Forfeiture: Meaning

This is the 3rd of 4 Forfeiture posts.  
Part 1 is HERE
 Part 2 is HERE

In thinking about the meaning of this and other passages, we probably need to spend more time in the Biblical text.  This digital age has provided us with great resources at our fingertips.  The problem with this is we run to other resources too early in the process. 

"If you use commentaries too early, they will take over and suppress your thought."  This quote is from an article "How to Use Bible Commentaries" by David Murray.

There are a couple of very important, interpretation, meaning things to note in verse 8.

The phrase “Yet indeed” in the ESV and “More than that” in the NKJV establishes a very strong contrast between works of Paul in the flesh and the works of Christ.

Verse 7 states that what Paul used to think was gain is loss for Christ.

Verse 8 builds on this truth with this “Yet indeed” statement.

Even more than counting these works of the flesh a loss, Paul also understands the “surpassing worth,” the “excellence” of knowing Christ.

There is worth and then there is hyper-worth.There is an active child and then there is the hyperactive child.There are sensitive people and then there are hyper-sensitive people.There is tension and then there is hypertension.

This knowing Christ is a great treasure.

To help you think about what this great, ultimate treasure is NOT, here is a quote from the book Holiness by J.C. Ryle

Are you resting on religious privileges?  Alas, many do!  They enjoy the opportunity of hearing the Gospel regularly preached, and of attending many ordinances and means of grace.  They seem to be “rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing while they have neither faith nor grace nor spiritual mindedness.

Do you belong to an Evangelical congregation?  Many do, and, alas go no further!  They hear the truth Sunday after Sunday and remain as hard as the millstone.  Sermon after sermon sounds in their ears.  Month after month they are invited to repent, to believe, to come to Christ, and to be saved.  Year after year passes away, and they are not changed.  They keep their seat under the teaching of a favorite minister and they also keep their favorite sins. 

Jesus is the great treasure and these are an extra blessing to help us treasure Him more.

The other great interpretative point in verse 8 is the verb form of “counted” contrasted to the verb form “count” in verse 7.

The language here in verse 8 is not merely looking back at my past.
It is looking at his present and his future.

There is nothing I did, am doing, or are going to do that will earn me God’s favor.

One other interpretative point in this verse is the use of the word “rubbish.”
This “rubbish” that Paul’s say our works is like is not just garbage, some paper, used Kleenex, paper cups.  This word “rubbish” is the word for “waste”, “dung”, “manure” “excrement.”

It is not just a loss
It is a loss and an immeasurable gain.
It is a loss of something really, really bad and an immeasurable gain.

Another Paul, Paul Tripp, uses the following quote in many of his books and videos, that gives another visual of what these verses are saying.   

Don't look horizontally for what can only be found vertically.

In his explanation of this quote, Tripp writes, "Don't allow yourself to be seduced into believing that life can be found in the people, possessions, situations, locations and experiences of everyday life.  Remember, the role of created things is not to give you life, but to point you to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and Life. Refuse to try to satisfy your heart with things that will never offer you the satisfaction that you seek." (1)

Focus on the RIGHT thing.

For more about the Fighter Verses go to www.drodgersjr.com/p/fighter-verses.html