Passage

Philippians 3.8

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

6. as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 7. Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.

8. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: 10. that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; (Philippians 3:6-10, ASV)

WEB

6. concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 7. However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.

8. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10. that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death; (Philippians 3:6-10, WEB)

KJV

6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:6-10, KJV)

YLT

6. according to zeal persecuting the assembly! according to righteousness that is in law becoming blameless! 7. But what things were to me gains, these I have counted, because of the Christ, loss;

8. yes, indeed, and I count all things to be loss, because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom of the all things I suffered loss, and do count them to be refuse, that Christ I may gain, and be found in him,

not having my righteousness, which [is] of law, but that which [is] through faith of Christ, the righteousness that is of God by the faith, 10. to know him, and the power of his rising again, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, (Philippians 3:6-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Phil 1:1).
Audience: The church at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia and the first congregation Paul planted in Europe (Acts 16:11-40). The letter names overseers and deacons at 1:1 and thanks the church for repeated financial support.
Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul refers to his bonds and to "Caesar's household" (Phil 1:13, 4:22); the traditional identification is Roman custody, with Ephesus and Caesarea proposed as alternatives.
Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

Alla menounge kai hēgoumai panta zēmian einai dia to hyperechon tēs gnōseōs Christou Iēsou tou kyriou mou.

The accounting metaphor is sustained and precise. Verse 7 uses the perfect hēgēmai, a past reckoning with abiding result. Verse 8 shifts to the present hēgoumai, "I am counting," which makes the valuation ongoing rather than a settled transaction from his conversion. He is still making the trade.

Menounge is an emphatic triple particle, roughly "yes indeed, more than that," and it marks an escalation from verse 7. The scope also widens: verse 7 said "what things were gain to me," verse 8 says panta, all things.

Skybala. The strongest word in the passage. It denotes refuse, what is thrown to dogs, or excrement, and lexicons support both. Translations soften it ("dung," "rubbish," "refuse") and modern readers usually miss that Paul chose a deliberately coarse term. It also completes the reversal of verse 2, where his opponents were the dogs: what he formerly valued is now what is thrown to them.

To hyperechon tēs gnōseōs, "the surpassing value of the knowing."** The comparison is not between bad things and good things but between genuinely good things and something that outweighs them. Paul does not say his credentials were worthless in themselves; he says they became loss in comparison, and the phrase dia to hyperechon is comparative language throughout.

Tou kyriou mou, "my Lord."** The possessive is rare in Paul and personal. The chapter's argument terminates not in a doctrine but in a relation to a person, which is what verse 10 then unfolds.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

100 Common Questions, via Philippians 3.8-9
Justification by Faith, via Philippians 3.8-9

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.