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Php_3:9. Καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ ] and to be found in Him. The emphasis, which previously lay upon Χριστόν , is laid not upon ἐν αὐτῷ (Hofmann), but upon the εὑρεθῶ placed first for that reason, and introducing a new feature of the relation aimed at, annexing to the (subjective) gaining of Christ the (objective) moulding of life corresponding to it. The apostle desires to be found in Christ, as in the element of his life; by this he means (comp. Ignatius, Eph. 11) the whole perceptible manifestation of his Christian being and nature; so that εὑρ . must neither be limited to the judicium Dei (Beza, comp. Flatt), nor taken as sim (Grotius and others). Calvin erroneously makes εὑρεθῶ active: Paulum renuntiasse omnibus quae habebat, ut recuperaret in Christo.
μὴ ἔχων κ . τ . λ .] Specific modal definition to εὑρ . ἐν αὐτῷ : so that I, in accordance with this design, may not have, etc. Van Hengel erroneously connects (Lachmann, also, and Tischendorf have omitted the comma after αὐτῷ ) μὴ ἔχων κ . τ . λ . immediately with εὑρ . ἐν αὐτῷ · et deprehendar in communione ejus non meam qualemcunque habere probitatem. Thus, indeed, ἐν αὐτῷ would be utterly superfluous! The subjective negation μή flows from the conception of design ( ἵνα ), see Baeumlein, Partik. p. 295; Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 302 [E. T. 351]; and ἔχων is the simple habens, possessing, not: holding fast (am Ende, Rheinwald, Baumgarten-Crusius).
ἐμὴν δικ . τὴν ἐκ νόμου ] See on Php_3:6; comp. Rom_10:3. It is the righteousness acquired as a self-achievement ( ἐμήν ), which proceeds from the law by means of a justifying compliance with it (Rom_2:13). As to the nature of this righteousness, and the impossibility of attaining it, comp. Gal_2:16; Gal_3:10; Rom_3:19 f., Rom_4:4, Rom_7:7 ff., Rom_9:31, et al.
τὴν διὰ πίστ . Χριστοῦ ] contrast to ἐμήν : that procured by faith in Christ[160] (as the causa apprehendens). The causa efficiens is God (His grace, see Eph_2:8); hence, for the complete exhaustion of the matter, τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δικ . is added, in which ἐκ Θεοῦ , correlative to the preceding ἐκ νόμου , expresses the causal issuing from God. As to the way in which this ἐκ Θεοῦ takes place, namely, by God’s imputing faith as righteousness,[161] see Rom_1:17; Rom_3:24 f., Php_4:3 ff.; 2Co_5:19; Gal_3:6.
ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει ] on the ground of faith (Act_3:16), added at the end with solemn emphasis, and dependent on ἔχων , which is again to be supplied after ἀλλά . So also Weiss. The repetition of ἔχων after ἐπὶ τ . πίστει , which Hofmann feels the want of in this explanation, would be simply superfluous and clumsy. Ἐπὶ τ . π . is usually attached to δικαιοσύνην (“justitiam superstructam fidei,” Hoelemann, Wiesinger), some having taken ἐπί as “in fide” (Vulgate, Calvin), or in fide sitam (Castalio); others as “per fidem” (Beza, Grotius); others, for the sake of faith (de Wette); others, upon the condition of faith (Storr, Flatt, Matthies, Rilliet, van Hengel, J. B. Lightfoot). But it may be urged against this connection, first, that, in accordance with the previous definitions, we could not but expect the repetition of the article; secondly, that δικαιοῦσθαι with ἐπί nowhere occurs in the N. T.; and lastly, that δικαιοσύνη in its quality as righteousness of faith was already distinctly designated by τὴν διὰ πίστ . Χ ., so that the same attribute of it would be expressed twice, and, on the other hand, the ἔχων which is to be repeated after ἀλλά (the basis of which is still ἐπὶ τ . π .) would be without any more precise definition. In opposition to Hofmann, who makes ἐπὶ τ . πίστει belong to the following infinitive clause, see on Php_3:10.
[160] On the genitive of the object with πίστις , comp. Php_1:27. Against taking it as the genitive auctoris, see on Rom_3:22.
[161] In this passage also, therefore, justification by faith is the basis and presupposition of further Christian development up to the blessed consummation, ver. 11. Comp. Köstlin, in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1856, p. 121 f.