Php 3:10-11 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, (11) assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
To know Christ by experience & to experience the power of His resurrection was also the apostle’s goal. The power which brought Christ forth from the dead now operates in believers’ lives since they have been “raised with Christ”. “Power” means ability to overcome resistance. By setting forth his own goals and ambitions Paul gave the Philippians an example to follow. His example was, of course, in stark contrast to the Judaizers whose example they were not to follow.
Paul also longed to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and in so doing to become like Him in His death. These sufferings were not Christ’s substitutionary sufferings on the cross. Paul knew that those could not be shared. But he did desire to participate with Christ, since he was one of His, in suffering for the sake of righteousness. God had used Ananias to tell Paul that this is precisely what he would do as a servant of Christ. The apostle did indeed suffer for Christ because he represented Him so openly and truly.
The words “becoming like Him” means “being conformed inwardly in one’s experience to something”, in this case, to Christ’s death. As Christ died for sin, so a believer has died to sin. He should exhibit that cutting off from his former sinful way by daily being set apart from sin and living a new life by means of Christ’s resurrection power.
“Resurrection” means a partial resurrection out from among other corpses, literally an “out-resurrection.”
