Not that I have already obtained [the prize], or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession [of it], seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ [Jesus].
Paul had just listed everything he once counted as gain and written it off as loss. Now he stops any reader from thinking he had arrived. The verse holds two things together. Paul admits something is still missing. He is also sure that Christ took hold of him for a definite purpose. So what is that purpose, and what is left to reach?
One writer says the word translated "perfect" here should be read as "perfected." That one change removes the clash with verse 15:
"Perfect" in verse 12 should be "perfected"; and this means, as the context shows, conformity to Christ, in body as well as morally, at the resurrection from among the dead. Then the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, will change the body of our humiliation to be like the body of His glory... and we will be in our "perfected" condition. But when he says in verse 15, "Let those of us who are mature think this way," the meaning is quite different. The word used there is the one Hebrews 5:14 renders as "full age"... In other words, it means mature Christians.
The older translation this writer used has "perfect" in both verses, which is where the apparent contradiction starts. The ESV keeps "perfect" in verse 12 and says "mature" in verse 15. So Paul is not denying maturity here. He is still waiting for the changed body of the resurrection.
Older translations say Christ "apprehended" Paul. One writer explains what that word means:
He is not speaking here of any mental apprehension of things. As far as I know, the only place this word survives in modern English is the language of the police court. We all know what it means when a policeman apprehends a man. It is then: If I may lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. What did He lay hold of you and me for? Nothing short of being with Himself and like Him in the glory of God forever.
The verse describes a grip in two directions: Christ's grip on Paul, and Paul's reach for the same thing. One writer notes how completely the two aims match:
As the simplest reader will see, the apostle's mind was set with all his energy on the very end Christ had in view in "taking possession" of His servant. Every day he walked toward that goal with steady care. It was, we may say, his one business, and by grace he let nothing interfere with it.
Paul had a record of service most would be proud of. One commentator reads the verse as his refusal to treat any of it as the finish line:
Whatever he might accomplish for the Lord on earth, that was not his goal... Paul took no pride at all in any of these "attainments," as people would call them. In fact he had not yet reached what he wanted... Christ Jesus had laid hold of him for eternal glory. How could he settle down, content with some earthly attainment?
Missing something sounds like a weakness. One writer turns it around: the gap is what keeps Paul moving.
It is beautiful to realise that the very thing he is lacking now, as we look at him here, is the very thing which makes him a pilgrim and a racer. It is an Object outside himself, something he has not yet attained. Its glory draws him, and he gives all his energy to pressing on toward it... A racer does not look at the road on each side. He looks at what is before him.
Even the sentence structure carries the strain of a man in motion:
He does not say what it is he has not yet obtained. He is running a race, and has no time or breath for a word he can do without. Notice the urgency all through this passage. The sentences are short. Some seem unfinished, as the apostle strains to press on.
One writer applies Paul's confession to anyone tempted to claim they have arrived:
The people with the largest measure of sanctification — in other words, those who are most Christ-like — are the last people in the world to say so. CHRIST, and not attainments, fills the vision of their souls.
- Seized — "Apprehended" is arrest language. Christ laid hold of Paul, and He did it for one definite purpose.
- For glory — Christ seized him for one thing: a body made like His own at the resurrection. Nothing on earth is that "perfected" state.
- So he reaches — Paul chases the very thing Christ already grasped him for. Christ's purpose and Paul's aim are one.
- So nothing stops him — The goal is eternal glory. No achievement on the way is big enough to stop at.
- So he never boasts — The gap he admits is not failure but fuel. Those nearest Christ are the last to claim they have arrived.
Brethren, *I* do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing -- forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before,
Paul was already a veteran servant of Christ. Even so, he says he has not yet laid hold of anything. He claims one thing only: the past dropped, the whole man straining ahead.
Older Bibles say "apprehended" here. The word means to seize, not to understand. One writer shows where it still lives in everyday speech:
He is not speaking here of any mental grasp of things. He uses a word that survives today, so far as I know, only in the language of the police court. We know what it means when a policeman apprehends a man. So it means: that I may lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. What did He lay hold of you and me for? Nothing short of being with Himself and like Him in the glory of God for ever.
Paul's refusal to count himself as having arrived says what he valued most:
He was a great apostle. But there was something greater to attain than being an apostle: the "prize of the upward call of God." There was something before his soul which he valued above his service. He desired that he, the chief of sinners, might arrive at the knowledge of Christ. "That I may know Him," he cried, "and the power of His resurrection." He could not rest satisfied short of this attainment. It was poor wretched stuff within him that he had to work with, but he was still pressing forward.
Paul's aim showed in the smallest parts of his day:
Now, Paul's one object was Christ. Whether he stayed put or travelled, Christ was his object. Whether he preached the gospel or gathered sticks, whether he planted churches or made tents, Christ was his object. By night and by day, at home or abroad, by sea or by land, alone or in company, in public or private, he could say, "One thing I do."
That single aim carries a warning for the rest of us:
This one aim goes far to explain the amazing power and fruitfulness of his life and ministry. The weakness and lack of fruit that so often marks our lives and ministry can largely be traced to the opposite in ourselves: lack of purpose and concentration. We fritter away time and energy on a hundred and one things of no particular value, instead of the one thing that commands us.
Commentators differ over what Paul is forgetting. One writer takes it as his own past progress, not his sins:
The Apostle does not mean that one ought to overlook, or that he did overlook, his past sins and failures. On the contrary, it is most evil to forget what Christ has suffered for our sakes, and also the many ways in which we have dishonoured God. A man can rejoice so much the more in the Lord if he judges his failure fully… So the Apostle speaks of "forgetting what lies behind." He does not mean his failure. He means his points of progress, the steps or stages in which he had advanced in the knowledge of Christ.
Another writer applies the forgetting to sins and sorrows alike. He also draws out the force of the word behind "straining forward":
"A RUNNING HOUND NEVER LOOKS AT ITS TAIL."… There is a volume of wisdom in it. Notice that the straining forward in the verse is the word that describes a hound at full stretch. But the Christian who keeps looking back is like a hound that has stopped running. Brooding over the past and mourning over his failure, he feeds on his own tail. Nothing spoils a man's spiritual energy like brooding on the past. Nothing hinders him in the heavenly race like this. It does not matter whether he broods over his sins or his sorrows — the brooding itself is fatal to all spiritual growth and strength.
One writer finds the secret in what Paul still does not have:
It is beautiful to realize that what he lacks now, as we look at him here, is the very thing that makes him a pilgrim and a racer. It is an Object outside himself, something he has not yet attained. Because of its glory for him, he gives his whole energy to pressing on… He leaves behind more than the world. He leaves himself behind too, whatever he might be up to the present. It is Christ before him that gives oneness of purpose and character to his present life.
- Seized. Christ laid hold of Paul first, and for a definite end — to have him with Himself and like Himself in glory. Everything after that is Paul reaching for what already holds him.
- Unfinished. The apostle who achieved most claimed least. He rated knowing Christ above his own service, and could not rest short of it.
- One. Preaching or tent-making, the object never changed. Scattered time and energy explain fruitless lives.
- Behind. Paul drops his own past progress, not his failures. Brooding, over sin or sorrow, stops the runner dead.
- Before. An Object ahead pulls the Christian on — Christ, who gives one purpose to the whole present life.
I pursue, [looking] towards [the] goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
As many therefore as [are] perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you.
Paul has just said he has not yet arrived. Now he speaks to "those of us who are mature." Three verses earlier he refused that same word for himself. The verse holds two things at once: one settled standard for the mature, and patience with believers who see things differently.
Older translations read "perfect" here, where the ESV reads "mature." One commentator shows why this does not clash with verse 12: the word carries two senses.
He speaks of himself and others also as "perfect"; but there is no contradiction of what went before. In verse 12 he denied that he had yet received the prize or been made perfect. He meant that he was still in the conflict and not yet in a resurrection condition. But when he urges here, "as many as are perfect," he means those who are grown up in the faith. They stand firmly in the Christian position, and they enter into it by faith and spiritual understanding. He means a Christian who is not a baby, but full grown. Even now we can grow into the full knowledge of the mind of God, and this comes through having Christ in glory before us as the personal object of our souls.
So what marks a mature believer? It is the truth he has laid hold of about his own position.
The "perfect" ones in Philippians 3:15 are those who have laid hold of the truth that they are risen and glorified with Christ on high. They not only know the forgiveness of sins; they grasp the higher truth of resurrection in Christ. And it is as these we are called to walk. The only perfection the apostle has before him is to be like Christ in glory.
The call to "think this way" points back to all Paul has just described about his own race. He sets it out as ordinary Christian life, not as a rare life story.
The apostle sets it before us as normal Christian experience, not just something to admire in Paul: "let us, as many as are perfect." ... "Think this way" — have no other mind and no other aim than the one set before us in the experience of this devoted servant. "And if in anything you think otherwise" — he will not lower the standard to anyone's poor grasp of it — "God will reveal that also to you."
But room to think otherwise has a limit. One commentator draws a line between the foundation and what is built on it.
There may be many points of detail about the building above the foundation, and on these believers may not see eye to eye. Here we have to be patient with one another while we seek a clearer understanding. That is the spirit of the word, "if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you" (Phil. 3:15). But there must be no hesitation at all when the foundations are at stake.
Paul does not leave the slower believer where he is. He does not force him to agree either. He hands the matter over to God.
If some think otherwise, the apostle does not encourage them to stay that way. He does not demand that they fall in with his thoughts either. He turns their eyes to God, who will reveal the truth to those who want it. Yet whatever level our faith has reached, let us act fully on the truth God has made known to our souls. The Word of God measures my own responsibility, not what I see in others.
Until God does that, a difference in light is no reason to love less.
I can walk with one who only knows his redemption in Christ with just the same love, but I look for him to get hold of this also.
The believer who is further on has his own danger. One writer names it, and says when it is strongest.
Our natural tendency is to look down on those less advanced than we are. It shows itself in despising them, or even attacking them, because they do not fall in with what we see to be right. This tendency is strongest when the progress we pride ourselves on is more a matter of knowledge than of real spirituality.
- Full-grown, not finished — "Perfect" here means mature: a Christian who is no longer a baby. The perfection Paul denied in verse 12 is being like Christ in glory, and that waits for resurrection.
- Grown by what grips you — Maturity shows in what has laid hold of you. Not only sins forgiven, but knowing yourself risen with Christ, and walking as such.
- Standard held — Paul asks the mature to share his one mind. He will not lower that standard to fit anyone's smaller grasp of it.
- Room to differ, but not on the foundation — Be patient over details of the building. Where the foundation is at stake, there is no room for hesitation.
- God reveals, so love waits — Paul turns the slower believer toward God instead of forcing him to agree. Walk with him in the same love, and watch the pride that comes with knowing more.