Pearls of the Word

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In order to gain Christ

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"And yet I count all things as a loss... in order to gain [kerdaino] Christ" (Philippians 3:8).

According to the dictionary, "to gain someone" has the sense of making him favourable to a cause; it is in this sense, therefore, that we can gain souls for Christ. Thus, the Apostle Paul made himself a servant to everyone, in order to gain the greatest number of souls for Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19).

The Greek word kerdaino has the sense of winning, making a gain, of having a profit. Paul, at his encounter with Jesus, had to consider all his previous gains as good things to be thrown into the rubbish, so that Christ could be a gain for him. In the same way, we must get rid of everything that was profitable in the light of one’s own justice in the past, so that Christ, who is our justice, may become our gain.