In this amazing chapter, Paul writes: “If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day;of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.”7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

Paul had an incredible resume, and an immense amount of respect among his people. He literally threw it all away…Sold everything he had, so to speak. For what? FOR CHRIST. That’s a pretty big trade – giving up all of his prestige and his future as a top Pharisee to become a  follower of a persecuted and wandering rabbi that the government had executed for treason and blasphemy. 

8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him. 

Paul here is engaging in a sort of counting of the costs. SPURGEON says:  We are always anxious to hear what a man has to say about a thing after he has tried it. It is all very well to begin with eagerness, but how does the venture answer after a trial? After twenty years or more of experience Paul had an opportunity of revising his balance sheet, and looking again at his estimates, and seeing whether or not his counting was correct. What was the issue of his latest search? How do matters stand at his last stock-taking? He exclaims with very special emphasis, “More than that, I even consider all things to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”  

Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth – Skybalon. Skoobalon  The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a common and even slightly offensive term for fecal matter.  As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.   SOLD EVERYTHING FOR CHRIST. HOW IS THAT WORKING OUT FOR YOU PAUL??  All that wonderful stuff I had?? It is Skybalon – utter poop compared to knowing Jesus, says Paul. That, my friends, is a strong, strong endorsement. Let’s read our chapter.

Great chapter! Let’s close with some of my favorite words from Spurgeon that I’ve ever read:

Paul does not say that his confidence was based upon the fact that he had practised great self-denial, and had been a most devoted missionary of the cross of Christ. It is true that he had been beaten, and stoned, and shut up in prison, and that he had been quite willing to lay down his life for his Lord, but he makes no mention of all that as the reason why he felt that he could not be condemned. What do you think was Paul’s opinion of all the good works he had ever done, and of all that he had suffered for the name of Christ? This is what he says, “I do count them but dung,” (he could hardly have used a more opprobrious (scornful) word than that,) “that I may win Christ, and be found in him.” A good man, when he was dying, said that he was gathering all his good works and his bad works together in one bundle, and flinging them all overboard; in his estimation, the one set was about as good as the other as a ground of confidence in the sight of God, and he meant to be rid of the whole, and to put his trust somewhere else. And believe me, dear hearer, as I stand here before you, I know whom I have believed, and I have not only a hope of eternal life; but I know that I have eternal life within my own soul. But if you ask me whether I ground my confidence of my salvation upon the fact that, these many years, I have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, I tell you, “No, I place no reliance upon my own preaching as any ground of merit in the sight of God.” And if I am asked whether, having experienced much of the grace of God, I build my confidence on my experience, I answer, “No, in no wise. Infinitely better than anything within me or of me is the Rock upon which my soul rests; or else I should be resting upon a shifting quicksand which would be my destruction.” On Christ and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity; and if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be; and if you are lost trusting in Christ, whoever you may be, I will be lost with you, and I will go to hell with you; I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, and died, and was buried, and rose again, and went up to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God.

C. H. Spurgeon, “A Bold Challenge Justified,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 53 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1907), 568–569.