The Knowledge of Christ Jesus My Lord: High Christology of Philippians 3, 7-11: 16 (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology)

Employing the traditional tools of historical-critical methodology as well as a selected mix of techniques from newer literary criticism, this book provides a close analysis of the syntactic and semantic content of Phil 3:7-11 in its immediate and broader context, concluding that this passage represents a very high christological statement on the part of Paul, and discusses some of the implications of these findings in regard to the interpretation of Phil 2:5-11, the wisdom ambience of the letters of Paul, and relevance for modern christologies. very strong statement about how much Christ Jesus means to him. This study seeks to demonstrate how the passage within its context gives expression to a high christological statement which is frequently disregarded in treatments of Pauline christology. of the history of exegesis of Phil 3:7-11 and identifies the elements present within that history which indicated the desirability of a more in-depth treatment. Chapter Two focuses on the entire letter to the Philippians as the context of interpretation of Phil 3:7-11, beginning with a discussion of the methodology employed in the remainder of the work. variants within these verses, then describing in detail the relation of the complex sentence consisting of vv. 8-11. Chapters Four and Five deal with those issues of semantics in vv. 8-11 which require more extensive treatment. Chapter Six returns to a consideration of the meaning of knowledge of Christ, concluding with a consideration of the results of this study for current discussions of New Testament Christology.