Paragraph 3:7–11

Paul was continuing to write against the Judaizers. In the last paragraph he listed all the things that he used to be proud of (3:5–6). In this paragraph (3:7–9) he said that he now considered all these things to be useless. Nothing mattered to him besides knowing Jesus Christ better.

3:7a

whatever was gain to me: Paul was referring mainly to the things he had mentioned in 3:5–6. These were things that he could be proud of as a person and as a Jew. But in his relation to Jesus Christ, these things did not make him proud. They did not help him to know Jesus Christ better.

gain: This term was used in business transactions to refer to financial gain. But Paul was using the term as a metaphor to mean “advantage” in general. In some languages it may be necessary to drop the metaphor and translate this meaning. Some ways to do this are:

the things for which I thought ⌊God⌋ accepted me
-or-
everything I ⌊mistakenly⌋ thought I could trust in ⌊so that God would save me⌋

3:7b

I count as loss for the sake of Christ: After he came to know Jesus Christ, Paul thought about the things he was formerly proud of in a new way. He realized that they were worthless in comparison to knowing Christ. And he chose to count them as without value so that he could belong to Christ.

I count: The Greek verb form here could be translated as:

I have come to realize
-or-
I have come to regard [them]

loss: Like “gain” in 3:7a, loss was a term used in business transactions. It referred to financial loss. Paul was using the term as a metaphor to refer to the uselessness of his worldly advantages. There are two possible ways to translate this Greek word:

(1) something that does not help, that is worthless or without value. In the context of 3:7b, you could translate this as:

these things did not help me ⌊to know Christ⌋ (God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible)

(2) something that harms, hinders or prevents something from happening (NET Bible). This would mean that the things Paul used to be proud of actually hindered him from knowing Christ. In the context of 3:7b, you could translate this as:

these things hindered me from knowing Christ

The immediate context (in particular 3:8) strongly supports interpretation (1). It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

for the sake of: The Greek preposition that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for the sake of occurs three times in 3:7 and 3:8. It could also be translated as:

because of
-or-
on account of

General Comment on 3:7

Two versions give additional ideas for translation:

But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. (Contemporary English Version)

But because of Christ, I have come to consider all these advantages I had as disadvantages. (Jerusalem Bible)

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