No Comparison

“Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: . . . But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” (Philippians 3:4–8, KJV)

It still happens, even in our peaceful caring neighborhood. People will walk their dogs on the edges of our property. However, when the dog or dogs do their business some kind hearted neighbors will not pick up the dropping and put it in bag for disposal. Then When I get out to mow the lawn, I will often inadvertently step in it, sometimes without notice until I have tracked it into my house. Well, I know I should not get upset, people are people and the dogs know no better. However, the point is that no one that I know wants a dog’s droppings and the associated odor in their house.

I tried to find a better, more pleasant way to explain Paul’s thoughts here, but could not. In previous verses, Paul told the Philippians to watch out for the evildoers who were preaching a legalistic obedience to the law, including circumcision, as essential to be justified before God. In the writing, Paul implied that these men put their confidence in the flesh. On the contrary, Paul indicated that those who were justified placed no confidence in the flesh.

Paul then indicated that if those evildoers had reason to put confidence in the flesh, that is their deeds, he had more reason to put his confidence in the flesh. Paul then listed out his credentials as a zealous Pharisee, a persecutor of the church and one who had considered himself as perfect under the law.

As Paul recounted these credentials he makes a bold statement. He counted all those things as “dung,” skubalon, the excrement of animals (Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon G4657).This is a graphic statement of Paul’s disdain of trusting in good works to, “win,” kerdaino,that is to gain Christ (Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon G2770). Basically, Paul considered all his works as a dog’s excrement when he considered the wonder of his blessed relationship with Christ, a relationship that was obtained by faith in Christ alone.

What about our past deeds? Obviously, we consider sinful deeds that we have done as dung. However, what about those things we did that people consider good. Before Christ saved us, we should come to realize that those good things we did were also prompted not by the Spirit, for before salvation none of us had the Spirit of God in us, but by our own fleshly prompting. We should also, like Paul, count all of that as dung in comparison to gaining a relationship with Christ. Nothing compares to the blessings we have in Him.