Vile (body). (Phil 3:21). We align “body” not only with the body of Christ, the Church body, and the believer’s body but with the body of the Prophetic Word. But how can the PW in any sense be said to be vile (tapeínōsis)? First, the word is too strongly translated. Strong’s says: “depression (in rank or feeling):—humiliation, be made low, low estate, vile.” The aspect of lowliness is key. Paul says, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Php 3:13). This he does by “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (v.8). That is, the knowledge of Christ that comes through the PW. By this, he looks forward to the same prophetic consummation and resurrection of the body, where finally the present, vile body (body, mind, and present limited [v. 12, 13] apprehension of Christ through the PW) will be finished.

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