:10 from Bible Hub [paragraphs divided for ease of reading; all bracketed statements, underscoring and emboldening are mine]:
[To read more from Calvin – https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/philippians/3.htm ]
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
That I may know him
He points out the efficacy and nature of faith — that it is the knowledge of Christ, and that, too, not bare or indistinct, but in such a manner that the power of his resurrection is felt.
Resurrection he employs as meaning, the completion of redemption, so that it comprehends in it at the same time the idea of death.
But as it is not enough to know Christ as crucified and raised up from the dead, unless you experience, also, the fruit of this, he speaks expressly of efficacy.
Christ therefore is rightly known, when we feel how powerful his death and resurrection are, and how efficacious they are in us.
Now all things are there furnished to us — expiation and destruction of sin, freedom from condemnation, satisfaction [of our sin debt?], victory over death, the attainment of righteousness, and the hope of a blessed immortality.
And the fellowship of his sufferings
Having spoken of that freely-conferred righteousness, which was procured for us through the resurrection of Christ, and is obtained by us through faith, he proceeds to treat of the exercises [of one’s faith] of the pious, and that in order that it might not seem as though he introduced an inactive faith, which produces no effects in the life.
He also intimates, indirectly, that these are the exercises in which the Lord would have his people employ themselves; while the false Apostles pressed forward upon them the useless elements of ceremonies.
[A reference to the Judaizers who told Gentile converts that they also had to be circumcised and keep other elements of the Jewish religion. See Galatians for, seemingly, the most thorough treatment of that topic, when Paul teaches on the differences between Law and faith as means of salvation.]
Let every one, therefore, who has become through faith a partaker of all Christ’s benefits, acknowledge that a condition is presented to him — that his whole life be conformed to his death.
There is, however, a twofold participation and fellowship in the death of Christ.
The one is inward — what the Scripture is wont to term the mortification of the flesh, or the crucifixion of the old man, of which Paul treats in the sixth chapter of the Romans; the other is outward — what is termed the mortification of the outward man. It is the endurance of the Cross, of which he treats in the eighth chapter of the same Epistle, and here also, if I do not mistake.
For after introducing along with this the power of his resurrection, Christ crucified is set before us, that we may follow him through tribulations and distresses; and hence the resurrection of the dead is expressly made mention of, that we may know that we must die before we live.
This is a continued subject of meditation to believers so long as they sojourn in this world.
This, however, is a choice consolation, that in all our miseries we are partakers of Christ’s Cross, if we are his members; so that through afflictions the way is opened up for us to everlasting blessedness, as we read elsewhere,
If we die with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. (2 Timothy 2:11,)
We must all therefore be prepared for this — that our whole life shall represent nothing else than the image of death, until it produce death itself, as the life of Christ is nothing else than a prelude of death.
We enjoy, however, in the meantime, this consolation — that the end is everlasting blessedness. For the death of Christ is connected with the resurrection. Hence Paul says, that he is conformed to his death, that he may attain the glory of the resurrection.
The phrase, if by any means, does not indicate doubt, but expresses difficulty, with a view to stimulate our earnest endeavor for it is no light contest, inasmuch as we must struggle against so many and so serious hinderances.
End commentaries
Regarding the exercising of one’s faith, the following link has 98 Bible verses about faith; I found several to be helpful: https://www.openbible.info/topics/exercise_faith