Rubbish (street filth, dung) (4657) (skubalon) is literally any refuse such as the excrement of animals, off scourings, rubbish, dregs and so figuratively speaks of things that are worthless and detestable. It includes material thrown to the dogs. Eadie explains that skubalon... expresses not only the utter insignificance which the apostle now attached to the grounds of his former trust, but the aversion with which he regarded them, especially when placed in comparison with Christ. (Ibid) Vine writes that skubalon... denotes “refuse,” whether (a) “excrement,” that which is cast out from the body, or (b) “the leavings of a feast,” that which is thrown away from the table. Some have derived it from kusibalon (with metathesis of k and s), “thrown to dogs”; others connect it with a root meaning “shred.” Vincent adds that skubalon refers to... Either excrement or what is thrown away from the table; leavings. The derivation is uncertain. According to some it is a contraction from to throw to the dogs (es kunas ballo). Notice the repetition of gain, count, loss, all things, Christ. Skubalon was a word used to refer to a half eaten corpse (gross!) and filth of various kinds including lumps of manure or human excrement. It was the word describing the portion of food "rejected" by the body as not nourishing. Lightfoot adds that rubbish was applied most frequently in one sense or other to food. The two ways this word is used are: (1) “Excrement,” the portion of food rejected by the body as not possessing nutritive qualities. This sense is frequent in medical writers. (2) “The refuse or leavings of a feast,” the food thrown away from the table. TDNT adds that skubalon was... used of persons and things to denote pitiful and horrible remains, a corpse half-eaten by fishes as the remnant of a much-bewailed sea-voyage The Judaizers regarded Gentile believers as dogs, while they thought that themselves were enjoying God’s banquet. Paul seems to reverse this figure with his use of this term, implying that It is the Judaizers who are the dogs. Paul is saying that he counts everything in his life trash. He even counts all his religious achievements as rubbish for that deep intimate love relationship with the living Christ. This strong metaphor reminds one of Isaiah's description of ALL of men's righteous deeds describing them (Isa 64:6) as "filthy rags" which is an Old Testament term for menstrual cloths! McGee adds that God is just not taking in dirty laundry. However, He will take in dirty sinners, and He is the One who will clean them up. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos) It is worth noting that Paul does not dwell longingly or with any sense of loss on the past, as some Christian testimonies seem to do. Every believer has a "gutter to glory" testimony but the emphasis should always be on the glory not the gutter. Barnes writes that The word here used--skubalon--occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, properly, dregs, refuse; what is thrown away as worthless; chaff, offal, or the refuse of a table or of slaughtered animals; and then filth of any kind. No language could express a more deep sense of the utter worthlessness of all that external advantages could confer in the matter of salvation. In the question, of justification before God, all reliance on birth, and blood, and external morality, and forms of religion, and prayers, and alms, is to be renounced, and, in comparison with the merits of the great Redeemer, to be esteemed as vile. Such were Paul's views; and we may remark, that if this was so in his case, it should be in ours. Such things can no more avail for our salvation than they could for his. We can no more be justified by them than he could. Nor will they do anything more in our case to commend us to God than they did in his. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary) McGee adds his usual pithy but practical comment Paul says that since that moment of his conversion he lives for Christ. He has suffered the loss of all things. Jesus Christ is uppermost in his thinking. The things that he used to consider most precious he now considers to be dung —that is strong language! He says he flushes his religion down the drain. He flushes away all the things he used to trust. Now he trusts the Lord Jesus and Him only for his salvation. I remember hearing Dr. Carroll say, “When I was converted, I lost my religion.” A great many people need to lose their religion and find Jesus Christ as Paul did. He was so revolutionized that what had been his prized possession is now relegated to the garbage can! (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos) IN ORDER THAT I MAY GAIN CHRIST: hina Christon kerdeso (1SAAS):(Mt 13:44-46; Heb 3:14; 1Jn 1:3) (Click devotional Just Living?) I threw it all away in order to gain Christ (GWT) so that I may have Christ as my reward (BBE) So why does Paul continually count all things that our flesh would do as rubbish or dung? In order that (hina) is the Greek preposition which marks a purpose clause and so tells us clearly Paul's motivation for his counting of all things as the dregs. He wants only ONE THING in this world and in all eternity - to gain Christ. Spurgeon comments that... He had every opportunity of advancement. He was a fine scholar, and might have reached the highest degree in connection with the Sanhedrim and the synagogue; but he thought nothing of all that, he threw it all away as worthless, and declared that this was his ambition: “That I may win Christ,” Eadie adds that... and to win Him is to enjoy Him in every aspect. It is to have Him as mine, and to feel that in comparison with such a possession all else may be regarded as truly loss. To the apostle Christ was so identified with the truth, that when he gained Him he gained the highest knowledge; so identified with life, that when he gained Him he was endowed with the noblest form of it; and so identified with spiritual influence, that when he gained Him his whole nature was filled with power and gladness. The name of Christ, so used, covers His entire work and relations, and, as Wiesinger says—“Christ comes as gain in the place of the loss he has suffered.” And the possession of Christ is real gain compared with Hebrew lineage, the seal of Abrahamic descent, or devotedness to the Mosaic ritual and law. (Ibid) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_37-11.htm#rubbish