But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
All Commentaries on Philippians 3:7 Go To Philippians 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What do the false teachers say about this passage? “See, the law is a loss; it is refuse. How then do you say it is of God?” In fact, all this is in favor of the law. How so? It is clear from this passage, if we attend closely to the words. He does not say “the law is privation” but “I count it loss.” And when he spoke of gain, he did not say “I count it” but “it was.” For the latter was true by nature, the former in his own estimation. So, whatever gain I had in the law, I count as loss “on account of Christ.” How then was the law ever a “gain,” and not in supposition but in fact? Consider what a great thing it was to restore the human form to people who had been turned to beasts. And without the law, there would be no grace. How so? Because the law served as a bridge. It was not possible to be raised from this extreme lowliness. So the law served as a ladder. Note that when a person has gone up a ladder, he no longer needs it. Yet he does not despise it but gives it thanks, because it is due to the ladder that he is in the state of no longer needing it…. It is not the law that is a privation but apostasy from Christ through adherence to the law. So when it leads us away from Christ it is a loss. When it leads us to him, no longer so. .
