Why Skubalon?
- James Ward
- Sep 22, 2017
- 4 min read
Koine Greek is the language of the New Testament. Skubalon is the English form of the Koine word σκύβαλον (Strong's 4657). The word skubalon was used only once in the entire Bible, in Philippians 3:8. Skubalon is something that you'd throw away because it has no value. Most modern translations go with something like "refuse" or "rubbish", but the King James version translated it as "dung". It's literal meaning is something like "waste thrown to dogs". The figurative meaning is applied to anything unwanted that you'd throw away. A rotten egg is skubalon, a dirty diaper, fish bones, anything that's worthless and thrown away.
In Philippians chapter three, Paul warns us not to put our confidence in our flesh, our earthly gifts and accomplishments. He basically says if anyone would have a right to boast in their accomplishments it would be him. "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more...". Then Paul lists some of his accomplishments and says that he considers all of it σκύβαλον. Here's what he said.
"...If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but SKUBALON so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:4-11)
This passage is very meaningful to me. Personally, I consider not only my accomplishments, but even myself to be skubalon, something that deserves to be thrown away. Christians admit that we deserve to be thrown into hell. There is an infinite gap between holy God and lowly sinner. No matter what I accomplish, no matter how good I think I am, I could never bridge that infinite gap. But thankfully our God is gracious, merciful, and loving. Christ bridged the gap with His accomplishments because it was impossible for me to do it. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Thankfully Jesus Christ "was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:15). That's the good news of the gospel in a nutshell. I deserve to be thrown away but He loved me enough to save me.
After Paul met Christ, everything else became skubalon to him, including his own life. He no longer cared about his worldly accomplishments or his status among men. Now the only thing that mattered to him was doing his Master's will. He dedicated the rest of his life to preaching the gospel and suffering in the name of Christ in ways most of us cannot imagine. Paul was hated and rejected by his own people because he preached Christ. He was beaten numerous times, stoned and left for dead, abandoned by his friends, imprisoned, and finally murdered.
The word skubalon is a reminder to me of what I am, on my own, just me without Christ, and what my accomplishments and good deeds apart from Christ are actually worth. It's all worthless. It should be thrown away. The same goes for me. Since I'm a sinful man I should be thrown away. But God had mercy on me and instead of discarding me like the skubalon that I am, He drew me to Himself and He redeemed me. He transformed me from a piece of trash into a child of God. Skubalon reminds me of what's important and what's not important, what has value and what doesn't. Christ has value and everything else is skubalon.
At first it might seem strange to name my ministry after this word. I hope I've done a decent job of explaining myself here. I'm not literally calling this "Rubbish Ministries" as if the ministry is rubbish. The goal of this ministry is to encourage people to learn scripture and to grow in Christ, so there is certainly value here. There is value only in Christ, and everything else is skubalon.
Thanks for reading. God bless.
Hozzászólások