IBS Application for Philippians 3:9

“...and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-“

Our righteousness by itself is anything but righteous. As we see in verse 8, Paul counted all of that which the world would look at as the best one could possibly achieve in the flesh as “rubbish.” Works that have an outward appearance of being good only aren’t good in themselves; they could be done for the sake of wanting to have an appearance of goodness and a kind heart.

Works done without faith cannot save a person. They could be seen as being like fruit that looks good on the outside but in reality is rotten on the inside. It takes faith-specifically faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross-to make those works valid as good works.

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him,” the author of Hebrews tells us. If what Paul tells us about his own works and righteousness in verse 8 is true, which is a righteousness based on works rather than faith, then we cannot please God by operating only in our flesh under the Law. It takes a surrender of our own ability to work towards “good” and take up Christ’s righteousness, which He has freely given to us that we might attain salvation. 

That’s really what I think Paul is communicating to us in this verse, that the surrender and laying down of our own ability is necessary for our growth in Christ. We need to realize that on our own, we can do no good, not for ourselves in the eternal sense, nor for God.


This is something I have struggled greatly with in my walk. I try too hard to do things on my own apart from Jesus. But this has to change if I am to walk with Him in unity, that I might be made righteous. My application will be to make a greater effort to pray that God would help me realize when I do this, in order that I might turn to Him for grace in those moments instead of relying on my own strength all the time. I will do this at least twice a day for the next three days.

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