Experimental Knowledge. Philippians 3:10. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” To “know Him,” as in this verse, is not because of the power “in” His resurrection but “of” His resurrection. “In” His resurrection refers to the power of that one-time resurrection of our Lord from the dead. This “power of His resurrection” is the power for daily living that stems from our position of being in Christ. It is this that allows life in Christ to be a personal, everyday reality by which we can live to please God.
That will, in turn, enable us to endure the trials that come through “the fellowship of His suffering.” There is value in being a participant with our Lord in the struggles and persecutions that result from godly living. Those who are connected with Christ bear His yoke, learn how to live from Him, and desire to follow Him. Death to sin is an ongoing reality when we have died with Christ.
Paul was willing to imitate Christ, even to the point of dying for others so they might hear the Gospel and be saved by God’s grace. To know Him and have fellowship with Him to the extent of suffering for His sake, and to be willing to die so that others may hear the Gospel and be saved, was a reality for Paul. Hopefully, we will share the same mind of Christ, even if it means we are not called to die but to live a long life for Him under the dark cloud of a sinful society that opposes our Lord Jesus Christ.
I may say I know a person or many things about that person, but I truly don’t know them until life brings the same or similar experiences that they endured to happen to me. Then, I will understand through my own experience what was placed upon that person and how they coped with what they felt physically and emotionally. I would then know, at least from my perspective, what their hope was when they were called to go through the sufferings and circumstances that happened to them. I would learn how they responded, how long it lasted, what they learned from these experiences, and how it affects them now.
Positionally, in Christ, we have experienced death and resurrection. We truly don’t know, without personal involvement, what it feels like to leave behind family, friends, and perhaps even freedom to identify with the needs of others and share with them the message and blessings of new life that begins when we trust Christ. When we share about the Lord Jesus and what He endured so that others can be accepted when they accept Him as Savior, it also becomes personal to us. We know that sin’s penalty has been paid, and we have been brought into divine favor, and we want the hearers to understand that as well.
When we unite with Christ through trust and truly desire to know Him, it comes at a high cost. Sacrifices are necessary to experience the power of resurrection. Fellowship with His sufferings follows what we endure and how we apply crucifixion to life's circumstances. Reality is revealed through moral conformity to Christ, showing that there is a price we must be willing to pay to experience the victory of resurrection. This, in turn, produces genuine consecration to serving the Lord.
There is a spiritual and moral renewal that occurs when we are saved. We died in Christ and have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. So now, we are citizens of heaven, even though we live here on earth. Paul believed that at the Coming of Christ for His church, he would be raised at the resurrection of the righteous. For all who are saved by God's grace, we will be physically raised from the dead. If we are alive at that time, we will be instantly transformed. But until then, we are called to share in the "fellowship of His sufferings."
When we follow Christ, we should be willing to accept what comes as a result of being conformed to Him. This resurrection "from among the dead" is similar to the resurrection of Christ when He rose "from among the dead." The second resurrection, the resurrection of the "unjust," will occur after Christ's thousand-year reign.