Lesson #23 - But He Gave It All Up That He Might Know Christ Series

Date: 2/12/19

Lesson #23

Title: But He Gave It All Up That He Might Know Christ (Phil. 3:12-14)

• NIV Bible is used throughout unless noted otherwise.

Scripture: Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Introduction

Paul makes his point by drawing a contrast in verses 12-14 between the mistaken notion that he has already arrived spiritually and the reality that he has yet to reach the goal and win the prize. Within this context, the past things he forgets in order to strain to go further are spiritual successes that might lend unfounded support to the fiction that he had already been perfected. This passage is not about overcoming remorse for pre-conversion sins, but about humility and realism in assessing spiritual maturity. The mature believer, Paul says, will not rest on past obedience but will labor to maintain purity and blamelessness until the Day of Christ.

One of the natural longings arising from the spiritual experience of conversion is the desire to perfect one’s spiritual life. In this outgrowth of having become a new creature in Christ with a new nature longing after the things of God, it is easily possible to go to extremes. On the one hand, discontent with one’s spiritual life can bring discouragement and unnecessary acceptance of spiritual defeat. On the other hand, in overestimating one’s spiritual attainments, it is easy to become complacent with the measure of transformation which has taken place. Either alternative is falling short of the scriptural standard. What Paul is teaching in this section is that absolute perfection, such as exists in heaven, or attainment of spiritual victory which makes defeat impossible, is never achieved in this life. But there is the possibility of a high plateau of victory in Christ, of joy in the Spirit, and of the satisfaction of having served the Lord acceptably. It is this proper doctrine that the apostle is attempting to teach in this section.

Commentary

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

In countering the false claims of the “perfectionists,” Paul appeals to his own experience to prove that believers are not made perfect in this present life, but he also insists that they must constantly strive for increasing conformity to Christ. The imagery used here is that of the foot-race. Paul runs the Christian race with all the commitment of an athlete who is dedicated to winning the prize. This gives us an interesting insight into the psychology of Christian perseverance. The man who is tempted to succumb to the snare of perfectionism will lapse into a state of spiritual complacency. He will consider that he has already arrived at the goal, and regard his fellow believers as mere “also-rans” in the spiritual race! It is only the consciousness of not yet having arrived which will speed up our actions, just as the athlete strains every muscle to finish the race.

It is tempting to interpret Philippians 3:12-14 as a description of moral progress as if Paul is saying that he constantly strives to do better and better. During Paul’s time, stoic[2] philosophers divided people into two categories, “wise” and the “foolish,” and actions into two categories “virtuous” and “sinful.” Between the wise and foolish person stood the person who attempted to progress toward wisdom, and between the “virtuous” and “sinful” actions were those actions that might not be “fitting” in themselves, but were “fitting” in a given situation. The goal of the person who wanted to progress toward complete wisdom was to do what was “virtuous” whenever possible and to do what was “fitting” with the certainty that can only flow from a wise disposition.

Paul begins by saying, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal. ”The perfection he would have at the future resurrection was not yet attained, since he still had a sinful nature, a sinful body, and was only too aware of the need for future spiritual progress. The first verb [obtained] probably points to the time of Paul’s conversion, while the second [arrived] refers to his present state. One Bible scholar has taken Paul to mean, “Neither when I became Christ’s did I attain, nor, up to this time, have I been perfected.” This suggests that Paul has in mind “the prize” awarded to the victorious athlete (v. 14).