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Php 3:8. Μενοῦν, yea) There is an amplification of the language, namely, in the employment of this particle, and then by the emphatic addition [Epitasis. Append.] of synonymous terms; also in the fuller appellation of Christ Himself.-καὶ ἡγοῦμαι, even I count) καὶ, even, intensifies the force of the present tense in ἡγοῦμαι, I count. Righteousness, not only at first, but always throughout the whole career of the saints, is of faith.-πάντα, all things) not only those which I have now mentioned, but all things.-διὰ-γνώσεως, κ.τ.λ., for-of the knowledge, etc.) Construed with I count[37], and refer to this, Php 3:10-11, τοῦ γνώναι, that I may know.-τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως, the excellency of the knowledge) Excellency properly belongs to Christ; but when He is known, the knowledge of Him likewise obtains excellency.-τοῦ Κυρίου μου, of my Lord) The appropriation of the [Saviour by the] believer.-ἐζημιώθην) not only I counted them loss, but in reality I cast them away.-σκύβαλα) There is an amplification here in regard to the believer’s self-denial as to all things: ζημία, loss, is incurred with equanimity; σκύβαλα are hastily thrown away, as things not afterwards to be considered worthy either to be touched or looked at. The Hebrew word, פרש, contains an Antanaclasis[38] in relation to the Pharisees;[39] see P. Zornii, T. 2. Opusc. sacr. p. 514. Gataker says: “σκύβαλον marks out any worthless thing, that is to be cast away, such as the excrements of animals, the dregs and grounds of liquors, the dross of metals, what falls from plants, the refuse of the crops, the bran of meal, the crumbs of the table, the wipings of the hands, which are destined for the dogs.[40] See this very fully in Adversar. misc. posth. cap. 43.”-ἵνα, that) The two things are incompatible, both to retain other things and to win (obtain) Christ.-κερδήσω καὶ εὑρεθῶ, that I may win and he found) Each of the two is antithetical to ζημίαν, loss. He who loses all things, not even excepting himself, wins Christ, and is won in Christ. Christ is his, and he is Christ’s. More still, Paul speaks as if he had not yet won.
[37] On account of the excellency, etc., I count all things loss: not with εἶναι ζημίαν, to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge.-ED.
[38] The same word, in the same context, used in a double sense. See Append.-ED.
[39] Of whom Paul, ver. 5, had said he was one, a Pharisee, Th. Pharash, in the sense separate: and yet one who counted all else but Christ פֶרֶשׁ, in the sense .-ED.
[40] According to the derivation assigned to σκύβαλον, εἰς κύνας βάλλειν, as σκορακίζω, from εἰς κόρακας.-ED.