Rubbish

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3:7-11

Paul was the Jew of Jews. Nobody made a better Jew than him. Nobody kept the Law like him. He made himself as righteous as a righteous man could be. If anyone could earn their way to heaven it was him.

How though did Paul see all that now?

His Jews of the Jews, his role as a Pharisee, his devotion to the Law, his fervent zeal to protect Judaism against the Galilean heresy, and everything else he counted as rubbish.

Rubbish is not a strong enough word. Paul counted all of these things but dung. The word refers to a stinking rotten rubbish here where the most foul rubbish was heaped, including human and animal waste.

That’s a harsh word to talk about actions intended to please God. They are fine, but if they do that we miss what God has done. When we depend on what we do instead of what Christ has done it is indeed a load of rubbish.

I can’t impress God with my work and I can’t impress God with my own righteousness because that is filthy rags.

A dung heap. Filthy rags. That is how God describes the best I can do.

Fortunately though that is not what I depend on. I instead can rely on the work of Christ and His righteousness alone. His way it perfect and He offers is all as a free gift to those who put their faith in Him.