Recently at the gym, working out with my personal trainer, and straining to finish the third set of an exercise, the trainer began to encourage me. “You’re doing great! You can do it.” As I read this portion of Paul’s letter to the church of Philippi, I was reminded of this encouragement.

To many, it seems, at least at the beginning of this reading, that Paul was bragging a little. No one deserved to be more confident in his acceptance into the faith than he did. After all, he was a circumcised Jew. He was a zealous prosecutor of the faith ― namely bringing Jesus’ followers to the high church officials for sentencing and sometimes death. When he gave up that role and became a disciple of Jesus, Paul gave up his status with regard to the Jewish faith. It seems like a lot of self-identificati…