Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Parallel Translations
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Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
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Not as though I had all redy attayned to it Ether were all redy parfect: but I folowe yf that I maye comprehende that wherin I am comprehended of Christ Iesu.
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Not as though I had alreadie attained to it, either were alreadie perfect: but I follow, if that I may comprehend that for whose sake also I am comprehended of Christ Iesus.
Cross-references (37)
Passages linked to Philippians 3:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Timothy 6:11-12 But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
- 2 Peter 1:5-8 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Psalms 138:8 Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
- Hosea 6:3 Let’s acknowledge Yahweh. Let’s press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
- 1 Peter 3:11-13 Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Now who will harm you if you become imitators of that which is good?
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug from.
- Hebrews 13:21 make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
- Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love,
- Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let’s walk by the same rule. Let’s be of the same mind.
- Hebrews 12:14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
- James 3:2 For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.
- 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Job 17:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
- Psalms 63:1-3 God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
- Romans 7:19-24 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the law that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
- 1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
- Psalms 63:8 My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
- Psalms 84:2 My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Psalms 119:5 Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes!
- Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- 2 Corinthians 13:9 For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray for this: your becoming perfect.
- Ephesians 4:12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth,
- Psalms 119:173-176 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh. Your law is my delight. Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.
- 1 Corinthians 13:10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all.
- Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
- 1 Timothy 6:19 laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
- Acts 9:3-6 As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise up and enter into the city, then you will be told what you must do.”
- 1 Timothy 5:10 being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she has diligently followed every good work.
- Psalms 94:15 For judgment will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it.
- Hebrews 12:23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- Psalms 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
- Psalms 110:2-3 Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies. Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12 Not as though I had already apprehended Paul…
12 Not as though I had already apprehended Paul insists upon this, that he may convince the Philippians that he thinks of nothing but Christ — knows nothing else — desires nothing else — is occupied with no other subject of meditation. In connection with this, there is much weight in what he now adds — that he himself, while he had given up all hinderances, had nevertheless not attained that object of aim, and that, on this account, he always aimed and eagerly aspired at something further. How much more was this incumbent on the Philippians, who were still far behind him?
It is asked, however, what it is that Paul says he has not yet attained? For unquestionably, so soon as we are by faith ingrafted into the body of Christ, we have already entered the kingdom of God, and, as it is stated in Ephesians 2:6, we already, in hope, sit in heavenly places. I answer, that our salvation, in the mean time, is in hope, so that the inheritance indeed is secure; but we nevertheless have it not as yet in possession. At the same time, Paul here looks at something else — the advancement of faith, and of that mortification of which he had made mention. He had said that he aimed and eagerly aspired at the resurrection of the dead through fellowship in the Cross of Christ. He adds, that he has not as yet arrived at this. At what? At the attainment of having entire fellowship in Christ’s sufferings, having a full taste of the power of his resurrection, and knowing him perfectly. He teaches, therefore, by his own example, that we ought to make progress, and that the knowledge of Christ is an attainment of such difficulty, that even those who apply themselves exclusively to it, do nevertheless not attain perfection in it so long as they live. This, however, does not detract in any degree from the authority of Paul’s doctrine, inasmuch as he had acquired as much as was sufficient for discharging the office committed to him. In the mean time, it was necessary for him to make progress, that this divinely-furnished instructor of all might be trained to humility.
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As also I have been apprehended This clause he has inserted by way of correction, that he might ascribe all his endeavors to the grace of God. It is not of much importance whether you read as, or in so far as; for the meaning in either case remains the same — that Paul was apprehended by Christ, that he might apprehend Christ; that is, that he did nothing except under Christ’s influence and guidance. I have chosen, however, the more distinct rendering, as it seemed to be optional.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For we run not, but so far forth, as…
For we run not, but so far forth, as we are laid hold on of Christ, that is, as God giveth us strength, and showeth us the way.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 12 Not as though I had already attained, either…
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Ver. 12. But I follow after] Gr. Διωκω, I persecute, I follow hot footed with utmost eagerness. By this then he signifieth how greedily and incessantly he pursued after the perfect knowledge of Christ, having it as it were in chase, and resolved not to rest till he had attained unto it. (Airay.) Well might Chrysostom call St Paul an insatiable, greedy, devouring worshipper of God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Not as though I had already attained, either were…
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: by an elegant anticipation and correction, lest any should conclude from what he had written, as if he were now arrived at the height he aimed at in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and a full and perfect stature in that body, or almost at the very pitch, he doth here make a modest confession of his not attainment, (whatever false apostles might pretend to), 2Co 10:12; 12:6,7; but of his earnest desire and utmost endeavour to be raised to the complete holiness he was designed to,
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:6.
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But I follow after; he did pursue with all vigour, as those labouring in the agonistics, with all his might and main, not desponding of obtaining the goal, 1Co 9:26, with 2Co 4:8; with groanings and longings after utmost perfection, 2Co 5:4,6,7; 2Pe 3:12; as those perfected in glory, Heb 12:23.
If that I may apprehend that; if that, or whether that, (not as intimating any uncertainty, but his more earnest contending for holiness in the Christian race), I may lay hold on that attainment to be as holy as men shall be at the resurrection.
For which; even as, or for which, ( as we render it well so, Phi 4:10), i.e. for which end, or for this purpose, to be perfectly sanctified and glorified at the resurrection.
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus; he was at his effectual calling laid hold on by Christ, being found in whom, he was striving after perfection. This apprehended is a metaphor borrowed from those that run in a race, one taking hold of another to draw him after to win the prize as well as himself. He eyed Christ having taken him into his hand, as one that would not suffer him to be plucked out by any opposers, Joh 10:28. He knew that Christ, having brought him nigh unto God, and undertook to work such a measure of holiness in him, one day would completely glorify him, so that, whatever he passed through, nothing should be lost, Joh 6:39.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Our apostle here compares himself to a person running…
Our apostle here compares himself to a person running in a race; the prize which he did contend and run for, was, perfection in grace. The highest degree of which, in this life, consists in a desire and endeavour to obtain the largest measures and fullest degrees of holiness, that are here attainable: the manner how he ran for this prize, he tells us, was by looking forward, not backward; he did not look back to the things which he had left behind, namely, to the privileges of Judaism, nor to his past performances; but, like a racer, kept himself continually upon the stretch, with his eye fixed firmly upon the prize at the end of the goal, that he might lay hold upon it, and be crowned with it.
Note, Christianity is a race; every Christian in this life must run this race; in his running he must look forward, and not backward, not reckon how much of the way is past, but make the best of the way to come: he must keep heaven, as the mark and prize he runs for, continually in his eye, to hearten him on against all hardships and discouragements whatsoever; and in a word, must be apprehended before he can apprehend. St. Paul was apprehended by Christ, and caught hold of by him, whin he fled from him, otherwise he had never apprehended: Christ takes hold on us, before we have any desire to lay hold on him; we move as moved of him, and assisted of him.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,.... That…
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,.... That for which he was apprehended of Christ: he had not attained to perfect knowledge, was not come to the mark, had not received the prize, or laid hold on eternal life; though he had received so much grace, and such gifts, as had qualified him for an apostle; and he had been so many years in that office, and had so great a knowledge in the mystery of the Gospel, and had laboured in it more abundantly than others, and with great success; and even though he had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard unspeakable words, not lawful to be uttered, Co2 12:2, yet he had no such opinion of himself, as if he was perfect: by which way of speaking, he tacitly strikes at the arrogance and vain confidence of false teachers, that pretended to perfection; and in this way led the brethren to conclude, that they could never have arrived to it, since so great an apostle had not; some copies read not "yet", and so the Ethiopic version:
but this one thing I do; which he was intent upon, constantly attended to, and earnestly pursued; it was the main and principal thing he was set upon, and which he employed himself in; and which engrossed all his thoughts, desires, affections, time, and labour; see Psa 27:4. The Syriac version reads, "this one thing I know"; signifying that whatever he was ignorant of, and however imperfect his knowledge was in other things, this he was full well apprized of, and acquainted with. The Arabic version renders the whole thus, "I do not think that I have now obtained and received anything, but the one thing"; namely, what follows,
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forgetting those things which are behind, meaning not the sins of his past life, which were indeed forgotten by God, and the guilt of which was removed from him, by the application of the blood of Christ, so that he had no more conscience of them; yet they were remembered and made mention of by him, partly for his own humiliation, and partly to magnify the grace of God: nor earthly and worldly things, which believers are too apt to have respect to, to look back upon, and hanker after, as the Israelites did after the fleshpots in Egypt, Exo 16:3; though these were forgotten by the apostle, so as not anxiously to care for them, and seek after them, to set his affections on them, or trust in them: nor his fleshly privileges, and legal righteousness, which he pursued, valued, and trusted in before conversion, but now dropped, renounced, disregarded, and counted as loss and dung, Phi 3:7; but rather his labours and works of righteousness since conversion, which though he times took notice of for the magnifying of the grace of God, for the defence of the Gospel, and to put a stop to the vain boasting of false teachers, yet he forgot them in point of dependence on them, and trust to them; and having put his hand to the plough, he did not look back, nor desist, but went on in his laborious way, not thinking of what he had done and gone through, nor discouraged at what was before him; as also he intends all his growth in grace, and proficiency in divine knowledge, which was very, great; and though he was thankful for these things, and would observe them to the glory of the grace of God, yet he trusted not in them: nor did he sit down easy and satisfied with what he had attained unto, and therefore was
reaching forth unto those things which are before; to perfection of knowledge, holiness, and happiness, which were before him, and he as yet had not attained unto; but was desirous of, and pursued after with great vehemence and eagerness; the metaphor is taken from runners in a race, who did not stop to look behind them, and see what way they have run, and how far they are before others, but look and move forwards, and stretch themselves out to the uttermost, and run with all their might and main to the mark before them; and so the apostle did in a spiritual sense.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not that I have already attained - The prize.…
Not that I have already attained - The prize. He here enters on a new set of metaphors, taken from a race. But observe how, in the utmost fervour, he retains his sobriety of spirit. Or am already perfected - There is a difference between one that is perfect, and one that is perfected. The one is fitted for the race, ver. 15; the other, ready to receive the prize. But I pursue, if I may apprehend that - Perfect holiness, preparatory to glory. For, in order to which I was apprehended by Christ Jesus - Appearing to me in the way, Acts xxvi, 14. The speaking conditionally both here and in the preceding verse, implies no uncertainty, but only the difficulty of attaining.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Not as though I had already attained]…
Verse 12. Not as though I had already attained] Ουχ ὁτι ηδη ελαβον· For I have not yet received the prize; I am not glorified, for I have not finished my course; and I have a conflict still to maintain, and the issue will prove whether I should be crowned. From the beginning of the 11th to the end of the 17th verse there is one continued allusion to the contests at the Olympic games; exercises with which, and their laws, the Philippians were well acquainted. Php 3:11-17
Either were already perfect] Η ηδη τετελειωμαι· Nor am I yet perfect; I am not yet crowned, in consequence of having suffered martyrdom. I am quite satisfied that the apostle here alludes to the Olympic games, and the word τετελειωμαι is the proof; for τελειωθηναι is spoken of those who have completed their race, reached the goal, and are honoured with the prize. Thus it is used by Philo, Allegoriar. lib. iii. page 101, edit. Mangey: Ποτε ουν, ω ψυχη, μαλιστα νεκροφορειν (νικοφορειν) σεαυτην ὑποληψη· αραγε ουχ ὁταν τελειωθῃς και βραβειων και στεφανων αξιωθῃς "When is it, O soul, that thou shalt appear to have the victory? Is it not when thou shalt be perfected, (have completed thy course by death,) and be honoured with prizes and crowns?"
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That τελειωσις signified martyrdom, we learn most expressly from Clemens Alexand., Stromata, lib. iii. page 480, where he has these remarkable words:-
τελειωσιν μαρτυριον καλουμεν, ουχ ὁτι τελος του βιου ὁ ανθρωπος ελεβεν, ῳς οἱ λοιποι, αλλ' ὁτι τελειον εργον αγαπης ενεδειξατο·
"We call martyrdom τελειωσις, or perfection, not because man receives it as the end, τελος, or completion of life; but because it is the consummation τελειος, of the work of charity."
So Basil the great, Hom. in Ps 116:13:
Ποτηριον σωτηριου ληψομαι· τουτεστι, διψων επι την δια του μαρτυριου τελειωσιν ερχομαι·
"I will receive the cup of salvation; that is, thirsting and earnestly desiring to come, by martyrdom, to the consummation."
So OEcumenius, on Acts 28:
Παντα ετη απο της κλησεως του Παυλου, μεχρι της τελειωσεως αυτου, τριακοντα και πεντε·.
"All the years of Paul, from his calling to his martyrdom, were thirty and five."
And in Balsamon, Can. i. Ancyran., page 764:
Τον της τελειωσεως στεφανον αναδησασθαι is,
"To be crowned with the crown of martyrdom."
Eusebius, Hist. Eccles, lib. vii. cap. 13, uses the word τελειουσθαι to express to suffer martyrdom. I have been the more particular here, because some critics have denied that the word has any such signification. See Suicer, Rosenmuller, Macknight, c.
St. Paul, therefore, is not speaking here of any deficiency in his own grace, or spiritual state he does not mean by not being yet perfect, that he had a body of sin and death cleaving to him, and was still polluted with indwelling sin, as some have most falsely and dangerously imagined; he speaks of his not having terminated his course by martyrdom, which he knew would sooner or later be the case. This he considered as the τελειωσις, or perfection, of his whole career, and was led to view every thing as imperfect or unfinished till this had taken place.
But I follow after] διοωκω δε. But I pursue; several are gone before me in this glorious way, and have obtained the crown of martyrdom; I am hurrying after them.
That I may apprehend] That I may receive those blessings to which I am called by Christ Jesus. There is still an allusion here to the stadium, and exercises there: the apostle considers Christ as the brabeus, or judge in the games, who proclaimed the victor, and distributed the prizes; and he represents himself as being introduced by this very brabeus, or judge, into the contest; and this brabeus brought him in with the design to crown him, if he contended faithfully. To complete this faithful contention is what he has in view; that he may apprehend, or lay hold on that for which he had been apprehended, or taken by the hand by Christ who had converted, strengthened, and endowed him with apostolical powers, that he might fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Php 3:12. Not as though I had already attained…
Php 3:12. Not as though I had already attained — Ουχ οτι ηδη ελαβον, literally, not that I have already received, namely, the blessings which I am in pursuit of, even that complete knowledge of Christ, of the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and conformity to his death just mentioned; either were already perfect — Τετελειωμαι, perfected, completed: or had finished my course of duty and sufferings. It appears from Php 3:15, that there is a difference between one that is τελειος, perfect, and one that is perfected; the one is fitted for the race, the other has finished the race, and is ready to receive the prize. But I follow after — Διωκω, I pursue, what is still before me. The apostle changes his allusion from a voyage to a race, which he continues through the two next verses. That I may apprehend that perfect holiness, that entire conformity to the will of God, for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus — Appearing to me in the way to Damascus, (Act 26:14,) whose condescending hand graciously laid hold on me when I was proceeding in my mad career of persecuting him and his followers, and in the extraordinary manner of which you have often heard, brought me to engage in running that very different race which I am now pursuing.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Not as though I had already attained - This…
Not as though I had already attained - This verse and the two following are full of allusions to the Grecian races. “The word rendered ‘attained’ signifies, to have arrived at the goal and won the prize, but without having as yet received it” - The Pictorial Bible. The meaning here is, I do not pretend to have attained to what I wish or hope to be. He had indeed been converted; he had been raised up from the death of sin; he had been imbued with spiritual life and peace; but there was a glorious object before him which he had not yet received. There was to be a kind of resurrection which he had not arrived at. It is possible that Paul here may have had his eye on an error which prevailed to some extent in the early church, that “the resurrection was already past” 2Ti 2:18, by which the faith of some had been perverted. How far this error had spread, or on what it was founded, is not now known; but it is possible that it might have found advocates extensively in the churches. Paul says, however, that he entertained no such opinion. He looked forward to a resurrection which had not yet occurred. He anticipated it as a glorious event yet to come, and he purposed to secure it by every effort which he could make.
Either were already perfect - This is a distinct assertion of the apostle Paul that he did not regard himself as a perfect man. He had not reached that state where he was free from sin. It is not indeed a declaration that no one was perfect, or that no one could be in this life but it is a declaration that he did not regard himself as having attained to it. Yet who can urge better claims to having attained perfection than Paul could have done? Who has surpassed him in love, and zeal, and self-denial, and true devotedness to the service of the Redeemer? Who has more elevated views of God, and of the plan of salvation? Who prays more, or lives nearer to God than he did? That must be extraordinary piety which surpasses that of the apostle Paul; and he who lays claim to a degree of holiness which even Paul did not pretend to, gives little evidence that he has any true knowledge of himself, or has ever been imbued with the true humility which the gospel produces.
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It should be observed, however, that many critics, as Bloomfield, Koppe, Rosenmuller, Robinson (Lexicon), Clarke, the editor of The Pictorial Bible, and others, suppose the word used here - τελειόω teleioō - not to refer to moral or Christian perfection, but to be an allusion to the games that were celebrated in Greece, and to mean that he had not completed his course and arrived at the goal, so as to receive the prize. According to this, the sense would be, that he had not yet received the crown which he aspired after as the result of his efforts in this life. It is of importance to understand precisely what he meant by the declaration here; and, in order to this, it will be proper to look at the meaning of the word elsewhere in the New Testament. The word properly means, to complete, to make perfect, so as to be full, or so that nothing shall be wanting. In the New Testament it is used in the following places, and is translated in the following manner: It is rendered “fulfilled” in Luk 2:23; Joh 19:28; “perfect,” and “perfected,” in Luk 13:32; Joh 17:23; 2Co 12:9; Phi 3:12; Heb 2:10; Heb 5:9; Heb 7:19; Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1, Heb 10:14; Heb 11:40; Heb 12:23; Jam 2:22; 1Jo 2:5; 1Jo 4:12, 1Jo 4:17-18; “finish,” and “finished,” Joh 5:36; Act 20:24; and “consecrated,” Heb 7:28.
In one case Act 20:24, it is applied to a race or course that is run - “That I might finish my course with joy;” but this is the only instance, unless it be in the case before us. The proper sense of the word is that of bringing to an end, or rendering complete, so that nothing shall be wanting. The idea of Paul evidently is, that he had not yet attained that which would be the completion of his hopes. There was something which he was striving after, which he had not obtained, and which was needful to render him perfect, or complete. He lacked now what he hoped yet to attain to; and that which he lacked may refer to all those things which were wanting in his character and condition then, which he expected to secure in the resurrection. What he would then obtain, would be - perfect freedom from sin, deliverance from trials and temptations, victory over the grave, and the possession of immortal life.
As those things were needful in order to the completion of his happiness, we may suppose that he referred to them now, when he says that he was not yet “perfect.” This word, therefore, while it will embrace an allusion to moral character, need not be understood of that only, but may include all those things which were necessary to be observed in order to his complete felicity. Though there may be, therefore, an allusion in the passage to the Grecian foot-races, yet still it would teach that he did not regard himself as in any sense perfect in all respects, there were things wanting to render his character and condition complete, or what he desired they might ultimately be. The same is true of all Christians now. We are imperfect in our moral and religious character, in our joys, in our condition. Our state here is far different from that which will exist in heaven; and no Christian can say, anymore than Paul could, that he has obtained that which is requisite to the completion or perfection of his character and condition. He looks for something brighter and purer in the world beyond the grave. Though, therefore, there may be - as I think the connection and phraseology seem to demand - a reference to the Grecian games, yet the sense of the passage is not materially varied. It was still a struggle for the crown of perfection - a crown which the apostle says he had not yet obtained.
But I follow after - I pursue the object, striving to obtain it. The prize was seen in the distance, and he diligently sought to obtain it. There is a reference here to the Grecian races, and the meaning is, “I steadily pursue my course;” compare the notes at 1Co 9:24.
If that I may apprehend - If I may obtain, or reach, the heavenly prize. There was a glorious object in view, and he made most strenuous exertions to obtain it. The idea in the word “apprehend” is that of taking hold of, or of seizing suddenly and with eagerness; and, since there is no doubt of its being used in an allusion to the Grecian foot-races, it is not improbable that there is a reference to the laying hold of the pole or post which marked the goal, by the racer who had outstripped the other competitors, and who, by that act, might claim the victory and the reward.
That for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus - By Christ Jesus. The idea is, that he had been called into the service of the Lord Jesus, with a view to the obtaining of an important object. He recognized:
(1) The fact that the Lord Jesus had, as it were, laid hold on him, or seized him with eagerness or suddenness, for so the word used here - κατελήμφθην katelēmphthēn - means (compare Mar 9:18; Joh 8:3-4; Joh 12:35; 1Th 5:4; and,
(2) The fact that the Lord Jesus had laid hold on him, with a view to his obtaining the prize. He had done it in order that he might obtain the crown of life, that he might serve him faithfully here, and then be rewarded in heaven.
We may learn, from this:
(1) That Christians are seized, or laid hold on, when they are converted, by the power of Christ, to be employed in his service.
(2) That there is an object or purpose which he has in view. He designs that they shall obtain a glorious prize, and he “apprehends” them with reference to its attainment.
(3) That the fact that Christ has called us into his service with reference to such an object, and designs to bestow the crown upon us, need not and should not dampen our exertions, or diminish our zeal. It should rather, as in the case of Paul, excite our ardor, and urge us forward. We should seek diligently to gain that, for the securing of which, Christ has called us into his service. The fact that he has thus arrested us in our mad career of sin; that he has by his grace constrained us to enter into his service, and that he contemplates the bestowment upon us of the immortal crown, should be the highest motive for effort. The true Christian, then, who feels that heaven is to be his home, and who believes that Christ means to bestow it upon him, will make the most strenuous efforts to obtain it. The prize is so beautiful and glorious, that he will exert every power of body and soul that it may be his. The belief, therefore, that God means to save us, is one of the highest incentives to effort in the cause of religion.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Not as though I had already attained the happiness…
Not as though I had already attained the happiness I hope for, or am now become perfect as to that perfection in virtue, which I must always endeavour to increase in; but, like a person still running a race for a prize, I pursue and run as well as I can, I stretch myself with perseverance towards[2] the mark, forgetting that part of the course which I had made. Let all of us, though perfect as the knowledge of the mysteries we are to believe, be of this mind, that we are still to advance in the way of Christian perfection; and if any of you be of another mind, and think otherwise, God will reveal to you and teach you this truth, that we may all continue in the same rule of doctrine and discipline. We may here take notice with St. John Chrysostom that it is not enough to believe, or have the true faith, but that we must strive and labour to the end in the way of perfection; secondly that St. Paul did not look upon himself absolutely certain of his salvation: and how much greater presumption would this be in us? (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Translate, "Not that I," &c. (I do not wish…
Translate, "Not that I," &c. (I do not wish to be understood as saying that, &c.).
attained--"obtained," namely, a perfect knowledge of Christ, and of the power of His death, and fellowship of His sufferings, and a conformity to His death.
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either were already perfect--"or am already perfected," that is, crowned with the garland of victory, my course completed, and perfection absolutely reached. The image is that of a race course throughout. See Co1 9:24; Heb 12:23. See TRENCH [Greek Synonyms of the New Testament].
I follow after--"I press on."
apprehend . . . apprehended--"If so be that I may lay hold on that (namely, the prize, Phi 3:14) for which also I was laid hold on by Christ" (namely, at my conversion, Sol 1:4; Co1 13:12).
Jesus--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Paul was close to "apprehending" the prize (Ti2 4:7-8). Christ the Author, is also the Finisher of His people's "race."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. Not as though—The apostle here guards against a…
12. Not as though—The apostle here guards against a construing of his words (8-10) into over high profession. He has not attained; his is yet only a follow after; namely, after that conformableness to Christ’s death which will be attained at his own exanastasis.
Already perfect—Rather, already perfected, referring not, as Clarke, to his martyrdom, nor to the physical resurrection change only; but to that perfected holiness of soul, that completing of the regeneration, which takes place at the exanastasis, by which the being passes out of the sphere of possible sin. This a higher being perfect, which is different from, but does not contradict, the lower perfect of Php_3:15, which belongs to the earthly Christian life, and to which St. Paul had attained, and which was an earnest follow after.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12–16. On the other hand, his spiritual condition is…
12–16. On the other hand, his spiritual condition is one of progress, not perfection
12. Not as though &c.] This reserve, so emphatic and solemn, appears to be suggested by the fact, brought out more fully below (Php_3:18-19), of the presence of a false teaching which represented the Christian as already in such a sense arrived at his goal as to be lifted beyond responsibility, duty, and progress. No, says St Paul; he has indeed “gained Christ,” and is “found in Him, having the righteousness of God”; he “knows” his Lord, and His power; but none the less he is still called to humble himself, to recollect that the process of grace is never complete below, and that from one point of view its coming completion is always linked with the saint’s faithful watching and prayer, the keeping open of the “eyes ever toward the Lord” (Psa_25:15).
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attained] Better, received, or, with R.V., obtained; for the verb is not the same as that in Php_3:11. (It is the same as that in Rev_3:11.) The thought of “the crown” is probably to be supplied. See below, on Php_3:14.—R.V. renders, rather more lit., “Not that I have already attained.” But the construction of A.V. well represents the Greek.—Some documents here add “or have been already justified”; but the evidence is decisive against this insertion.
were already perfect] Better, have been already perfected. The process was incomplete which was to develope his being for the life of glory, in which “we shall be like Him” (1Jn_3:3; cp. Rom_8:29); a promise implying that we are never so here, completely. Cp. the Greek of Rom_12:2; 2Co_3:18; in which the holy “transformation” is presented as a process, advancing to its ideal, not yet arrived there. And see further below, on Php_3:15.
The Greek verb, and its kindred noun, were used technically in later ecclesiastical Greek of the death of martyrs (and of monks, in a remarkable passage of Chrysostom, Hom. xiv. on 1 Tim), viewed as specially glorious and glorified saints. But no such limitation appears in Scripture. In Heb_12:23 the reference plainly is to the whole company of the holy departed: who have entered, as they left the body, on the heavenly rest, the eternal close of the state of discipline. Cp. Wis_4:13; “he [the just man], in short (season) perfected, fulfilled long times.”
I follow after] R.V., I press on. The thought of the race, with its goal and crown, is before him. Cp. 1Co_9:24-27; Gal_2:2; Gal_5:7; 2Ti_2:5; 2Ti_4:7; Heb_12:1.
if that I may] Better, if indeed I may. On this language of contingency, see note above on Php_3:11.
apprehend] i.e., grasp. Cp. 1Co_9:24. All the English versions before 1611 have “comprehend” here. Both verbs now bear meanings which tend to mislead the reader here. The Greek verb is that rendered “receive,” or “obtain,” just above, only in a stronger (compound) form. He thinks of the promised crown, till in thought he not merely “receives” but “grasps” it, with astonished joy.
that for which also &c.] The Greek may be rendered grammatically either (a) thus, or (b) “inasmuch as I was even &c.” Usage in St Paul (Rom_5:12; 2Co_5:4) is in favour of (b); context is rather for (a), which is adopted by Ellicott, and Alford, and in R.V. (text; margin gives (b)). Lightfoot does not speak decidedly. We recommend (a) for reasons difficult to explain without fuller discussion of the Greek than can be offered here.—The meaning will thus be that he presses on to grasp the crown, with the animating thought that Christ, in the hour of conversion, grasped him with the express purpose in view that he, through the path of faith and obedience, might be glorified at last. Cp. Rom_8:30; where we see the “call” as the sure antecedent not to justification only but to glory; but antecedent in such a way as powerfully to cheer and strengthen the suffering saint in the path of the cross, not to leave him for a moment to fatalistic inaction. The rendering (b) gives a meaning not far distant from this, though less distinctly.
Christ Jesus] Read, with the documentary evidence, Christ.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) Not as though . . .—The tenses are…
(12) Not as though . . .—The tenses are here varied. Not as though I ever yet attained, or have been already made perfect. To “attain,” or receive (probably the prize, see Php_3:14), is a single act; “to be perfected” a continuous process. Clearly St. Paul has no belief, either in any indefectible grasp of salvation, or in any attainment of full spiritual perfection on this side of the grave. We may note our Lord’s use of the word “to be perfected” to signify His death (Luk_13:32), and a similar application of the word to Him in Heb_2:10; Heb_5:9; also the use of the words “made perfect” to signify the condition of the glorified (Heb_11:40; Heb_12:23).
If that I may apprehend that for which also I am (rather, was) apprehended of Christ Jesus.—The metaphor throughout is of the race, in which he, like an eager runner, stretches out continually to “grasp” the prize. But (following out the same line of thought as in Php_3:7-8) he is unwilling to lay too much stress on his own exertions, and so breaks in on the metaphor, by the remembrance that he himself was once grasped, at his conversion, by the saving hand of Christ, and so only put in a condition to grasp the prize. The exact translation of the words which we render “that for which,” &c., is doubtful. Our version supplies an object after the verb “apprehend,” whereas the cognate verb “attained” is used absolutely; and the expression as it here stands is rather cumbrous. Perhaps it would be simpler to render “inasmuch as” or “seeing that” (as in Rom_5:12; 2Co_5:4). The hope to apprehend rests on the knowledge that he had been apprehended by One “out of whose hand no man could pluck” him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Not as though I had already. attained, either were…
Not as though I had already. attained, either were already perfect; the R.V renders this clause more accurately, not that (1. do not say that) I have already obtained. The verb is not the same with that translated "attain" in ver. 11; it means to get, to win a prize, as in 1Co_9:24. The tense is aorist: "I say not that I did at once win the prize;" that is, at the time of his conversion. Compare the tenses used in ver. 8, "I suffered the loss of all things;" and ver. 12, "I was apprehended;" which both refer to the same time. The prize was gained in a moment; it needs the continued effort of a lifetime. St. Paul proceeds, using now the perfect tense, "Nor have I been already made perfect." He has not even now reached perfection; he is still working out his own salvation. There may be here a delicate allusion to the spiritual pride which seems to have disturbed the unity of the Philippians. (see Php_2:2-4) But I follow after; rather, I pursue, I press on. If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. The words rendered "for which" (ef w) will admit three different interpretations:
(1) that of A.V, which implies the ellipse of the antecedent "that;
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(2) that given in the margin of R.V, "seeing that;" and
(3) that of the R.V, "for which," for which purpose (that is, that I may press on and persevere) I was also apprehended by Christ Jesus.
All these translations are possible, and all give a good sense. Perhaps (2) best suits the context, "I press on to lay hold othe prize, because Christ first laid hold of me." The grace of the Lord Jesus furnishes the highest motive; it is the Christian"s bounden duty to press on always in the Christian race, because Christ first called him.
Vers. 12-16. St. Paul"s humility.
I HE HAS NOT YET ATTAINED; HE IS NOT PERFECT.
1. The most advanced Christian is always the humblest. The nearer we draw to Christ, the more we feel our own unworthiness. The light of Christ"s holiness, manifested in the hearts of his saints, brings out into clearer light the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
2. But he is striving after perfection. The Christian knows his own weakness and sin, but he knows also that he is really following Christ. If we are doing so, we must know it; we must be conscious of real effort in the spiritual life.
3. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Christ first laid hold of St. Paul, therefore St. Paul strives to lay hold upon Christ; because he was apprehended, he hopes to apprehend. "We love him, because he first loved us.
4. This very sense of imperfection urges the Christian to sustained effort. He is never satisfied with himself, therefore he always presses onwards. He does not dwell with complacency on his attainments, but forgets the progress which he has made; in view of the far greater height which remains to scale, he throws himself into the work with ever-increasing energy.
5. Therefore he presses toward the mark. The crown of righteousness is laid up for all who love the appearing of the Lord. God is calling us thither, calling us upward, to higher degrees of the spiritual life now, to the perfection of that life in heaven. The prize of that upward calling is the heavenly glory. It is the end for which the Christian lives, which makes life worth having, worth living.
II ALL ADVANCED CHRISTIANS MUST BE THUS MINDED.
1. The love of Christ, faith, humility, are essentials. All Christians alike must set the knowledge of Christ high above all other objects of desire. All must seek that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ; all must strive to win Christ, to be found in Christ, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. All must be humble, dissatisfied with themselves; all must press onwards towards ever higher degrees of the spiritual life.
2. In this all must agree; in smaller matters there may be differences. St. Paul seems to imply that there will be differences. "If in anything ye be otherwise minded," he says; otherwise than is right, he seems to mean. There will be, there must be, errors. Men cannot all see alike. There are various degrees of illumination, of spiritual knowledge. And men are differently constituted; their characters, theft" early training, their education, their surroundings, their associations, differ indefinitely; all these circumstances act upon their habits of thought. Their opinions are the ultimate outcome of all these multitudinous influences. Doubtless we are to a large extent responsible for our opinions. It is our bounden duty to search the Scriptures, to think, to meditate, to pray for the guidance of God"s Holy Spirit. He will guide us into all truth (all that is necessary for our salvation), if we seek his help with a single heart, in earnestness, and in humility. But he does not force all good men to think alike; he leaves room for the play of the individual character, for the manifold influences of temperament and training. The truth is one, the faith is one; but we look upon that one truth from various points of view. Hence there will be differences even among those who sincerely seek the truth. Truth is of momentous importance. Truth of doctrine and holiness of life together make up the saintly character; imperfections in either so far mar the beauty of the whole. But if the two cannot always coexist, holiness is far closer than doctrine to our soul"s salvation. The good Samaritan was nearer to God than the priest or the Levite; though they were orthodox, while he was a schismatic.
3. But the promise is that to those who sincerely seek the truth God will certainly reveal it. Only let a man be like St. Paul in his humility and earnest perseverance, never satisfied with himself, never counting himself to have attained, but always pressing towards the mark, and God will reveal the truth to him, as he revealed it to St. Paul. Thus we learn that holy obedience is a condition of living spiritual knowledge, and that living spiritual knowledge is a gift of God. The letter of the Scripture is a subject for intellectual study, but the inner truth of the Scriptures, the knowledge of Christ, is a revelation from God. God hath hidden this from the wise and prudent, but he revealeth it to babes. God the Holy Ghost is the one only Teacher of this precious knowledge.
III THERE MUST BE NO BACKSLIDING, NO LOSS OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE ONCE obtained. It must be our most earnest effort to maintain that degree of grace at which we have arrived, Mark how the apostle dwells on the necessity of perseverance. The life of very many professing Christians is a series of oscillations between permitted sin and feeble repentance. Hence there is no real progress; they remain year after year much as they have been decent in their lives, and well-intentioned perhaps, but without any real growth in holiness, in self-denial, in humility. "The path of the just is as the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day." This ought to be the record of our lives; but this implies continual perseverance, and perseverance implies constant watchfulness and constant prayer.
Lessons. Learn from St. Paul"s example:
1. Utterly to shrink from spiritual pride; it is a deadly poison; it makes men satisfied with their present attainments; it prevents their progress in holiness; it leads to backsliding.
2. Always to persevere.
3. To keep the prize of the high calling before the thoughts.
4. Not to judge harshly those who differ from us.
5. To pray for a fuller revelation of the truth to our souls.
Vers. 12-14. The apostle"s confession of his imperfection and his method of Christian progress.
There is a touching and instructive humility in the language of these verses.
I HIS CONFESSION OF IMPERFECTION. "Not as though I had already attained or have been made perfect;" and again," I count not myself to have apprehended.
1. This argues a high estimate of a Christians duty. There is no inconsistency in the consciousness of hidden imperfection and the thought of a lofty ideal. We must ever keep Christ himself before us as the only ideal to be copied and followed after through life.
2. It argues a humble estimate of himself. It is a remarkable confession from such a man. He had done and suffered much for Christ, yet he says, "I have not been made perfect." Such an experience ought to rebuke the lofty pretensions of perfectionists of every class.
3. Yet this humble estimate of himself, as well as his aspiration for higher holiness, is sure evidence that he had made some progress. A writer says, "That which is best in you is your appreciation of what is better in others.
II HIS METHOD OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. This is expressed in two separate and significant sentences.
1. "I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I also was apprehended by Christ Jesus.
(1) This language evidently points to the scene on the road to Damascus, when the Lord "apprehended" him and changed the whole gent of his life. Conversion is, indeed, an apprehension, a laying hold upon a heart trader the sway of worldliness and sin, and bringing it under the sway of all-conquering grace. Nothing but the arresting hand of the Lord can stop any of us on our downward course, or break the dominion of the world over us, or destroy the power of sin in the heart.
(2) This language implies that the loving hand of the Savior is never lifted off any heart thus arrested tilt all that is implied in the gracious contact has been accomplished. There are two apprehensions. The believer has only, in the one case, to receive the gift of God, but, in the other case, the salvation which has become ours through that act is to be wrought out in a continuous, faithful reception of all that is involved in it.
2. "This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are past, and reaching forth to the things that are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
(1) There is here the oblivion of the past, not that we are to forget past errors or sins, or are not to repent of past mistakes which must always be subject of penitential thought, but we are not to allow a rueful temper to kill out heart, and hope. We are to regard the past. as so much really gained or accomplished that is to exercise no dragging or injurious effect upon our forward progress.
(2) There is here the concentration of all energies. "This one thing I do." A dispersion of energies is fatal to success in any work. The great heroes of the Church and of the world have been men of one idea, and concentrated all thought and effort in carrying it out. So the apostle had but one idea always before him, and made everything in providence and nature and grace contributory to the great work of his Christian sanctification.
(3) Untiring activity. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
(a) The mark is perfect holiness.
(b) The prize is perfect blessedness.
(c) All his activity in this Divine race is sustained by the thought that he stands in the high calling" of God and is supported by the grace of Christ Jesus.
It is a high calling, high as heaven, and seemingly inaccessible to men of such passions and infirmities as ours, but. then it is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is our hope and our consolation. T.C.
Vers. 12-16. The river of forgetfulness.
Paul has sketched in the preceding verses what we may call his spiritual program. Much of the attainment lies before him still, so much, in fact, that he lives in the future instead of in the past. His life is a race towards a goal. Now, just as in a race the runner forgets the ground gone over in his occupation with the remainder and the goal, so, in the spiritual life, there is a forgetfulness essential to progress. There is a river of Lethe in the city of God, which the prize-winners must drink if they are to run as giants refreshed. Let us study for a moment or two this river of forgetfulness.
I THE MEMORY OF PAST SINS AND FAILURES MAY ONLY REPRODUCE THEM, (vers. 12, 13). Memory is a precious gift; without it progress would be impossible. It is memory which enables us to carry on the advantages of past ages to the coming time. But the misery is that we burden memory with thoughts and feelings which cannot help, but hinder our future development. It is these thoughts and feelings which we must learn to forget. We content ourselves with mentioning here two.
1. Sins. Brooding over sin is a very unhealthy process. It is not the self-examination God recommends. It only reproduces and increases sin. Repentance is a grace which sorrows over sins as offenses against God which must not be repeated. We must not allow repentance, therefore, to be turned into repining. But can we safely forget past sins? Yes; if we come to the blood of Jesus and get washed therein, we may with safety forget our past sins, so far as the remembrance of them would detain us from a better record in time to come.
2. Failures. These, too, may be remembered so as to quench all hope of improvement. We may regulate our hope by the probabilities of the past, like calculations based upon statistics. But there is one factor in the spiritual life, the Spirit of God, who can put all past experience to shame and silence. Hence we are encouraged not to regulate our hope by the failures of the past, but by Lethean grace to face the future as if we had a successful record behind us. To translate a paragraph from a modern French author: "Feeble natures live in griefs instead of changing them into the apophthegms of experience. They saturate themselves with them and use them to retrace their steps daily into past misfortunes. To forget is the grand secret of strong and creative natures to forget as Nature does, who never regards herself as passe, but recommences every hour the mysteries of her indefatigable births (enfantements).
II THE MEMORY OF PAST SUCCESSES AND ATTAINMENTS MAY DETAIN US FROM MORE SPLENDID TRIUMPHS. (Vers. 12-14) The temptation is to make the past the standard and so to cut down the possibilities of the present and the future. But, as it has been well said, "It would be better to forget our whole life, sins and all, than to look back with a sense of satisfaction." Contentment with the past is fatal to all progress. Christianity never meant us to dote upon a golden age behind us, but to expect a golden age to come. Hence we must forget past attainments and successes and forge ahead. It is the looking back that endangers the climber who is passing upwards. His one hope of reaching the summit is by forgetting the things behind him and "grinding" on.
III BY THIS POWER OF FORGETFULNESS WE SECURE PROPER CONCENTRATION OF CHRISTIAN PURPOSE. (Ver. 13) For it is essential to enthusiasm to have our nature unified into a single glorious purpose. Hence Paul could say, "This one thing I do." He would not allow the past to distract him from proper concentration. One purpose of perfection dominated his whole life and conduct. Hence his draughts of the Lethean river fitted him for the sublime and single purpose of attaining the ideal of Christ. The soul who refuses to be distracted by the past, and sets himself steadily to fulfill the mission God has given him, will find in his concentration the secret of power.
IV WHEN CHURCH MEMBERS FOLLOW UP THIS PRINCIPLE OF FORGETTING THE PAST, THEY COME TO SEE EYE TO EYE IN THE END. (Vers. 15, 16) Paul advises the Philippians to be "thus minded," that is, to unite in forgetting the past, and if in other things they do not see eye to eye as yet, they will come to unity at last. It is a most important principle to follow. When individuals fall out, we advise them to "let bygones be bygones," and begin again. This is exactly Paul"s idea. There seems to have been some dissension in Philippi, as ver. 2 of next chapter shows. Here is Paul"s recommendation: "Forget the things behind." It is upon the past our squabbles are built. Take away the memory and then we can begin afresh. It would thus seem that the city of God could ill spare this river of forgetfulness. Indeed, it is only in the city of God that it flows in crystal purity and can be drunk without danger. There are muddy streams which ingenuity provides, intoxicants which rob mankind through the senses of their memory; but the waking-time comes, and the furies are afoot once more. In the Lethe of God, on the contrary, we may drink and forget a painful, imperfect past, so far as this would keep us from a nobler future. "God," says Vinet, "in the ineffable power of his Spirit, makes us date from where he pleases. He separates us from that which was ourselves. He creates a new man, to which the old one is a stranger. For him there is no crime that cannot be blotted out, nor any restitution impossible; for him there is no time flown on without recall, no destruction, nor any manner of death. The past can swallow nothing up." Let us, then, judiciously cultivate this forgetfulness, and make the past the subordinate thing Christian progress requires it to be. R.M.E.
Vers. 12-14. Moral onwardness.
The Grecian racecourse was well known to Paul and to all his readers, and hence he often uses it as a figure to illustrate the Christian life. The subject is spiritual advancement, onwardness in Divine excellence. The words suggest that this progress implies three things.
I A CONSCIOUS DISSATISFACTION WITH THE PRESENT. By this I mean, not dissatisfaction with the events and circumstances of life Divine providences this would be foolish and impious, but with present moral attainments, for he says, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." He was not satisfied with his present assimilation to Christ. He painfully felt the discrepancy. This dissatisfaction is ever the first step in soul-progress and the impelling motive afterwards. Indeed, dissatisfaction with present attainments is the spring of all advancement in everything in life. Dissatisfied with huts, men build houses; with the loose skin of beasts for their covering, they manufacture garments; with caligraphy, they invent the printing-press; with wagons, they construct steam-engines. He who feels satisfied with what he has, whether it be material, mental, or spiritual, will never seek to lay hold of something yet unattained.
II A COMPARATIVE OBLIVIOUSNESS TO THE PAST. "Forgetting those things which are behind." The Olympic racer did not look behind him on the course, but on to the goal until he reached and grasped the pole. In soul-onwardness there must be a comparative obliviousness. We say comparative. Of course there must be and ought to be remembrances of past mercies to inspire our gratitude, of past sins to humble us before God. But attention to the past should be as nothing to that which we give to the future. Let the past go: it is irreparable and unavailing; the grand future must loom before us and absorb the soul. Look not behind you. Keep your eyes right onward upon the enchanting scenes that are spread out on the sunny heights.
III A CONCENTRATED STRUGGLE FOR THE FUTURE. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." The prize of the Grecian racer was a garland of olive, or laurel, or pine, or apple. What is the moral prize? Moral perfection. To this all men are divinely called in Christ. In the true moral race men are to reach forth, not after happiness as an end, but after holiness; not after Paradise, but after perfection. This requires concentration. There must be no half-heartedness, no divided faculties; it must be the one thing; the whole soul must be set upon it. Concentration is essential to success in almost every department of life. Noah built his ark because he concentrated his being on the work. Abraham lived a pilgrim life because he set his heart on a city that had a foundation. Napoleon became nearly the master of Europe because he had set his heart on the infernal work. Demosthenes became one of the greatest orators of the world because oratory was the work on which he set his heart. So in all things. The attainment of holiness must be the "one thing" in life. Learning, literature, business, recreation, must be rendered subservient to this "one thing. D.T.
Vers. 12-14. The Christian race: conditions of victory.
1. The recognition that we are not yet conquerors, and that every effort on our part is necessary if we would secure the prize.
2. The knowledge that we are not running the race in our own strength, but that we are seeking to seize upon a victory already designed for us. When we realize that Christ has grasped us we know that we are being upheld by him, and our confidence of final victory is no longer in ourselves, but in him.
3. The faith that we are freed from our past sins by the atoning power of Christ. If we cannot feel assured of this we are for ever worrying about the things which are behind instead of forgetting them, and are thus powerless to look forward to the things that are before. Look forwards and upwards, rather than backwards, if you would succeed in life"s race.
4. Striving under such conditions we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. VW.H.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Not as though I had attained, either were already…
Php_3:12
Not as though I had attained, either were already perfect--In these words we have
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I.
A disclaiming of present perfection in two expressions.
1. Not as though I had already attained. This is an agonistical word for receiving the reward due to the conqueror. In the races there was a crown of leaves generally set over the goal, that the foremost might catch it, and carry it away with him (1Co_9:24; 1Ti_6:12).
2. Or were already perfect--another agonistical word. Though the runner was to seize the crown as his right, yet the judges interposed before he could put it on his head, and when he received it from them he was adjudged a perfect racer or wrestler as the case might be. The word perfect was used--
(1) Of their strength and agility, having passed the agonistical exercises (2Co_13:9).
(2) Of their reward. When the crown was adjudged them, or when they had done worthily, the more excellent had the more excellent rewards, which were called perfect crowns.
II. An earnest endeavour for the future.
III. The reason of his diligence. Christs apprehending is--
1. In effectual calling, as He puts us upon this race, or inclineth us to it.
2. By constant support, for having apprehended us He still upholds us. (T. Manton, D. D.)
I. None of Gods children, however assured, can look upon themselves as out of danger till their race be ended.
1. Gods children may have assurance, as Paul had. This is the ease--
(1) When grace discovers itself in eminent self-denying acts, and is not a sleepy habit or a buried seed (1Th_1:3).
(2) When evidence is not blotted by frequent interruptions of the spiritual life by sin (2Co_1:12).
(3) Because they have the Spirit of adoption (Gal_4:6; Eph_1:13-14).
(4) They have a sense of the love of God and His rich mercies in Christ.
(a) By acquaintance with Him (Joh_22:21).
(b) By intercourse with Him (1Pe_2:3; Eph_3:12).
(c) By the experiences of their afflictions (Rom_5:3-5).
(d) By present rewards of obedience (Joh_14:21; Joh_14:23).
(5) The change wrought is a sensible one and may he plainly discovered (Eph_5:8).
2. Gods children cannot look upon themselves as past all care and holy solicitude. Reasons.
(1) Because there is no period put to our duty but life. It is not enough to begin with God; we must go on in His way till we come home to Him (Heb_3:6; Heb_3:14; Heb_6:11; Php_2:12).
(2) During our lives there is something more to suffer, some lust to conquer, some grace to strengthen.
(3) Some have left their first love (Rev_2:4); have fainted in the race (Gal_5:7).
(4) The nature of this assurance is to exclude fear, which hath torment; but not the fear of caution and diligence (Pro_28:14; 1Pe_1:17).
3. Uses.
(1) To show us the difference between carnal security and solid assurance.
(a) There is a difference in the grounds; the one is a slight presumption of the end without the means, and the other goeth on solid evidences (1Jn_3:19). The one is sand, the other is rock.
(b) They differ in effects; the one benumbeth the conscience into stupid peace; the other revives the conscience and fills it with joy and peace through believing (Rom_15:13; 2Co_1:12; 1Pe_1:8).
(c) They differ in the way they are procured or maintained. Foolish presumption costs a man nothing, but true assurance is gotten with diligence (2Pe_1:10; 2Pe_3:14), and is kept with watchfulness (Heb_4:1; Heb_12:28-29; 1Co_10:1-2).
(2) To teach us the necessity of
(a) diligence;
(b) watchfulness;
(c) self-denial.
II. Whatsoever degrees we have attained we must press forward to perfection.
1. Reasons.
(1) By this our title is assured.
(2) By this our hearts are more prepared in this life for our happiness (Col_1:12; 1Jn_3:3).
(3) By this our glory and blessedness are increased.
2. Use: to persuade us to get ground in our race, which we do as our title is mere assured by self-denying obedience.
(1) Our end will bear it, to see God and enjoy Him (1Th_2:12). How much better than all those worldly things upon which we lay out so much.
(2) The glory of God requires it. Less grace may serve for our safety and comfort (Joh_15:8; Mat_5:16).
(3) The notion of grace implies it, which is continuous (Pro_4:18; 2Co_4:16). There is requisite to this--
(a) A strong faith in the world to come (Heb_10:39).
(b) A fervent love, levelling and directing all our actions to Gods glory (2Co_5:14-15).
(c) A lively hope quickening and strengthening our resolutions for God and heaven 1Pe_1:13).
III. It is a great encouragement in the spiritual race that Christ apprehended us for this end that we may apprehend the crown of life. Christs apprehension implies--
1. That any motion towards that which is spiritually good proceeds first and wholly from Christ. He is author and finisher (Act_16:14; Act_26:18; 1Co_2:14).
2. A motion and subordinate operation on our part. He infuses a new life, which we receive from Christ to use it and live by it (Son_1:4; Rom_12:2).
3. The tendency of this life is to God and heaven (2Pe_1:4; Col_3:1-3).
4. Christ having apprehended us still keeps us in His own hands.
5. Use: to press us to answer Christs apprehension by our exact, resolved, diligent pursuit of eternal life, that will declare that we are apprehended and will be guided by Christ to the land of promise. Two motives.
(1) Our obligation to Christ.
(2) Christs interest in us. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Conversion illustrated in the case of Paul
I. How is the work of conversion effected. Paul says, I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. How this was done may be seen from Act_9:16.
1. Christ got possession of Pauls understanding by appearing to Him in glory. Having once seen the Saviours glory Paul could not resist His claims.
2. Christ got possession of Pauls heart by assuring him of His grace.
3. Christ got possession of Pauls life. Having surrendered mind and affections he would not be likely to make any reserve. Nor did he; and ever after he said, To me to live is Christ.
II. To what is the work of conversion expected to lead? To perfection. Paul expected to be perfect--
1. In character.
2. In his whole nature--physically (verse 21); morally, by being sanctified wholly; intellectually, by having all the powers of the mind so fitly harmonized that there should be no undue preponderance, but that each should lend its own proper aid in working out for the renewed man that eternal progression in knowledge to which he is destined.
3. In all his external circumstances. The society, employments, joys of heaven, will make us fully and forever blest.
III. Who are the subjects of this change? How are we to know them? What proof did Paul give of it? The text shows us--
1. That he highly appreciated his future destiny (verses 20-21; 2Co_4:18; 2Co_5:1-9).
2. That he cherished a lively sense of his present deficiencies--Not as though, etc.
3. That he made it the one great business of his life to realize the blessings of the gospel, both in this life and the next (verses 12-14 and 7-9). Compare yourselves with Paul. (J. Jordan.)
A call to perseverance
I. Our attainments vary, but none is actually secure or absolutely perfect.
II. Our duty, to continue in the exercise of faith, self-denial effort.
III. Our hope. To gain the full reward, to which Christ has designed us. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Christian perfection
I. The sense in which Christians are not perfect. They are not so perfect as to be free--
1. From ignorance: they may know many things material and spiritual, but they do not know the Almighty unto perfection nor many of His ways.
2. From mistake. They do not mistake things essential to salvation; but in non-essentials they err and frequently: in regard, e.g., to facts and their circumstances, and the character of men, and the interpretation of Scripture.
3. From infirmities. They are free indeed from what the worldly calls his infirmity--drunkenness, etc.
but not from weakness or slowness of understanding, and the infirmities of speech and behaviour which spring there from.
4. From temptation, since Christ was tempted.
5. Now are they absolutely perfect. How much soever a man has attained he must yet grow in grace.
II. The sense in which Christians are perfect.
1. They are free from outward sin. (1Jn_3:8-9; 1Jn_3:18; Rom_6:1-2; Rom_6:5-7; Rom_6:11; Rom_6:14-18; 1Pe_4:1-2). It is not said, He sinneth not wilfully, habitually, as other men, or as he did before. Objection
(1) But did not Abraham, Moses, and David commit sin. Yes, but it does not follow that Christians must. Those who argue so seem never to have considered Mat_11:11. We cannot measure the privileges of Christians by those formerly given to the Jews. Objection
(2) But are there not assertions which prove the same thing? (1Ki_8:46; 2Ch_6:36; Ecc_7:20). Answer: From the day that sin entered the world there was not a just man that sinned not until the Son of God was manifested to take away our sins. The heir as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant. Holy men of old were, during the infant state of the Church, in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fulness of the times was come, etc. Now therefore we are no more servants but sons. So that whatsoever was the case of those under the law, since the gospel was given he that is born of God sinneth not. It is of great importance to observe the difference between the two dispensations (Joh_7:28). That this great salvation from sin was not given till Jesus was glorified, St. Peter plainly testifies (1Pe_1:9-10). Objection
(3) But did not the apostles sin--St. Paul by his contention, St. Peter by his dissimulation? Yes, but how does that prove that Christians must commit sin. No necessity of sinning was laid upon them. The grace of God was sufficient for them, and it is surely sufficient for us. No man is tempted above that he is able to bear, and with the temptation there is a way of escape. Objection
(4) But does not James contradict this (verse 2). No; he does not refer to himself or Christians (see verses 9 and 1), where we is general or exclusive of Christians. Objection
(5) How shall we reconcile St. John with himself? (1Jn_1:8; 1Jn_1:10). Observe
(a) verse 10 fixes the sense of verse 8.
(b) The point under consideration is not whether we have or have not sinned heretofore; and neither of these verses asserts that we do sin, or commit it now.
(c) Verse 9 explains both verses 10 and 8.
We are cleansed from all unrighteousness that we may go and sin no more. St. John is well consistent with himself as well as with the other holy writers. He declares--
(a) The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.
(b) No man can say I have not sinned, have no sin to be cleansed from.
(c) But God is ready to save us from past and future sins.
(d) These things write, etc. (1Jn_2:1-2).
(e) But lest there should be any doubt on a subject of such vast importance the apostle resumes the subject in Chap. 3, where he carefully explains his own meaning (verses 7-10).
2. They are free from evil thoughts. But thoughts concerning evil are not always evil thoughts. Our Lord doubtless thought of the things spoken by the devil yet He had no sinful thought. And even thence it follows, neither have Christians (Luk_6:40). And indeed whence should evil thoughts proceed in the servant who is as His Master (Mar_7:21, cf. Mat_12:33; Mat_7:17-18). The same happy privilege St. Paul asserts from his own experience (2Co_10:4, etc).
3. From evil tempers. This is evident again from the declaration, Everyone that is perfect shall be as His Master. Christ had just been delivering some of the sublimest doctrines of Christianity, and some most grievous to flesh and blood--Love your enemies, etc. What other than this can St. Paul mean by I am crucified with Christ, etc. If 1Jn_3:3 be true, then the Christian--
(1) Is purified from pride, for Christ was lowly of heart;
(2) from self-will or desire, for Christ desired to do only the will of the Father;
(3) from anger in the common sense of the word, for Christ was gentle and long-suffering. Conclusion: Thus doth Christ save His people from their sins. We shall be saved say some, but not till death. How is this to be reconciled with 1Jn_1:5; 1Jn_4:17. See 2Co_7:1. (John Wesley, M. A.)
Apprehended that I may apprehend
I. Paul was apprehended by Christ or laid hold of. The reference is to the circumstances of His conversion.
1. What was it that arrested Paul? The perception of a perfection of moral character actualized before him in Christ and made possible for him through faith. Up to this time he had been seeking external things, but now with the vision of Christ there came upon him the conviction that even if he gained all these things he would still be fatally defective in the highest elements of his being. Thus, therefore, he was confronted with the great question: Shall I go on and be content with the hollowness of Phariseeism and its inevitable issue? or shall I go back and build my life anew after the matchless pattern which has been set before me? He could not get away till he had given it an answer.
2. There is not one who has ever come in contact with the gospel of Christ, who has not been laid hold of thus.
(1) Young man, as you have been devoting yourself to the idolatry of wealth, or to the pursuit of pleasure or ambition, you have been laid hold of. Christ has come to you through the faithful preacher, and brought you to a standstill by the death of some companion, or laid His hand upon you in sickness, and held you to your couch face to face with the question: Have I been living a life such as an immortal man should live?
(2) My middle-aged friend, you know about this too. Christ apprehended you and asked you to revise all your theories of life when you buried your darling out of your sight; when your business went all wrong, etc.
II. Paul did not refuse to lay hold of that which Jesus set before him.
1. There is here, therefore, a human agency as well as a Divine. The stopping of St. Paul in his career, the setting of the truth before him--all that was done for him. He had to choose for himself whether or no he would transfer himself from the service of the world to the service of Christ.
2. But not every one who has been laid hold of has thus responded to the Lords appeal--the young ruler who went away sorrowful; Herod, Felix, Agrippa.
3. So with some here. They have seen the wrongness of their present career, but they have not chosen to give it up for the way of Christ; because to do so would have involved the sacrifice of all that hitherto they have cherished. But what can the world do for you, that for its sake you should put away from you the glorious heritage which Jesus promises?
III. Paul was not content with a mere partial attainment of that which Christ had set before him.
1. If any man might have been excused for cherishing feelings of complacency it was Paul. Yet he did not go to sleep over the singularity of his conversion; nor rock himself in the cradle of his apostolic success, nor soothe himself with the opiate of his official position. No, ever his eye was fixed on Christ. The more elevated he became in character, the more elevated Christ became to him.
2. Let the distance between you and Christ shake you out of your complacency. Tell us less of what is behind. Dont be always recounting the story of your conversion. Forget even your joining the Church. Look forward.
IV. Paul was not discouraged because he had not yet fully apprehended. There is no note of despondency. His words are full of joyful exhilaration. There are three elements in this aspiration which should encourage those who grieve because they cannot realize perfection.
1. The joy of the soul is inseparably connected with the effort to reach that which is above it.
2. In this aspiration there was the evidence that he had made some progress.
3. The consciousness that he was not striving in his own might. He who helped Paul will help us. Even if we fail occasionally let us not be discouraged, for he who slips on the steep mountain is still higher up than he who is sleeping in the valley. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Apprehended but not apprehending
Who that has read that melancholy autobiography left behind him by John Stuart Mill can help recalling here the description which he has given of that which might have been the religious crisis of his life? These are his words: I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to, unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement--one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times becomes insipid or indifferent--the state, I should think, in which converts to Methodism usually are when smitten by their first conviction of sin. In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself: Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to could be completely effected at this very instant; would this be a great joy and happiness to you? And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, No. At this my heart sank within me; the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for. Thus even to him, nurtured though he had been in atheism, and educated without a religion, the Saviour came, laying on him His arresting hand, and beseeching him to adopt a more stable foundation for his life. But alas! he, too, made the great refusal, and deliberately put away from him that which would have furnished him with a model that can never lose its relative superiority, no matter how we ourselves may grow, and with a motive that can never lose its power. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The misfortune of a realized ideal
I recall the story of the artist, who, standing before the latest production of his hands, burst into tears, and on being asked for the reason of his emotion, replied, Because I am satisfied with my work. He felt he had done all that was in him; that, in a word, he had overtaken his ideal, and so henceforward the joy of his art for him was gone. Perhaps, too, it was something of the same sort that made Alexander weep when he had conquered India. He had filled in the outline of his life which he had made for himself, and thought not that there was yet another world left him where conquest would be far more honourable, even the world within himself. But the Christian is delivered from this danger. He has always the joy of advancement, while yet there is ever something more in Christ beckoning him forward. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Php_3:12-14
Not as though I had already attained
I.
The imperfection of our attainments.
II. The grandeur of our calling.
III. The necessity of effort.
IV. The prospect of reward. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Failure and progress
1. It is a painful feeling to look back on life and feel that a great object is unaccomplished. The philosopher has this, who in spite of brilliant prospects finds after hard effort the problems of life to be insoluble. The would be liberator of an oppressed nation feels the same when, after vast expenditure of time and money and suffering, he dies with a tyrant on the throne and the people no better for freedom than when he began. The Christians feeling is even more painful, when he measures what he has done with what he might or ought to have done.
2. This, too, has to be observed of the Christian that, as he advances in the Christian course, his standard of perfection rises, and what once satisfied him now fails to do so.
3. The feeling of not having attained is also disheartening. Is the past to be the criterion of the future?
4. The feeling is deepened by the thought of all the struggle and strife to attain perfection, and all seemingly to little purpose. And soon he must meet the Great Judge who, however merciful, commands him to be perfect.
5. The apostle withdraws our attention from this feeling about the past to the future.
I. It is not a healthy thing to brood over past sin.
1. There is such a thing as disturbing the balance between the two parts of repentance, sorrow for sin and active obedience.
(1) Sorrow for sin is foundation work. Should a man be employed all his life in laying foundations?
(2) It is subordinate work, for it has no value apart from its action on character.
2. Brooding over the past has a dangerous influence on character, and has a tendency to remorse or despair.
3. The natural course is from sorrow to pass to obedience, remembering gospel provisions and motives.
II. I must not infer what my religious future will be from the past. The doctrine of probabilities is a very good one to go upon in worldly matters, wherever a permanent law prevails. Here the rule would he remembering the things behind, etc. But there are factors in the spiritual life which can change the face of things. To say that it is improbable that the Spirit will give you more strength hereafter than now would be an impious restraint on the action of the freest of Beings. Such a habit, moreover, is destructive of faith and hope. Forget the past and believe that it is possible for you to grow faster in goodness in one year than you have grown in ten; and that there are resources inconceivably great within your reach.
III. We must not remember the past as our standard of action or character. Here we must draw a distinction. The man who is conscious of high purposes running through the web of life may be glad, as he takes his reviews of bygone days, that the grace of God has enabled him to live on the whole near to the level of Christian principles--but there must ever be a discontent with themselves in the minds of Christians. And he may well suspect himself of declension or something more who is content to live as he has lived. Hence to forget the past and to remember it in order to avoid its evils are the same thing.
IV. The soul must be so occupied with the future that the past shall only be subordinate and subsidiary. If I have been in wretchedness the remembrance is of no account except to help me to escape from it. If I have been poor exertion to gain is the main thing. Whatever the past, the Christians future has in it possibilities almost infinite. (Pres. Woolsey.)
Aspiration
I. The goal at which the apostle aimed was moral perfection. No man can define this moral perfection; but let no man object on that account. All the grandest things defy definition. Music, the perfection of sound; beauty, the perfection of form and colour; poetry, the perfection of thought--no one can define these, nor can any one the music, beauty, and poetry of our highest nature and life.
II. The apostle acknowledges that he has not reached this perfection.
1. Are we to understand that Paul felt unsubdued pride, selfishness, etc. No. That which is not perfect is imperfect; but sin is not imperfection; it is contradiction. The contradictory element was destroyed, but imperfection remained, the normal elements of his nature had not attained their fulness and strength and beauty.
2. Who of us has attained? We are told of young people who have finished their education. Think of having finished ones education with a world like this about us! Much more in the things of Christ.
III. The apostle tells us what he does to attain that moral perfection which is the prize of victory. One thing I do, etc. Scientists tell us of arrested developements in nature, but instances of that in spiritual life are more numerous. This is to a large extent because men are trammelled by the things behind.
1. There are the restrictions of habit. Terrible is the peril of routine, the benumbing influence of familiarity and commonplace. We must break away from this.
2. The discouragements of failure. Here the waters of forgetfulness are the waters of life. We are saved by hope, not by memory.
3. The tyranny of success. The success of many musicians, artists, preachers, masters, etc,, contents them, and instead of being an inspiration is a stultification. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Pauls ideal of life
The whole doctrine of the Christian ideal is contained in this section of apostolic experience. An ideal is sometimes called a standard, and so, in some sense, it is; but a standard is something measured, whereas an ideal is changeable, ever mounting higher and higher. Men do not go on a journey or build a house aimlessly, much less should they live aimlessly. They should set before them a distinct idea of character. We call it an ideal because it proceeds from the faculty of ideality or imagination, and presents all subjects in their perfectness. It is a glorious element in the human mind, for there is so much to draw men down from what is noble. And an ideal should always run far beyond realization. The man whose standard is far beneath his power must inevitably go down.
I. There are three classes of men.
1. Those who have no ideal whatever. They are born Hottentots and they remain so. If they are born into mechanical life, mechanics they remain. These have food and raiment, and, being fired with no inspiration, they are contented.
2. There are those who have an ideal which is pure romancing. They are simple dreamers. They imagine themselves to be now a warrior, now an artist, now an orator, and fill up the hour of their dream with the fancied dignity. These things have no relation to practical life; on the contrary they come back with less nerve and a greater inclination to avoid the burdens of life.
3. There are those who have a clear conception of the possibilities of human development, and who bring enough of reason with their imagination to give definiteness and purpose to their ideals. In this class we should seek to be found.
II. There are many kinds of ideals.
1. Those which respect the external, secular condition of men. There are those who say, I will not be a second workman to any man. Their ideal lies in their trade. The ideal of others consists in being rich, or high up in society. These things are not wrong, if they are parts of a comprehensive scheme that includes everything--body and soul. It is better to have these as ideals than to be aimless. But it is imperfect and may be ruinous. A man may sacrifice his own life and moral well being for the purpose of pouring molten gold into his childrens throats that destroys him in making and them in taking.
2. There are those who rise higher and take in an ideal which includes secular character as well as secular condition; who propose to be honoured among men; some by art, some by literature, some by statesmanship, etc. They intend to be respected for integrity and known for power. But these aim at character only as a thing within the bounds of time, and necessarily dwarf themselves. For man is a creature of two worlds, and in this he is at his least estate.
3. Others include the whole manhood for both worlds--the apostles ideal. He substantially declared, Nothing is done while anything remains undone. Not as though I had attained.
III. This delineates the noblest form of ambition and the noblest ideal of life. Life is transformed by it.
1. Such an ideal unites and harmonizes life and redeems it from being a mere series of disconnected experiences and passages.
2. It stimulates and inspires the soul. A man may have no motive to life who merely has an ideal of wealth or ambition when these become impossible to him. You cannot make a man like Paul bankrupt. He has still, when all is gone, a house not made with hands.
3. It redeems men from indolence.
4. It is the cure for conceit.
5. It maintains spring and enterprise to the end of life, and fires men up at the very last with solemn purposes and noble resolves. Conclusion: Avoid one rock which is fatal to nobility. Because you have broken your purpose dont let it go unmended: when you have failed to reach your ideal dont despair but try again. (H. W. Beecher.)
The ideal and the actual
I. The ideal of Christian life and character. St. Paul was a most ambitious man, but his aim was to be something. So his ideal was personal, not something wrought out or imagined or embodied in a system or a creed. He wanted to be like Christ. That for him was perfection.
II. The apostle had not reached his mark.
1. He had a consciousness of incompletion which was forced upon him by a variety of experiences.
(1) His particular form of ambition--being as distinct from having--which, connected with Christ, was an egoism which promoted true humility. Hence he was keenly alive to his imperfections.
(2) His sense of limitations. The feeling would be forced upon him that he was capable of better things.
2. All this has its lessons.
(1) It gives us heart for ourselves and courage in our work for others.
(2) It rebukes self-satisfaction and complacency.
(3) It teaches us to recognize Christian character below perfection, and to cultivate charity for the imperfect.
III. But it was the fixed practical purpose of his life to reach it. Did he do nothing beside? Nothing. He did indeed many things, but the many made one. And had he been a Manchester man he would so have bought and sold, etc., that in doing it he would have been doing the one thing.
IV. His method of progress.
1. Forgetfulness of things which belong to immature and unripened states.
2. A gathering up of the totality of nature into purpose and effort. (W. Hubbard.)
Few believers perfect here
When Allston died he left many pictures which were mostly sketches, yet with here and there a part finished up with wonderful beauty. So I think Christians go to heaven with their virtues mostly in outline, only here and there a part completed. But that which is in part shall be done away, and God shall finish the pictures in His own forms and colours. (H. W. Beecher.)
Aim at perfection
I. Thy heed of it. Our actual attainments are small--we have much to learn and experience.
II. The means. A humble estimate of ourselves--leaving the things behind and reaching to those that are before--pressing to the goal.
III. The incentive. We would be perfect (see Barnes). In non-essentials we may differ, and God will in due time set us right--but in this we must have one rule and one mind. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Christian progress
I. Wherein we may make progress.
1. In our views of the excellence of religion.
2. In our love to God and Christ.
3. In holiness.
4. In heavenly-mindedness.
II. The necessity of this progress. This is seen--
1. In the frequency with which the Christian life is compared to a warfare and a race.
2. In the urgent commands of God.
3. In the nature of religion to which progress is indispensable.
III. The means.
1. A firm belief that Divine influences may be obtained at all times, and to the full extent of our wants, by humble, earnest prayer.
2. Constant application to Divine ordinances.
3. A continual view of the Cross.
4. A constant vision of the prize.
5. A study of eminent examples. (T. Craig.)
The struggle for perfection
We go into a sculptors studio, and there stands a block of marble on which the sculptor is working; the marble is all white and pure, yet the image is imperfect; the hand is beginning to beckon, the foot to move, thought is gathering on the brow, the lips seem as if they would soon speak, yet the statue is still imperfect; nothing faulty in the material, but it is not yet wrought into the fulness of the sculptors ideal. So it was with the apostle; the vicious element was purged, but his deep soul had not yet been wrought into the fulness of the Divine ideal. He went out after larger measures, intenser experiences of love, power, light, fellowship, and blessedness, beyond all his past or present enjoyments. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Unrealized possibilities
You remember how the mightiest discoverer in natural science of modem times, Sir Isaac Newton, said, towards the close of his career, that he was but as a child who had gathered a few shells on the shores of an illimitable sea. He saw stretching before him a vast ocean of knowledge, which his life had been too short, which even his powers had been too weak, to explore. What he felt in things natural, St. Paul felt in things spiritual--that there were heights above him which he had never scaled, depths beneath him which he had never fathomed; that, rich as he was in Christ, there were yet hidden in that Lord treasures of wisdom and knowledge which would make him far richer still; that God was unsearchable, unfathomable, a shoreless sea, an ocean of perfections; of which he understood a little, of which he was understanding ever something more; but which man could no more take in than he could hold the sea and all its multitudinous waves in the hollow of his hand. Skirts of His glory St. Paul had seen, but not His train which filled the temple of the universe. Secrets of Christs power he had known, who in this very Epistle declared, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me; and yet he felt that there was a power of Christ, transcending all which even he had known; and like some great earthly conqueror, who should esteem nothing won while anything remained to win, nothing accomplished while anything was yet possible to accomplish; who slighted, despised, trampled under foot all his old successes in the eager pursuit of new; even so this mighty spiritual athlete, this captain, commander, conqueror, leader of the hosts of the Lord, could not stay his steps, could not arrest his course. (Abp. Trench.)
More and yet more
You know what the general said when one of his officers rode up and cried, Sir, we have taken a standard. Take another, cried he. Another officer salutes him, and exclaims, Sir, we have taken two guns. Take two more, was the sole reply. This way lies the reward of holy service: you have done much; you shall do more. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
No retreat
It is said that at the battle of Alma, when one of the regiments was being beaten back by the Russians, the ensign in front stood his ground as the troops retreated. The captain shouted to him to bring back the colours. But the reply of the ensign was, Bring up the men to the colours. The dignity of Immanuels ministry can never be lowered to meet our littleness. The men must come up to the colours. (New Testament Anecdotes.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 14
Chapter 14
CHRISTIAN LIFE A RACE.
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Php_3:12-17 (R.V.)
VARIOUS passages in this Epistle suggest that the Apostles Philippian friends or some of them were relaxing in diligence; they were failing perhaps to lay to heart the need of progress, less sensitive than they ought to be to the impulse of Christianity as a religion of effort and expectancy. Some of them, it might be, were inclined to think of themselves as now pretty well initiated into the new religion, and as pretty thorough adepts in its teaching and its practice; entitled therefore to sit down and look round with a certain satisfaction and complacency. If it were so, the tendency to division would be accounted for. Arrogance in Christians is a sure preliminary to heats and disputings. At all events, however it might be at Philippi, an insidious complacency in little improvements and small attainments is not unknown among Christians. It is, one may fear, a common impression among us that we are fair average Christians, - a feeling perhaps not so cherished as to make us boast, but yet so cherished as to make us feel content. And, alas! the very meaning of Christianity was to inspire us with a spirit that would refuse so to be contented.
Some feeling of this kind may have led the Apostle to lay stress on the onward energising character of Christianity as he knew it. This was the manner of his regard to his Lord. At the foundation of his religion there was, indeed, the faith of a wonderful gift of righteousness and life. That gift he welcomed and embraced. But it wrought in him eagerness of desire, and intentness of purpose, to secure and have all that this gift implied. It stirred him to activity and progress. His was not the Christianity of one who counts himself to have already obtained all into possession, nor of one who finds himself landed already in the state at which the Christian promises aim. Rather he is one set in full view of a great result: some experience of the benefits of it is already entering into his history; but it is yet to be brought to pass in its fulness; and that must be along a line of believing endeavour, Christ working and Paul working, Christ faithful with Paul faithful. "I follow after, if that I may lay hold and extend my grasp, seeing Christ has laid hold with His grasp on me." Christ had a purpose, and has mightily inaugurated a process through which this purpose may be achieved in the history of Paul. And as Christ lays His grasp on Paul, behold the purpose of Christ becomes also the purpose of Paul, and he now throws himself into the process with all his force, to apprehend that for the sake of which Christ apprehended him.
Here Paul signalised one distinguishing attribute of genuine Christianity as he knew it. He did not yet count himself to have laid complete grasp on the whole of Christian good. In a very important practical sense salvation was still something ahead of him, as to the final, secure, complete possession; Christ Himself was an object still before him, as to the knowledge and the fellowship for which he longed. But one thing is vital and distinctive. "This Saviour with His salvation holds me so, that I count all but loss for Him. He holds me so, that forgetting all that lies behind, I bend myself to the race, stretching out towards the goal at which the prize of the high calling of God in Christ is won. That is my Christianity." He who had suffered loss of all for Christ, he who so burned with desire to know Him in His righteousness, in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, is far from thinking he has reached the goal. Because the knowledge of Christ is so great a thing in his eyes, therefore, on the one hand, all he has attained as yet seems partial and imperfect; but for the same reason, on the other hand, he feels the great attraction by which all his powers are drawn into the endeavour which so great a prize shall crown.
The question may here be put how the consistency of the gospel can be made out if we are called to rest and rejoice in Christ, and if, at the same time, we find ourselves committed to so absorbing a struggle for a prize. If God will have us, it may be said, to seek and strive that we may obtain, then we must do so because it is His will. But where is the connection of things that will avert inconsistency, and bring out a reasonable continuity of principles, between the call to rest on Christ for full salvation, and the call to run a race, and so run as to obtain? For answer it is to be remembered, in the first place, that (as commonly happens in matters where life and its activities are concerned) the difficulty concerns only the adjustment of our theory; it begins to vanish when we come to practice. When we are in vital contact with the spiritual realities themselves, we find both elements of the case to be true for us, and each indispensable to the truth of the other. The rest of faith and the fight of faith belong to each other. But not to dwell on so general a consideration, two lines of thought may be suggested to those who are conscious of embarrassment at this point.
First, let it be considered that the faith of a Christian embraces real relations with the living God, different from anything that is possible to unbelief. Through Christ we believe in God. Those relations are conceived to be real and vital from the first, though the perfect experience of all that they imply belongs to the future. Faith means that from the outset of believing we are to be to God, and God is to be to us, something different from what the flesh perceives. Christ believed in is an assurance that so it is and shall be. But now, the state of men is such, as long as they have to carry on a life of faith in a world of sense and sin, that this faith of theirs presently meets with flat contradiction. The course of the world treats it all as null. Sin in their own hearts, and many experiences of life, seem to negative the pretensions and the claims of faith. And strong temptations whisper that this high fellowship with a living God not only does not exist, but that it is not desirable that it should. So that from the outset and all along, faith, it it is not content to be a mere dream, if it will count for a reality, must contend for its life. It must fight, "praying always with all prayer," to make good its ground, and to hold on to its Lord. It is indeed the nature of faith to rest, for it is a trust; not less certainly faith is under necessity to strive, for it is challenged and impeached.
It lies therefore in the very nature of the case that, if faith is in earnest in embracing real and progressive salvation, it must find itself drawn into conflict and effort to assert the reality and to experience the progress. The opposition it meets with ensures this.
On the other hand, it is the nature of the gospel to set men free for active service. It supplies motives, therefore, for enterprise, diligence, and fidelity; and it provides a goal towards which all shall tend. So men become fellow-labourers with their Lord. And if it is intelligible that the Lord should exert continual care for them, it ought to be intelligible also that they are to be exercised in a continual care for Him; care, that is, for the discharge of the trust which they hold from Him.
The Apostle dwells on all this, evidently because he felt it to be a point of so great importance in practical Christianity. In this world the right Christian is the man who knows well he has not attained, but who devotes his life to attaining. Paul brings this out by means of the image of a race for a prize, such as might be seen in the public games. This is a favourite illustration with him. His use of it illustrates the way in which things that are steeped in worldliness may aid us in apprehending the things of Gods kingdom. They do so, because they involve elements or energies of mans nature that are good as far as they go. As the Apostle thought of the racers, prepared by unsparing discipline, which had been concentrated on the one object; as he thought of the determination with which the eager runners started, and of the way in which every thought and every act was bent upon the one purpose of success, until the moment when the panting runner shot past the goal, it stirred him with the resolve to be not less eager in his race; and it made him long to see the children of light as practical and wise as, in their generation, the children of this world are.
As usual in the case of illustrations, this one will not hold in all points. For instance, in a race one only wins, and all the rest are defeated and disappointed. This is not so in the Christian race. The analogies lie elsewhere. In order to run well the runners submit to preparation in which everything is done to bring out their utmost energy for the race. When the race comes each competitor may possibly win: in order to win he must put forth his utmost powers; he must do so within a short period of time; and during that time nothing must distract him from the one aim of winning. He does this for a benefit embodied in, or symbolised by, the prize which rewards and commemorates his victory. These are the points in which the races of public games afford lessons for the Christian race. In the former the fact that the success of any one competitor deprives the others of the prize they seek, is the circumstance that puts intensity into the whole business, and makes a real race of it. So also in the spiritual antitype there are elements which make the race the most real, though they are elements of another kind.
The prize can be nothing else than the life eternal {1Ti_6:12} which comes, as we have seen, into full possession at the resurrection of the dead. He whose favour is life confers it. The bestowment of it is conceived as taking place with gladness and with honourable approbation: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." The prize stands in strict connection with the perfecting of the believer: the time of receiving the prize is also the time of being presented faultless. Neither prize nor perfectness is attained here; neither is attained unless sought here; and the blessedness bestowed is connected in fact and measure with the faith and diligence expended on the race. On all these accounts the prize is spoken of as a crown; a crown of glory, for it is very honourable; a crown of life, incorruptible, that fadeth not away, for it shall never wither on the brow, as the wreaths of those earthly champions did. Now to run his race was for Paul the one thing. He had not yet attained; he could not sit still as if he had: it was his living condition that he must run, as one not yet there, following on in earnest that he might actually have the prize.
Perhaps some one may regard it as objectionable to conceive practical Christianity as a race for a prize. This seems, it may be said, to subordinate the present to the future, this world to the other world, and, in particular, virtue to happiness; because in this way the efforts of goodness here are conceived only as a means to enjoyment or satisfaction there. We reply that the prize does indeed include joy, the joy of the Lord. But it includes, first of all, goodness, consummate in the type of it proper to the individual; and gladness is present no otherwise than as it is harmonised with goodness, being indeed her proper sister and companion. Besides, the elements of the gladness of that state come in as the expression of Gods love-a love both holy and wise. Communion with that love is the true security for goodness. It is equally absurd to suppose, on the one hand, that when that love fills the heart with its unreserved communication there can fail to be gladness; and, on the other hand, to suppose that fellowship with it can be other than the proper and supreme object of a creatures aspiration.
There is no unworthiness in devoting life to win this prize; for it is a state of victorious well-being and well-doing. The highest goodness of all intervening stages is to aspire to that highest goodness of all. Whatever we may do or be, meanwhile, is best attained and done as it confesses its own shortcoming, and hopes and longs to be better and to do more.
It is true that a complete gift of eternal life is held out to us in Christ, and it is faiths part to accept that gift and to rest in it. But yet part of that gift itself is an emancipation of the soul; in virtue of this the man becomes actively responsive to the high calling, reiterates his fundamental decision all along the detail of mortal life, affirms his agreement with the mind and life of his Lord, approves himself faithful and devoted, and runs so as to obtain. All this is in the idea of the gift bestowed, and is unfolded in the experience of the gift received. So the prize is to arise to us as the close of a course of progressive effort tending that way: the reality of the prize corresponds to the reality of the progress; the degree of it, in some way, to the rate of that progress. The progress itself is made good, as we have said, by perpetually re-affirming the initial choice; doing so in new circumstances, under new lights, with a new sense of its meaning, against the difficulties implied in new temptations; yet so as ever, in the main, to abide by the beginning of our confidence. With all this let it be remembered that the time is short; and it will be understood that the Christian life, so viewed, assumes the character, and may well exhibit the intensity and pressure, of a race.
How far short men fall of the great idea of such a life-how they flinch from the perfectness of this Christian imperfection-need not be enlarged upon. But if any life is wholly untrue to this ideal, the Apostle seemingly could not count it Christian. This one thing he did, he bent himself to the race. For if the ultimate attainment has become very attractive, if the sense of present disproportion to it is great, and if, in Christ, both the obligation and the hopefulness of reaching the perfect good have become imperatively plain, what can a man do but run?
Verses 15 and 16 (Php_3:15-16) state the use which the Apostle desires his disciples to make of this account of his own views and feelings, his attitude and his effort, -"As many of us as are perfect."
Since the Apostle has disclaimed (Php_3:12) being already perfected, it may seem strange that he should now say, "As many of us as are perfect." His use of language in other places, however, warrants the position that he is not speaking of absolute perfection, as if the complete result of the Christian calling had been attained. Rather he is thinking of ripe practical insight into the real spirit of the Christian life-that is to say, advanced acquaintance, by experience, with the real nature of the Christian life. He uses this word "perfect" in contrast to "babes" or "children" in Christ. These last are persons who have been truly brought to Christ; but their conceptions and their attainments are rudimentary. They have not attained to large insight into the means and ends of the Christian life, nor to any ripe acquaintance with the position of a Christian man, and the relation he holds to things around him. They are therefore unready to face the responsibilities and perform the duties of Christian manhood. Hence the translators of the Authorised Version, in some passages, render the same word so as to bring out this sense of it. So 1Co_14:20, "Be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men" (τελειοι), and Heb_5:14, "Strong meat belongs to those that are of full age" (τελειων).
It cannot be doubted, however, that the word is used here with a certain emphatic significance in reference to the previous disclaimer, "I am not yet perfected." In the Philippians, or in some of them, Paul apprehended the existence of a self-satisfied mood of mind, such as might perhaps be warrantable if they were now perfect, if Christianity had brought forth all its results for them, but on no other terms. In contrast to this he had set before them the intense avidity with which he himself stretched out towards attainment and completeness which he had not reached. And now he teaches them that to be thus well aware how far we are from the true completeness, to be thus reaching out to it, is the true perfection of our present state: he only is the perfect Christian who is "thus minded"; who knows and feels how much remains to be attained, and gives himself up to the effort and the race under that inspiration. It is as if he said: Would you approve yourselves to be believers, advanced and established; would you show that you have come to a larger measure of just views and just feelings about the new world into which faith has brought you; would you have the character of men well-acquainted with your Lords mind about you, with your own position in relation to Him; in short, would you be perfect, fully under the influence of the Christianity you profess:-then let you and me be "thus minded"; let us evince the lowly sense of our distance from the goal, along with a living sense of the magnificence and urgency of the motives which constrain us to press on to it.
For is there such a thing attainable here as a Christian perfectness, a ripe fulness of the Christian life, which exhibits that working of it, in its various forces, which was designed for this stage of our history? If so, what must it be? That man surely is the perfect man who fully apprehends the position in which the gospel places him here, and the ends it sets before him, and who most fully admits into his life the views and considerations which, in this state of things, the gospel proposes. Then, he must be a man penetrated with a sense of the disproportion between his attainment and Christs ideal, and at the same time set on fire with the desire and hope of overcoming it. Has a man experienced many gracious dealings at his Lords hands, has he made attainments by grace, has he come to a Christian standing that may be called full age, would he be what all this would seem to imply, -then let him take heed to be "thus minded." Otherwise he is already beginning to lose what he seemed to have attained.
It is not so surprising, and it is not so severely to be reprehended, if those fail in this point who are but children in Christ. When the glorious things of the new world are freshly bursting into view, when the affections of the child of God are in their early exercise, when sin for the present seems stricken down, it is not so wonderful if men suppose danger and difficulty to be over. Like the Corinthians, "now they are full, now they are rich, now they have reigned as kings." It has often been so; and at that stage it may be more easily pardoned. One may say of it, "They will learn their lesson by-and-by; they will soon find out that in the life of a Christian all is not triumph and exultation." But it concerns those who have got further on, and it is expected of them, that they should be "thus minded" as the Apostle Paul was. It is a more serious business for them to be of another mind on this point, than for those who are only children in Christ. It tends to great loss. Are we, says the Apostle, come to a point at which we may be thought to be-may hope we are-experienced believers, well acquainted now with the salvation and the service, men in Christ? Then as we would ever act in a manner answerable, at this stage, to the gospel and to our position under the gospel, let us be thus minded; forgetting that which is behind, reaching forth to that which is before, let us press toward the mark. For at each stage of progress much depends on the way in which we deal with the position now attained, with the views which have opened to us, and with the experiences that have been acquired. This may decide whether the stage reached shall be but a step towards something better and more blessed, or whether a sad blight and declension shall set in. There are Christian lives to-day sadly marred, entangled and bewildered so that one knows not what to make of them, and all by reason of failure to be "thus minded."
A man is awakened to the supreme importance of Divine things. At the outset of his course, for years, perhaps, he is a vigorous and growing Christian. So he comes to a large measure of establishment: he grows into knowledge of truth and duty. But after a time the feeling creeps into his mind that matters are now less urgent. He acts rather as a man disposed to keep his ground, than as one that would advance. Now he seems to himself to lose ground somewhat, now to awaken a little and recover it, and on those terms he is fairly well contented. All this while it would be unjust to say that he does not love and serve Christ. But time passes on; life draws nearer to its close. The period at which Gods afflictions usually multiply has arrived. And he awakens at last to see how much of his life has been lost; how extensively, though secretly, decay has marred his attainments and his service; and how little, in the result, of that honourable success has crowned his life which once seemed fair before him.
"Let us be thus minded." Let Christians be admonished who have for some time been Christians, and especially those who are passing through middle life, or from middle life into older years. There is enchanted ground here, in passing over which too many of Christs servants go to sleep. Leave that which is behind.
"Let us be thus minded": but this proves hard. One may see it in a general way to be most reasonable, but to come up to it m particulars is hard. In all particular cases we are tempted to be otherwise minded. And in many particulars we find it very difficult to judge the manner of spirit that we are of. Were all right in us, absolutely right, rectitude of disposition and of moral action would be in a manner instinctive. But now it is not so. With reference to many aspects of our life, it is very difficult to bring out distinctly to our own minds how the attitude that becomes us is to be attained and maintained. The difficulty is real; and therefore a promise is annexed. "If in anything ye be otherwise minded." That may realise, itself in two ways. You may be distinctly conscious that your way of dealing with some interests which enter into your lives is unsatisfactory, is below your calling and privilege as a Christian; and yet you may find it hard to see how you are to rise into the worthier life. It is like a problem which you cannot solve. Or, again, you may fear that it is so; you may fear that if things were seen in the true light it would turn out so. But you cannot see clearly; you cannot identify the faulty element, far less amend it. Here the promise meets you. "If in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." Keep your face in the right direction. Be honestly set on the attainment, and the way will open up to you as you go. You will see the path opening from the point where you stand, into life that throughout is akin to the aspiration and the achievement of the life of Paul.
Paul here has regard to a distinction which theorists are apt to overlook. We have a sufficient objective rule in the word and example of Christ. This may be summarised in forms easily repeated, and a man may, in that respect, know all that need be said as to what he is to do and to be. But in morals and in spiritual life this is only the beginning of another process-namely, the subjective individual entrance into the meaning of it all and the practical appropriation of it. I know the whole of duty on the human side: I am to love my neighbour as myself. It is most essential to know it, and a grand thing to have consented to make a rule of it. But, says one, there remains the difficulty of doing it? Is that all? I reply. There is another previous difficulty. I can preach a sermon on loving my neighbour as myself. But what does that mean, for me, not for any one else, but for myself, on a given day in November, at half-past one in the afternoon, when I am face to face with my neighbour, who has his merits, and also his defects, being, perhaps, provoking and encroaching, with whom I have some business to arrange? What does it mean then and there and for me? Here there opens the whole question of the subjective insight into the scope and genius of the rule; in which problem heart and mind must work together; and commonly there have to be training, experience, growth, in order to the expert and just discernment. Short of that there may be honest effort, blundering most likely, but honest, and lovingly accepted through Christ. But there ought to be growth on this subjective side.
Moreover, when progress has been made here it imposes responsibility. Have you been carried forward to such and such degrees of this subjective insight? Then this ought to be for you a fruitful attainment. Do not neglect its suggestions, do not prove careless and untrue to insight attained. Whereto we have attained, "by the same rule let us walk,"-or, as we may render it, "go on in the same line." So new insight and new achievement shall wait upon our steps.
Generally, if their Lord had carried the Philippians forward to genuine attainments of Christian living, then that history of theirs was a track which reached further on. It was not a blind alley, stopping at the point now reached. It had had a meaning; there was some rationale of it; it proceeded on principles which could be understood, for they had been put in practice; and it demanded to be further pursued. There is a continuity in the work of grace. There is a rational development of spiritual progress in the case of each child of God. What God means, what the direction is in which His finger beckons, what the dispositions are under the influence of which His call is complied with and obeyed, these are things which have been so far learned in that course of lessons and conflicts, of defeats and backslidings, restorations and victories; which has brought you so far. Let this be carried out; keep on in the same road. Whereto you have attained, go on with the same.
But such an admonition at once raises a question; the question, namely, whether we are at any stage in the pathway of Christian attainment, whether there is for us as yet any history of a Divine life. Among those who claim part in Christs benefits are some whom the grace of God has never taught to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly; for they have been persistently deaf to the lesson. There are some who do not know how Christ turns men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. To them the line of admonition now in hand does not apply: to exhort them to "walk on in the same" would be to perpetuate for them a sad mistake. Their course has been dark and downward. Therefore to the admonition already given, the Apostle adds another. "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark (keep sight of) them who walk so as ye have us for an example." Do not mistake the whole nature of Christianity; do not altogether miss the path in which Gods children go. It is one spirit that dwells in the Church; let not your walk forsake the fellowship of that spirit. Christians are not bound to any human authority: Christ is their Master. They must sometimes assert their independence, even with respect to the maxims and manners of good people. Yet there is one spirit in Gods true Church, and there is in the main one course of life which it inspires. Gods children have not been mistaken in the main things. In these, to forsake the spirit and the way of Christs flock is to forsake Christ.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 12–14. Not as though I had already attained. Had…
12–14. Not as though I had already attained. Had already obtained the great prize. It still requires effort. The prize is at the end of the race. Or am already made perfect. He never claimed to have received such a state; nor does he intimate any where that such a state is ever reached on earth. But follow after. Press on, as one who must push forward. If so be that I may apprehend. The idea is, I press on in the hope that I shall lay hold upon the prize. That. He will seek to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of him at conversion, viz., his eternal salvation.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Php_3:12. Not as though I had already attained.—The word…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Php_3:12. Not as though I had already attained.—The word for “attained” may possibly refer to the turning-point in St. Paul’s history, and so the phrase would mean, “not as though by my conversion I did at once attain.” This interpretation, which is Bishop Lightfoot’s, is challenged by Dr. Beet. It seems preferable, on other than grammatical grounds, because the following phrase, if we refer the former to conversion, is an advance of thought. Either were already perfect.—Describing a present state which is the consequence of past processes. He has not reached the condition where nothing else can be added. He is most blessed who, as he mounts ever higher, sees perfection, like Abraham’s mount of sacrifice, “afar off.”
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Php_3:13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.—Some think a reference to the opinion of others lies in the words; but St. Paul seems to be denying of himself what others asserted (in various ways) of themselves. But this one thing I do.—Lit. “but one thing” the words “I do” in A.V. and R.V. are a supplement. Meyer thinks it better to supply “think.” It does not seem necessary to supply anything. “One thing” the apostle never loses sight of; all the threads of life are gathered up into it. Forgetting the things that are behind.—The thought of how much of the course has been covered, and how it was done, sinks in the consideration of what has yet to be achieved. And reaching forth.—“Like one of those eager charioteers … of the Circus Maximus … leaning forward in his flying car, bending over the shaken rein and the goaded steed” (Farrar). St. Paul usually employs the figure of the foot-race; and “the not looking back, which showed a right temper in a runner, would be fatal to the charioteer” (Lightfoot).
Php_3:14. I press toward the mark.—“I hasten towards the gaol” where the adjudicators stand. For the prize of the high calling.—If the “hollow wraith of dying fame” could lead the athletes to put forth almost superhuman effort, how much more worthy was “the amaranthine crown of glory” (1Pe_5:4).
Php_3:15. As many as be perfect.—No longer novices, but having been initiated fully into the most secret mysteries of the faith—“that Christian maturity in which one is no longer a babe in Christ.” The reproachful irony which some detect hardly comports with the general tone of the letter.
Php_3:16. Let as walk by the same rule.—That which had been to them the means of such distinct progress had thus approved itself as the safe and prudent course to follow.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_3:12-16
The Highest Type of Christian Experience.
I. The highest type of Christian experience is divinely outlined in Christ.—“That for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Php_3:12). “The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php_3:14). The prize is not definitely described, but God through the gospel calls upon the soul to take hold of some great, dimly portrayed good, some rich spiritual blessing, some fulness and splendour of character to be secured by a fuller knowledge of Christ. If we say the prize is heaven or the kingdom of God, what is the heavenly kingdom but the fulness of Christ? Though not explained in detail, the prize is sufficiently outlined in Christ, by the master-hand of the divine Artist, as to make it an object of intense longing and strenuous effort to possess. The soul yearns to attain a moral and spiritual perfection found only in Christ, and which the unending development of the beauties of His character are constantly disclosing in ever-growing splendour, and which closer union with Him alone can seize and appropriate.
II. The effort to attain the highest type of Christian experience is stimulated by conscious defect.—“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend” (Php_3:12). The more clearly the apostle saw his privilege in Christ, the more conscious was he of his shortcomings. There is no progress possible to the man who does not see and mourn over his defects. “The soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul;” and it is only a keen sense of need that stimulates the soul to continuous and repeated efforts. The ideal is ever ahead of the actual, revealing its defects and exciting to fresh and more earnest endeavours.
III. The highest type of Christian experience is attained only by strenuous and continuous effort.—“But this one thing I do, … I press toward the mark” (Php_3:13-14). The racer, fixing his eye upon the goal, leans forward, and turning his back upon things behind, presses with all speed towards the prize he covets. If he turns aside, he misses the mark and loses the garland. The great prizes of life are gained only by persevering labour. However prodigious may be the gifts of genius they can only be developed and brought to perfection by toil and study. Think of Michael Angelo working for a week without taking off his clothes, of Handel hollowing every key of his harpsichord like a spoon by incessant practice, and of the sculptor polishing his statue with unwearied repetitions because he said “the image in my head is not yet in my hands.” The prize of the Christian race—the crown of eternal life and blessedness—is worthy of the most laborious and self-denying efforts. When at times the heart grows weary in the struggle, a glimpse of the diadem of beauty obtained by faith revives the flagging energies.
IV. Those who do not see the obligation of striving after the highest type of Christian experience shall be aided with divine light.—“If in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (Php_3:15). The difference of view was not some wilful and wicked conception, or some wretched prejudice adhered to with inveterate or malignant obstinacy. It was rather some truth not fully seen in all its bearings, some principle not so perceived as to be carried out in all its details and consequences, some department of duty which they might apprehend rather than appreciate, or some state of mind which they might admire in the apostle, but did not really covet for themselves. The apostle throws his own teaching into the shade, and ascribes the coming enlightenment to God (Eadie). The man who is honestly in pursuit of the highest good, though led away for a time by erroneous views, shall not lack the light he sincerely seeks. The light which will help him most must be light from God.
V. All progress towards the highest Christian experience must be on the lines of real progress already made.—“Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Php_3:16). Every victory over self and sin is a stepping-stone to further triumphs. The struggle of to-day will be the victory of to-morrow. Our most helpful lessons are gathered from our failures. Our present blessings were obtained through faith and labour; our next must be gained in the same way. God will give more light to the man who rightfully uses what he has. “When the morning bursts suddenly on one awakened out of sleep, it dazzles and pains him; but to him who, on his journey, has blessed the dawn and walked by its glimmer, the solar radiance brings with it a gradual and cheering influence.”
Lessons.—
1. Christ is the sum and pattern of the highest good.
2. Progress in religious experience is a growing likeness to Christ.
3. The soul retains its highest enjoyment and power only in Christ.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Php_3:12. The Happy Day and its Sequel.
I. St. Paul did not forget the circumstances of his arrest by Jesus.
II. St. Paul’s remembrance of his arrest led to a practical inquiry as to its purpose.
III. The purpose of his arrest by Christ Jesus is before and not behind him, even in his old age.
IV. What is the mark to which he presses onward?—
1. A perfect likeness to Christ.
2. A perfect service.
3. The reward in heaven.—W. Hawkins.
Php_3:13-14. Pressing toward the Mark.
I. The apostle’s sense of his own shortcomings.—
1. It argued a high estimate of a Christian’s duty. Perfection is his aim, although not his attainment.
2. It argued a humble estimate of himself.—Though the most eminent Christian on earth, he was fully conscious of his own imperfection.
II. The apostle’s method of Christian progress.—
1. The concentration of his energies. Many things he did, and he did them wholly. But he made them all subservient to his one idea, which thus unified them all. Decision of character.
2. Oblivion of the past.—A wonderful past was his, but he forgot it, except as it might supply a stimulus to his further advances—past times, past pleasures, past sins, past labours, past attainments. The past must have dwelt in his memory, but it did not satisfy him. “Onward” was his motto, and every day he began his race afresh.
3. Untiring activity.—He had the goal ever in his eye; he often measured the distance between him and the goal; he stretched every nerve to reach the goal.
(1) Do we resemble Paul in his aim?
(2) Do we resemble Paul in his efforts.—G. Brooks.
Aim High—
I. In pursuit of moral excellence.
II. Intellectual character.
III. Active usefulness.
Lessons.—
1. God Himself has commanded it.
2. Society expects it of you.
3. The age in which you live demands it.—E. D. Griffin.
Php_3:15-16. The Temper to be cultivated by Christians of Different Denominations toward each other.
I. Those who adhere to this rule.—
1. Seek and cultivate their society.
2. Use means to promote the mutual improvement of these persons and of ourselves.
3. Do all we can to render our mutual reciprocal union more perfect and our usefulness more extensive.
II. Those who differ from us in matters of great importance.—
1. Give consideration to the way in which their religious characters have been formed.
2. Pay regard to the difficulties and misapprehensions which lie in the use of words.
3. Reflect what would probably have been the effects upon our minds had we been placed in their circumstances.
4. Act towards them with justice and kindness.
III. Those who differ from us in matters of smaller moment.—
1. Show them sincere and honest respect and kindness.
2. Cultivate friendly intercourse with them as far as they are disposed to reciprocate such intercourse.
3. Show that we esteem the essential principle of the gospel more than controversial preciseness and ecclesiastical form.—J. P. Smith.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 12. “Not that I have already received, or have…
ARGUMENT 12
PERFECTION OF GLORY VERSUS PERFECTION OF GRACE
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12. “Not that I have already received, or have already been made perfect; but I persevere, if I may receive that for which I was also received by Christ Jesus.” Foolish people quote this passage against Christian perfection, making Paul flatly contradict himself in the fifteenth verse, where he claims perfection for himself and others. In the twelfth verse he is speaking of glory, which he will not receive till the end of probation. This he disclaims. In the fifteenth verse he speaks of the perfection of grace, which he claims for himself and others. Christ took him into hand for his complete and final restitution, which will not take place till this mortal puts on immortality. Paul, with contemporary saints, was on the constant outlook for the Lord to come and transfigure his body, taking him up with his bride. Sanctification is Christian perfection, which Paul, in the fifteenth verse, positively claims for himself and others; while transfiguration is ultimate perfection involved in the restitutionary work of Christ, which he has undertaken for Paul and all of his saints. When Paul lost his head at Nero’s block, his soul was glorified, and thus made perfect in the final sense here involved. In the first resurrection, for which I am now looking, his body will leap into glory from the soil of Italy.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Philippians
LAID HOLD OF AND LAYING HOLD
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Php 3:12.
‘I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.’ That is how Paul thinks of what we call his conversion. He would never have ‘turned’ unless a hand had been laid upon him. A strong loving grasp had gripped him in the midst of his career of persecution, and all that he had done was to yield to the grip, and not to wriggle out of it. The strong expression suggests, as it seems to me, the suddenness of the incident. Possibly impressions may have been working underground, ever since the martyrdom of Stephen, which were undermining his convictions, and the very insanity of his zeal may have been due to an uneasy consciousness that the ground was yielding beneath his feet. That may have been so, but, whether it were so or not, the crisis came like a bolt out of the blue, and he was checked in full career, as if a voice had spoken to the sea in its wildest storm, and frozen its waves into immobility.
There is suggested in the word, too, distinctly, our Lord’s personal action in the matter. No doubt, the fact of His supernatural appearance gives emphasis to the phrase here. But every Christian man and woman has been, as truly as ever Paul was, laid hold of by the personal action of Jesus Christ. He is present in His Word, and, by multitudes of inward impulses and outward providences, He is putting out a gentle and a firm hand, and laying it upon the shoulders of all of us. Have we yielded? Have we resisted, when we were laid hold of? Did we try to get away? Did we plant our feet and say, ‘I will not be drawn,’ or did we simply neglect the pressure? If we have yielded, my text tells us what we have to do next. For that hand is laid upon a man for a purpose, and that purpose is not secured by the hand being laid upon him, unless he, in his turn, will put out a hand and grasp. Our activity is needed; that activity will not be put forth without very distinct effort, and that effort has to be life-long, because our grasp at the best is incomplete. So then, we have here, first of all, to consider--
I. What Christ has laid His grip on us for.
Now, the immediate result of that grasp, when it is yielded to, is the sense of the removal of guilt, forgiveness of sins, acceptance with God. But these, the immediate results, are by no means the whole results, although a great many of us live as if we thought that the only thing that Christianity is meant to do to us is that it bars the gates of some future hell, and brings to us the message of forgiveness. We cannot think too nobly or too loftily of that gift of forgiveness, the initial gift that is laid in every Christian man’s hands, but we may think too exclusively of it, and a great many of us do think of it as if it were all that was to be given. A painter has to clear away the old paint off a door, or a wall, before he lays on the new. The initial gift that comes from being laid hold of by Jesus Christ is the burning off of the old coat of paint. But that is only the preliminary to the laying on of the new. A man away in the backwoods will spend a couple of years after he has got his bit of land in felling and burning the trees, and rooting out and destroying the weeds. But is that what he got the clearing for? That is only a preliminary to sowing the seed. My friend! If Jesus Christ has laid hold of you, and you have let Him keep hold of you, it is not only that you may be forgiven, not only that you may sun yourself in the light of God’s countenance, and feel that a new blessed relation is set up between you and Him, but there are great purposes lying at the back of that, of which all that is only the preliminary and the preparation.
Conversion. Yes; but what is the good of turning a man round unless he goes in the direction in which his face is turned? And so here the Apostle having for years lived in the light of that great thought, that God was reconciled in Jesus Christ, and that he was God’s friend, discerns far beyond that, in dim perspective, towering high above the land in the front, the snowy sunlit summits of a great range to which he has yet to climb, and says, ‘I press on to lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.’
And what was that? On the road to Damascus Paul was only told one thing, that Christ had grasped him and drawn him to Himself in order that He might make him a chosen vessel to bear the Word far hence amongst the Gentiles. The bearing of His conversion upon Paul himself was never mentioned. The bearing of His conversion on the world was the only subject that Jesus spoke of at first. But here Paul has nothing to say about his world-wide mission. He does not think of himself as being called to be an Apostle, but as being summoned to be a Christian. And so, forgetting for the time all the glorious and yet burdensome obligations which were laid upon him, and the discharge of which was the very life of his life, he thinks only of what affects his own character, the perfecting of which he regards as being the one thing for which he was ‘laid hold of by Christ Jesus.’ The purpose is twofold. No Christian man is made a Christian only in order that he may secure his own salvation; there is the world to think of. No Christian man is made a Christian only in order that he may be Christ’s instrument for carrying the Word to other people; there is himself to think of. And these two phases of the purpose for which Jesus Christ lays hold upon us are very hard to unite in practice, giving to each its due place and prominence, and they are often separated, to the detriment of both the one that is attended to, and the one that is neglected. The monastic life has not produced the noblest Christians; and there are pitfalls lying in the path of every man who, like me, has for his profession to preach the Gospel, which, if they are fallen into, the inward life is utterly wrecked.
The two sides of Christ’s purpose have, in our practice, to be held together, but for the present I only wish to say a word or two about that which, as I have indicated, is but one hemisphere of the completed orb, and that is our personal culture and growth in the divine life. What did Christ lay hold of me for? Paul answers the question very strikingly and beautifully in a previous verse. Here is his conception of the purpose, ‘that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.’ That is what you were forgiven for; that is what you have ‘passed from death unto life’ for; that is what you have come into the sweet fellowship of God, and can think of Him as your Friend and Helper for.
Let us take the clauses seriatim , and say a word about each of them. ‘That I may know Him.’ Ah! there is a great deal more in Jesus Christ than a man sees when he first sees Him through his tears and his fears, and apprehends Him as the Saviour of his soul, and the sacrifice on whom the burden and the guilt of his sins were laid. We must begin there, as I believe. But woe to us if we stop there. There is far more in Christ than that; although all that is in Him is included in that, yet you have to dig deep before you find all that is included in it. You have to live with Him day by day, and year by year, and to learn to know Him as we learn to know husbands and wives, by continual intercourse, by continual experience of a sweet and unfailing love, by many a sacred hour of interchange of affection and reception of gifts and counsels. It is only thus that we learn to know what Jesus Christ is. When He lays hold of us, He comes like the angel that came to Peter in the prison in the dark and awoke him out of his sleep and said ‘Rise! and follow me.’ It is only when we get out into the street, and have been with Him for awhile, and the daylight begins to stream in, that we see clearly the face of our Deliverer, and know Him for all that He is. This knowledge is not the sort of knowledge that you can get by thinking, or out of a book. It is the knowledge of experience. It is the knowledge of love, it is the knowledge of union, and it is in order that we may know Christ that He lays his hand upon us.
‘The power of His Resurrection.’ Now, by that I understand a similar knowledge, by experience, of the risen life of Jesus Christ flowing into us, and filling our hearts and minds with its own power. The risen life of Jesus is the nourishment and strengthening and blessing and life of a Christian. Our daily experience ought to be that there comes, wavelet by wavelet, that silent, gentle, and yet omnipotent influx into our empty hearts, the very life of Christ Himself.
I know that this generation says that that is mysticism. I do not know whether it is mysticism or not. I am sure it is truth; and I do not understand Christianity at all, unless there is that kind of mysticism, perfectly wholesome and good, in it. You will never know Jesus Christ until you know Him as pouring into your hearts the power of an endless life, His own life. Christ for us by all means,--Christ’s death the basis of our hope, but Christ in us, and Christ’s life as the true gift to His Church. Have you got that? Do you know the power of His Resurrection?
‘The fellowship of His sufferings.’ Has Paul made a mistake, and deserted the chronological order? Why does he put the ‘fellowship of the sufferings’ after the ‘power of the Resurrection’? For this plain reason, that if we get Christ’s life into our hearts, in the measure in which we get it we shall bear a similar relation to the world which He bore to it, and in our measure will ‘fill up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ,’ and will understand how true it is that ‘if they hate Me they will hate you also.’ Brethren, the test of us who have the life of Christ in our hearts is that we shall, in some measure, suffer with Him, because ‘as He is, so are we, in this world,’ and because we must in that case look upon the world, its sins and its sorrows, with something of the sad gaze with which He looked across the valley to the Temple sparkling in the morning light, and wept over it. So if we know the power of His Resurrection we shall know the fellowship of His sufferings.
And then Paul goes on, in his definition of the purpose for which Christ lays hold upon men, apparently to say the same thing over again, only in the opposite order, ‘that I may be conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.’ Both of these clauses, I think, refer to the future, to the actual dying of the body, and the actual future resurrection of the same. And the thought is this, that if here, through our earthly lives, we have been recipients of the risen life of Jesus Christ, and so have stood to the world in our degree as He stood to it, then when the moment of death comes to us, we shall, in so far, have our departure shaped after His as that we shall be able to say, ‘Into Thy hands I commit my spirit,’ and die willingly, and at last shall be partakers of that blessed Resurrection unto life eternal which closes the vista of our earthly history. Stephen’s death was conformed to Christ’s in outward fashion, in so far as it echoed the Master’s prayer, ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,’ and in so far as it echoed the Master’s last words, with the significant alteration that, whilst Jesus commended His spirit to the Father, the first martyr commended his to Jesus Christ.
These, then, are the purposes for which Christ laid His hand upon us, that we might know Him, the power of His Resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death yet by attaining the resurrection of the dead.
II. Notice, again, our laying hold because we have been laid hold of.
Christ’s laying hold of me, blessed and powerful as it is, does not of itself secure that I shall reach the end which He had in view in His arresting of me. What more is wanted? My effort. ‘I follow after if I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.’ Now, notice, in the one case, the Apostle speaks of himself, not as passive, but certainly not as active. ‘I was laid hold of.’ What did he do? As I have said, he simply yielded to the grasp. But ‘I may lay hold of’ conveys the idea of personal effort; and so these two expressions, ‘I was apprehended,’ and ‘I apprehend,’ suggest this consideration, that, for the initial blessings of the Christian life, forgiveness, acceptance, the sense of God’s favour, and of reconciliation with him, nothing is needed but the simple faith that yields itself altogether to the grasp of Christ’s hand, but that for my possessing what Christ means that I should possess when He lays His hand on me, there is needed not only faith but effort. I have to put out my hand and tighten my fingers round the thing, if I would make it my own, and keep it.
So--faith, to begin with, and work based on faith, to go on with. It is because a man is sure that Jesus Christ has laid His hand upon him, and meant something when He did it, that he fights on with all his might to realise Christ’s purpose, and to get and keep the thing which Christ meant him to have. There is stimulus in the thought, I was laid hold of by Him for a purpose. There is all the difference between striving, however eagerly, however nobly, however strenuously, however constantly, after self-improvement, by one’s own effort only, and striving after it because one knows that he is therein fulfilling the purpose for which Jesus Christ drew him to Himself.
And if that be so, then the nature of the thing to be laid hold of determines what we are to do to lay hold of it. And since to know Christ, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, is the aim and end of our conversion, the way to secure it must be keeping in continual touch with Jesus by meditating upon Him, by holding many a moment of still, sacred, sweet communion with Him, by carefully avoiding whatever might come between us and our knowledge of Him, and the influx of His life into us, and by yielding ourselves, day by day, to the continual influence of His divine grace upon us and by the discipline which shall make our inward natures more and more capable of receiving more and more of that dear Lord. These being the things to do, in regard to the inward life, there must be effort too, in regard to the outward; for we must, if we are to lay hold of that for which we are laid hold of by Jesus Christ, bring all the outward life under the dominion of this inward impulse, and when the flood pours into our hearts we must, by many a sluice and trench, guide it into every corner of the field, that all may be irrigated. The first thing they do when they are going to sow rice in an Eastern field is to flood it, and then they cast in the seed, and it germinates. Flood your lives with Christ, and then sow the seed and you will get a crop.
III. Lastly, the text suggests the incompleteness of our grasp.
‘I follow that,’ says Paul, ‘if that I may apprehend.’ This letter was written far on in his career, in the time of his imprisonment in Rome, which all but ended his ministerial activity; and was many years after that day on the road to Damascus. And yet, matured Christian and exercised Apostle as he was, with all that past behind him, he says, ‘I follow after, that I may apprehend.’ Ah, brother, our experience must be incomplete, for we have an infinite aim set before us, and there is no end to the possibilities of plunging deeper and deeper and deeper into the knowledge of Christ, and having larger and larger and larger draughts of the fulness of His life. We have only been like goldseekers, who have contented themselves as yet with washing the precious grains out of the gravel of the river. There are great reefs filled with the ore that we have not touched. Thank God for the necessary incompleteness of our ‘apprehending.’ It is the very salt of life. To have realised our aims, to have fulfilled our ideals, to have sucked dry the cluster of the grapes is the death of aspiration, of hope, of blessedness; and to have the distance beckoning, and all experience ‘an arch, wherethro’ gleams the untravelled world to which we move,’ is the secret of perpetual youth and energy.
Because incomplete, our experience should be progressive; and that is a truth that needs hammering into Christian people to-day. About how many of us can it be said that our light ‘shineth more and more unto the noonday.’ Alas! about an enormous number of us it must be said, ‘When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you.’ All our churches have many grown babies, and cases of arrested development--people that ought to be living on strong meat, and are unable to masticate or digest it, and by their own fault have still need of the milk of infancy. There is an old fable about a strange animal that fastened itself to the keel of sailing ships, and by some uncanny power was able to arrest them in mid-ocean, though the winds were filling all their sails. There is a remora, as they called it, of that sort adhering to a great many Christian people, and keeping them fixed on one spot, instead of ‘following after, if that they may apprehend.’
Dear friends--and especially you younger Christians--Christ has laid hold of you. Well and good! that is the beginning. He has laid hold of you for an end. That end will not be reached without your effort, and that effort must be perpetual. It is a life-long task. Ay! and even up yonder the apprehending will be incomplete. Like those mathematical lines that ever approximate to a point which they never reach, we shall through Eternity be, as it were, rising, in ascending and ever-closer drawing spirals, to that great Throne, and to Him that sits upon it. So that, striking out the humble ‘may’ from our text, the rest of it describes the progressive blessedness of the endless life in the heavens, as truly as it does the progressive duty of the Christian life here, and the glorified flock that follows the Lamb in the heavenly pastures may each say: I follow after in order to apprehend that ‘for which,’ long ago and down amidst the dim shadows of earth, ‘I was apprehended of Christ Jesus.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Mat 5:48").
perfect
(See Scofield "Mat 5:48").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Sanctification Following Justification, and the Consummation of the Christian…
Sanctification Following Justification, and the Consummation of the Christian Hope.
The Christian’s eagerness in sanctification:
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v. 12. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
v. 13. 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,
v. 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
v. 15. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
v. 16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Paul here makes himself a type of all Christians. He shows what gain there is in having Christ and in following Christ. He is in possession of the righteousness of Christ, he has experienced the power of Christ’s death and resurrection in himself. But that does not argue that perfection has now been attained: Not that I have already laid hold of, or already am fully perfected. This is not said of faith, for faith accepts the whole Christ with all His blessings at once. The apostle, in speaking of receiving, of attaining, is speaking of sanctification. The goal for which he strives is the partaking of all the blessings of the resurrection of Christ. Christ is his, in all the fullness of His grace and mercy, and he is an heir of salvation, but its completion, its consummation is not yet in his possession. That perfection, when he shall put off all the weaknesses of the flesh, all its petty annoyances and foibles, will be attained in heaven, when the actual blessings of salvation will he enjoyed without any outside interference. The life of heaven in eternity is a status of perfection, of complete fulfillment. This is near before the apostle’s eyes, but he has not yet entered upon it. He must still run, he must still battle. But he follows after that he may lay hold upon it. He must not lose sight of his goal, he must strive onward on that basis of the fact that he has been fully received of Christ Jesus. Christ has enrolled him, made him one of His own, placed him among those that are His own. The believer has Christ as his Possession, just as Christ holds him as His possession. Being in this wonderful fellowship with Christ, he wishes to get to the end of life. He is eager for the consummation of his hopes, he longs to become an active partaker of the heavenly glory. All the thinking, longing, yearning of the Christians is directed heavenward.
The apostle continues to urge his own example: Brethren, I for myself not yet do regard that I have attained, but one thing: Forgetting that behind me, stretching forth toward those before, I strive for the goal, the premium of the calling of God above in Christ Jesus. Paul’s admonition at this point is an urgent call to his fellow-believers. So far as his own person is concerned, he repeats that he has not yet laid hold of the final glory; the last great goal is still before him. But that fact does not worry or distress him; for one thing is the case: he forgets all things that lie behind him, all the false movements and disappointments and disagreeable experiences with which he has been obliged to battle. Like a runner bending forward as he exerts himself to the utmost when nearing the end of the race, so he stretches forward toward those things that lie before. His one thought is to reach the end, the fulfillment, the victory, and that as quickly as possible. He does not forget what he has gained in Christian faith. Those are not things lightly forgotten, because they have not been lightly gained. But after all, this represents only earnest-money and a guarantee for the future. With a straining of every fiber of his body, therefore, he looks forward, because his goal is a prize and a premium, a precious and beautiful gift, far above all human understanding. It is a crown and reward of Christian valor which acts as a spur, urging him to use the last ounce of his strength. It is the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus. This call of God has reached the Christians in and through Jesus Christ. Through the call of God the believers were drawn to Christ, they have found and accepted Him as their Savior. That is conversion. And in conversion the believers are called out of this world to the home above. In this call the prize of the heavenly calling is already held out, the goal is set before us. Thus all the thoughts of the Christians are directed heavenward. No consideration of things on earth is permitted to draw their thoughts away from heaven.
This being the case, Paul’s gentle urging has a power beyond the bare content of his words: As many as are perfect, let us think this; and if in anything ye think differently, also this will God uncover to you. The apostle here makes a distinction between Christians, the perfect being contrasted with the minors in knowledge. See 1Co 14:20. Those that have a clear and full Christian knowledge, gained by long experience of Christ, should think as the apostle does, and therefore persist in leaving behind the battles of the past and in striving for the new and good. The more a Christian grows in sanctification, the more he finds that there are great gaps in his Christian knowledge and in his sanctification, the more eagerly he works for his sanctification. Since the language used by Paul might discourage those that are weak in knowledge, he hastens to add that, in case one still thinks differently about the matter, God will reveal it to him also. If the knowledge of some of the brethren is not yet perfect, God will give them the right understanding. To those that are really concerned about their salvation, God gives a better knowledge day after day; that is a part of the progress in sanctification. And as for the rest, as far as they had gotten, they should walk accordingly. Every Christian should apply what he has learned in his life. If he but practices all that he has grasped with the understanding of faith, that is sufficient. To hold fast to the Gospel, to the Lord and His truth, to the Word of Grace, that is the essential business of Christians.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul urges the believers at Philippi to follow his present example because of heaven and the new bodies that wait for believers. He speaks of how he works as hard as he can to be like Christ, knowing that God will allow him to live forever in heaven, as if he were a runner racing for the finish line.
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received these things
These include knowing Christ, knowing the power of his resurrection, sharing in Christ's suffering, and being united with Christ in his death and resurrection (Philippians 3:8-11).
or that I have become complete
"so I am not yet perfect" or "so I am not yet mature"
But I press on
"But I keep trying"
I may grasp that for which I was grasped by Christ Jesus
Receiving spiritual things from Christ is spoken of as if Paul could grasp them with his hands. And, Jesus choosing Paul to belong to him is spoken of as if Jesus grasped Paul with his hands. This can be stated in an active form. AT: "I may receive these things because that is why Jesus claimed me as his own" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
Brothers
See how you translated this in Philippians 1:12.
I myself have yet grasped it
Receiving spiritual things from Christ is spoken of as if Paul could grasp them with his hands. AT: "all these things belong to me yet" (See: Metaphor)
I forget what is behind and strain for what is ahead
Like a runner in a race is no longer concerned about the part of the race that is completed but only focuses on what is ahead, Paul speaks of setting aside his religious works of righteousness and only focusing on the race of life that Christ has set before him to complete. AT: "I do not care what I have done in the past; I only work as hard as I can on what is ahead" (See: Metaphor)
I press on toward the goal to win the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus
As a runner presses onward to win the race, Paul presses onward in serving and living in obedience to Christ. AT: "I do all I can to be like Christ, like a runner racing to the finish line, so that I may belong to him, and God may call me to himself after I die" (See: Metaphor)
the upward calling
Possible meanings are that Paul speaks of living eternally with God as if God were to call Paul to ascend 1) to heaven as Jesus did or 2) the steps to the podium where winners of races received prizes, as a metaphor for meeting God face to face and receiving eternal life. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
receive
Jesus
brother
call
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:12–4:1 Using himself as an example, Paul encourages the…
3:12–4:1 Using himself as an example, Paul encourages the Philippians to pursue Christ and the hope of heaven with determination and strength.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.