Who do you want to know? Think through all of your connections and determine which ones are the most important to you right now. Explore why they are important to you—make a list. Janet Hagberg in her book Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations describes the movement of power that is possible through an individual’s life. Each one of these stages of power have a motivation and an outcome. Each of these stages also moves by and throughout the roles that an individual has in their lives (child, parent, employee, spouse, etc.). One writer summarized these stages for us.[1]
Janet Hagberg states that very few people get to stage six. When studying the life of the Apostle Paul, I think that we can find that he did reach Stage 6 and that is best demonstrated through his letter to the Philippians in the New Testament.
Let’s trace his life and discover what we can of how Paul arrived at Stage 6. Little is known of Paul’s days in childhood and youth. But from his own accounts throughout the book of Acts and in his New Testament letters we can discover many things.
One key text comes from Acts 21:39-22:21 where Paul gives an account of his life. This was just after being arrested in Jerusalem for preaching about Jesus Christ and working with Christians in the movement then called The Way. It’s important that we hear this from his own words.
Acts 21:39-22:5 is Paul’s description of what he was like prior to conversion.
Acts 21 39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”
40 After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: [22:1] “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
In his own account Paul, formerly Saul, describes where he drew his power from prior to meeting Jesus Christ. When he was a child, I’m sure he felt powerless, dependent upon his parents and his religious community. But as a young person he was given the privilege of learning from one of the chief religious leaders of his day. That power of association would have spoken volumes to the people listening to his testimony that day. He remembered how important it was to him when he was a young man and understood that there were many others listening to him who might regard him more highly because of this association. But that was not Paul’s intent in this testimony in Jerusalem.
The New Bible Dictionary states: “As a ‘young man’ (Acts 7:58, Galatians 1:3+, 1 Corinthians 14:9) Paul was given official authority to direct the persecution of Christians and as a member of a synagogue or Sanhedrin council ‘cast my vote against them’ (Acts 24:10).”[2] And in Acts 8:1 we read this chilling sentence during the death of the first Christian martyr Stephen: “And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”
Think of the kinds of power that this young man was given and the power that he took up! Jesus was a real and a perceived threat to the Jewish religion because they misunderstood him and would not accept him as the Messiah, despite all of the signs and wonders he performed and the preaching he did. Jesus was messing with the system that gave Saul the powers that he received by his association with it and his own personal zeal was likely motivated and coming out of Stages 1 and 2. While Stages 1 and 2 do not always have to be negative, based on where a person is in their development as a leader and their role—the fear, muscling, force, learning, maneuvering, seduction, deals and dependency involved created a young leader that was a force to be reckoned with. Lord Acton, a 19th century British historian wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This is where Saul was before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and his name was changed to Paul.
And then he met Jesus.
Acts 22:6-21
6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8 “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10 “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
12 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14 “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’
19 “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
Quite suddenly all of the personal power in Saul’s life was shifted toward Jesus Christ the Messiah! He started and moved through Stages 3-5 over many years but by and through another Power. We can see these movements throughout the accounts given in the book of Acts and his own letters. He was transformed by the Power of powers, to turn from fear, muscling, force, learning the religious system, maneuvering the laws and regulations, and the seduction of human power to the growth in and by the grace of Jesus Christ toward the rewards of being in Christ. This transformed his behavior to the mentoring and modeling of integrity to new believers and the empowering of believers to love and service. What a transformation! This kind of transformation is possible for anyone who surrenders their personal power to the power of Jesus Christ. The NIV Study Bible notes in 3:4-6 that “Paul’s pre-Christian confidence, rooted in his Jewish pedigree, privileges and attainments [shifted]…from being self-centered to being centered in Christ.”[3]
In Paul’s wonderful letter to the Philippians, we find so many rich and powerful things. Part of this is because of Paul’s long, deep and very personal relationship with Jesus Christ, his transition from personal power to God’s power, and the loving and respectful Christian church members at Philippi. It was this church that was founded after Paul and his companions were diverted by the Holy Spirit to the region of Macedonia (Acts 16:6-40). This change of plans appears to be the Holy Spirit pushing them out further in the Great Commission (Acts 1:8). The early disciples of Jesus Christ were obedient to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem and Judea and they were persecuted for that. That persecution pushed them further away from Jerusalem and Judea and into the uttermost parts of the earth including Phillipi. What if they had been too afraid to answer God’s call to those regions? That is a question that probably has many answers. But what we can answer, in a great note of thanksgiving, is that they did indeed follow that call and the Gospel began its powerful spread around the world. As the persecutions became more intense, Paul appears to revert back to Stages 1 and 2 muscling and fear—but don’t be deceived. In Philippians 3:17 Paul wrote a sentence that has bothered many people for years, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” It appears that he is saying, “Look at me! Look at me!” But Paul’s intentions are vastly different than before he met Christ.
After his confrontation on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) by the person of Jesus Christ, he turned wholeheartedly to preaching and teaching the Gospel. And that led to many instances of persecution, beatings and multiple imprisonments. By the time he wrote the letter to the Philippian church, he had experienced many crises due to his missionary work. When he wrote this letter, he was in another yet crisis. He was in prison again—innocent, having appealed his case to the highest of courts because of his Roman citizenship. But that did not deter Paul. In many of his prison epistles he identifies himself as a servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul learned that every opposition to his preaching and teaching was because of Jesus—not because Paul was wrong, or because he was mean, or because he was greedy for power. Because of what Christ had done for him, Paul saw himself first as a disciple and servant. His identity was deeply rooted in his very personal, lively and on-going relationship with his Lord and Savior. All other identities—preacher, teacher, Jew, Roman citizen, tent-maker—always played second fiddle to his primary identity. That in turn gave him the ability to reframe a call to imitate him and the other early Church leaders.
Paul has decidedly now moved into Stage 6. He is motivated by service to Jesus Christ and the Christian church. He mused on his early days and the way he was transformed by Jesus, his commitment to faith in Jesus Christ, and his on-going, personal and chiefly important relationship with his Savior.
In the passage prior to Philippians 3 he has articulated the premiere place Jesus had and the place that Jesus had in his life. There is no question that he is fully dedicated to God’s Kingdom and its expansion solely because of the redemption of his life and the lives of many others. He is no longer caught up in being known as a great scholar, Jew or Christian leader. His humility and wisdom are evident and he wanted to share it, to protect and guide Christians and to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the time he wrote this letter (estimated AD 60-61) Paul had lived for Christ for nearly three decades.
In Philippians 3:1-7 Paul is full-throttle in giving away his experience with and love of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Christian community. He knows the power of human zeal and warns these dear Christians of its outcomes.
1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
Everything that Paul had gained through his early experience, whether good or bad, was forfeit to knowing Christ. It is this then that he points to as the example of how to be a Christian. All for Jesus!
Philippians 3:8-11
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Here’s what Paul doesn’t say: I want you to know how powerful I am in Christ. I want you to know how smart I am and how much I know the Scriptures. I want you to know that I am a great Jew in every way. I want you to imitate me because I have reached the summit. I want you to imitate us because we are great Christians. I want you to follow our example because you need to be like us.
No. He writes that the reason that he and these other Christian leaders can be what they are now is because of Jesus Christ. Christ’s power in giving of himself, dying the most brutal of sacrificial deaths, rising again and living eternally with the Father (Philippians 2:6-11) equip believers everywhere to continue to grow in grace. The perfect Stage 7 of a Redeemer.
In the next section of the letter to the Philippians, Paul is quick to turn to the reality of his present life as a model. Calling attention to a human example in this ancient culture was a common thing. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary states that this kind of modeling comes from a blow to an object like a stamp on a coin, or following a pattern to repeat or to press or pour into a mold.[4] This is another demonstration of Stage 6—humility and introspection through understanding what Christ has done in and through him. None of it was by his own personal power.
Paul wanted to assure these good Christians that he wasn’t comparing them to himself. In all humility he wrote some of the most encouraging and inspiring words about living the Christian life.
Philippians 3:12-17
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.
The NIV Study Bible notes that the maturity found in 3:15 means: “Those who have made reasonable progress in spiritual growth and stability.”[5] Isn’t that a comfort and provides freedom and room to grow! In Stages 1-3 of personal power we can remain in the constant state of fear, false guilt and restlessness. But as we continue to grow in Christ through Bible reading, prayer, engagement in the Christian community and fellowship, we will continue to become more like Jesus Christ. Our selfish desires can be replaced by Jesus-desires. Jim Hampton wrote: “Paul makes clear that ‘knowing Christ’ and attaining ‘the prize’ God has for us takes great effort, time, and commitment. Coming to know Christ in His fullness is not a moment-in-time issue, rather a life-long pursuit.”[6]
Paul then moves to the reality that still exists today. Christians will not be free from trouble. We must be on our guard to protect our desire to know Christ.
Philippians 3:18-21
18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
The NIV Study Bible states: “Paul’s ultimate aspirations are found not in this life but in heaven, because Christ is there (See Col. 3:1-2).” Paul’s power, by this point in his life, is directly from Jesus and fully divested into knowing Jesus Christ and equipping others to do the same.
Christian, where are you in the stages of power? Do you engage in Christianity because you are afraid or feel guilty? Do you find your satisfaction in meeting the rigorous demands that might be from legalistic local leaders? Are you still striving for positions, power, education or associations that will prove the you have reached your goal? How can you guard against these things? Is Jesus Christ your focus?
May God bless and help each one of us as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!
M.R. Hyde
Copyright 2026
[1] https://srojak.com/arcade/hagberg.shtml March 3, 2026
[2] The New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1962, p. 943
[3] NIVSB, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995, p. 1809
[4] The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL, p. 1328-29.
[5] NIVSB p. 1810
[6] Faith Connection Bible Study Guide, Spring 2026, The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, MO, 2026, p. 18.
