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PRESSING TOWARD THE MARK FOR THE
PRIZE PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14 Jim
Laws The church at One would be hard pressed to find one single
passage from the book, which might serve as the key verse to the book of
Philippians; there are a number that would serve well. However, one verse
that is certainly at the heart of the book would have to be Philippians 3:14.
Paul expresses his desire to go to heaven so strongly, as well as his encouragement
of others to do the same, that this verse has become one of the highlights of
the book, as well as, the entire Bible. Therefore, this chapter will focus
upon Paul's statement found in Philippians 3:14. It will discuss it from the
standpoint of its context and make application to us today. It is hope by
understanding this verse better we, too, will grow in our desire to go to
heaven and to help others go as much as we possibly can. PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14 In chapter one after expressing his gratitude for
the church at Chapter three expresses a major concern that
Paul has for his Christian brethren. Here Paul warns them against the Judaizing teachers who were insisting that Gentiles
Christians obey the Law of Moses in order to be saved (vv. 1-11). Paul will
have nothing of such a false view. Beware of them he warns, those who act
like dogs (v. 2). Paul meets their challenge by showing the advantages of
birth and education, which surpassed them all (vv. 4-5). He renounces all of
these advantages as being worthless in the matter of salvation. Christ was
more to him than all the privileges of birth and rank.3 BRETHREN, I COUNT NOT MYSELF TO
HAVE APPREHENDED (13) Paul reaches the point in his discussion, where
he describes his own purpose and desire for himself, as well as, for the
church). Throughout these verses Paul makes allusion to the ancient Greek
games that were so familiar to all of his readers. Even though he has given
up all for Christ, he does not consider that he has arrived spiritually. He
has been converted (v. 9); he has been raised to a new life in Christ Jesus
(v. 10); he looks forward to a resurrection that had not, as yet, taken place
(v. 11), but he had not come to the completion of his hopes. As he puts it,
he does not count himself as having "apprehended." He was not a
perfect man ("either were already perfect," v. 12). He is not
satisfied with himself spiritually, nor has he attained the prize (the word
"attained" refers to having arrived at the goal and having won the
prize.) Paul has reference to his moral character here, though all who know
the life of the great apostle would not question his love, zeal, self denial,
and devotion to the work and cause of Christ--still for him he was not yet
complete. This completeness would not come, until he was perfectly free from
sin, delivered from trials and temptations, and in possession of eternal
life. All this would be needed for him to come to complete happiness. In order to come to this understanding of
himself, he says that there is some counting and evaluating to be done in his
life. In other words, he looks at himself spiritually and realizes that he
has not reached the level of spiritual maturity that he wants. As a Jew, he
was as near perfection as one could be. Notice his discussion of his
attainments in that respect (vv. 5-7). However, when Paul compared those
matters with Christ, he says that his accomplishments were really worthless
(vv. 7, 8). He says, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted
loss for Christ" (v. 7). The counting and spiritual evaluation that Paul
gave to himself must be a continuous process for us, as well, if we are to
grow as we ought and in turn be pleasing in the sight of God. We cheat
ourselves, as well as, deprive ourselves of eternity, when we fail to
under-go such a self-counting. Which one of us can truly say that we have
reached perfection or completeness spiritually? However, by the action of
some they seem to think so. For instance, many do not give attention to
reading and studying, as they ought. They do not read the Bible, which is the
most important book of all to read, nor do they read good biblically based
material designed to help them understand the Bible, as well as, understand
the complex issues we face to day. Many have simply stopped studying God's
word. The Hebrew writers exhortation is sorely needed today, when he told
them that by now they should be teachers, but they need to be taught the
simplest things that God has said (Heb. 5:12). As a consequence, many have
stopped growing spiritually. They have failed to do as Peter taught,
"add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to
godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity"(II
Peter 1:5-7). The first step in real growth is to realize the need. Paul
realized his need to grow, and so should we. However, if Satan can keep us
busy with the material things of life, so much so, that we never take the
needed time to give ourselves the counting and spiritual evaluation that we
should, then he has won. THIS ONE THING I DO (13) This phrase is a significant one. Actually, the
original has "one thing." In other words, Paul had eliminated from
his life all the superficial goals of worldly accomplishment. He
wanted to accomplish one thing: that was to receive eternal life. Eternity
was the focus of his life. The New Testament has emphasized the importance of
this focus for man from beginning to end. One will find that there are many things that
will vie for first place position in our lives. Money, for instance, will be
a strong temptation for many. Only God would know just how many have money
being the "one thing" of their lives, the accumulation of more and
more. Some will put power, influence, or their job as life's top priority.
Look at the number of young people, who put sports before everything else,
and the parents who support them in this pursuit. Jesus said, "but seek
ye first the How shall we develop this attitude and properly
make an eternity with God the "one thing" of our lives? First, come
to the realization that life is short and very uncertain. This important
truth is taught from the beginning to the end of the Bible. Even if we did
not have a Bible, we would know that this is true. Our lives are short, while
we live here and, therefore, we do not have the time to become preoccupied
with the superficial and the trivial. We are to buy up every opportunity to
work and serve the Lord, while we can (Eph. FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH
ARE BEHIND ME, AND REACHING FORTH UNTO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE ME (13) There are two important considerations to be
understood from this portion of the verse. First, Paul says that there must
be forgetting that takes place, and second, there must be a reaching
forth that takes place. First, Paul had many memories as a Jewish leader.
To see this, simply refer to what he has already said about himself (see vv.
5-6). Yet, as a Christian, he had many accomplishments. He was an apostle of
Christ, sometimes referred to as the apostle to the Gentiles. He was one, who
had been persecuted for the cause of Christ. Paul, the apostle, had written
by inspiration more books of the New Testament than any other single writer.
However, as the text indicates, Paul never thought of himself as someone who
would rest on previous accomplishments. The passage states that he forgot
these matters, so as to focus on what was yet to be accomplished. Jesus was
this way. He could have focused on what he had accomplished in the matter of
salvation. He could have stopped to think of the sermons he had preached, the
lessons to the multitudes he taught, and the mighty miracles he performed.
Yet his focus was always on the cross. We need to be this way. We need this forgetting
and reaching attitude. Our attitude is often to remind ourselves, and others,
of what we have done. We fail to remember that when we have done all that we
can do, we are still unworthy (see Luke 15:10). We need to forget the past
and realize that there is much yet to do. Consider this, there are somewhere
in the neighborhood of 11,000 congregations of the Lord in this country. This
would mean something over one million members. Yet there are 260 million
people in our nation today. We have a great deal yet to do. Of these 11,000
congregations we are sending out some 600 missionaries to the 5.8 billion
people around the world. Which one can say that we have so arrived that we
may now relax our efforts for the lord based on what has been accomplished?
Even within our own respective congregations and our communities there is
much to be done. We have work to do in strengthening the Lord's church at
home. Stop and consider the inroads Satan has made into so many
congregations. Consider the impact that we currently have and what is yet to
be made on the respective communities of each of us. We have accomplished a
great deal, yet, there is more to be done both in and out of the church. Forgetting has another important aspect to it.
As the passage indicates, Paul worked at forgetting the past, not only its
accomplishments, but, also, its failures. This is an enormous help to
children of God, who have failed in their work and service to God. Paul, at
one time was Saul of Tarsus, one who had failed God (Rom. 7:18-19; II Cor.
3:5; Eph. 3:8). Paul faced what each of us must face: failure and
shortcoming; the struggle to forget it and to move on. How does one do this?
By remembering that the future can and will erase the past, due to our
repentance and God's forgiveness. That is why this reference to
"reaching forth" with regard to the future is so important, as it
is a means of forgetting the failures and concentrating on what can be
accomplished. To concentrate on the past is a mistake; it is to be forgotten.
The things of the future are to be the focus of our mind. We do not have the
time, nor the energy, to be filled with stress and
strain over sin that has been forgiven. Second, Paul writes that he
reaches forth
to what is yet ahead. To "reach" refers to the idea of straining
forward (epekteinomenos, "to
strain," Gingrich, p.284). The runner at the end of the race is going
for the finish line. The athlete does not merely coast to the end, rather, he strains to give it all he has. He is
racing hard for the finish line. He has eyes for nothing but the goal. His
hands are flailing, and even his body is somewhat curved, so as to be the
first to cross the finish line. This is an appropriate metaphor of the
Christian life. This image of running the race is laced throughout this
significant Bible passage (Phil. 3:13-14). Paul realized that this race, a
metaphor for Christian living, was not over (see II Tim. 4:6-8 where Paul at
that time in his life anticipates the end of earthly life). That is why he
would press on, not looking back. I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK (14) Much of what Paul says in this verse is based
on what he has said in the previous verses. Because of these matters Paul
presses on. By this he means that he pursues with the idea of speeding on
earnestly. The imagery once again is the foot race. You don’t just enter the
race and run it. You give it everything you have. He says in this that he
presses toward the mark. What is the mark? Is it just keeping peace with
others? Is it running for a while, until he thinks he has gone far enough?
The mark refers to the course that the contestants in the games would follow.
The race in the ancient games was marked out by a line. The runners were to
look at the mark frequently, which was the boundary of the race, lest they
run out of bounds.4 Paul is saying, "I
follow along the mark" (skopos, the
distant mark looked at, the "goal," Thayer, p. 579, translated
"prize," ASV). In other words, in running for the prize of
righteousness he kept within the prescribed bounds; it is a marked out course
of faith and holy living. To do this meant that he had suffered persecution
and affliction along this route, but he did this without stopping in the
middle of the race or running out of bounds. He was so determined to run all
the way lawfully and legally, that he would be willing to die for the truth,
if need be (see vs. 16; also Rev. 2:10). This was not the case with the false
teachers, who were troubling the church (vs. 18). They were in fact enemies
of the cross of Christ, due to the fact that they had corrupted the message
of the gospel. Notice, also, the prepositions that Paul uses in this verse.
The first one is "toward" which expresses the aim of the runner.
The second is "for" or "unto" (better translated
"unto" as it is in the ASV, instead of "for the prize" as
in the KJV), which expresses the end of the race.5 Notice his
reference to "the high calling of God" or the "upward
calling" in the passage, which has reference to the prize itself: that
being the living of eternal life with God in heaven. This is something that
we begin to experience here, as we live our lives for Christ, but we will
one-day come to experience this fully and completely in eternity. Therefore,
it is God who sets before man the "mark-goal," which is the course
of one's life. It is this divine course, the faithful living of the Christian
life, that gives so much meaning to our work and
direction to our lives. As Paul says, we must forget those things that are
behind and keep in step with this divinely appointed mark or goal, that is, keep in step with God's divine revelation.
The prize was what Paul was after, which would be presented to him by God,
the ultimate judge of every life.6 The prize, eternal life, may be received
only, if one throws his whole self into it. Hebrews 12:1 states,
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
best us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
Closely related to this is I Cor. 9:25, "And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible."
There are a number of comparisons between the
race and Paul's use of it to illustrate the Christian life. For instance, the
contestant must be legally enrolled in the contest in order to win. The
Christian must contend lawfully (II Tim. 2:5). Discipline is an absolute
prerequisite of success; Christians must lay aside every weight and the
ever-convenient sin in order to win (Heb. 12:1). Patience is required of both
the athletic contestant and the Christian, endurance being necessary to win
in both cases. The earthly contestant receives a perishable reward; the
Christian an eternal reward (I Cor. 9:25). However, there comes a point, when
the analogy becomes a contrast: only one receives the prize in an earthly
contest, whereas in the matter of heaven, everyone may receive the gift, as
my victory depends on my achievement and not the achievement of others. If we
run well, we will win, in fact, each one who runs faithfully will win. How
much better to run in such a race, where everyone may win, rather than just
one. Paul mentions the fact that this "high
calling of God," eternal life, which we will one day receive, is to be
found "in Christ Jesus." This, too, is a significant phrase, as
there is no prize to be received outside of Chris--one must be found "in
Christ." The only way that the scriptures teach that one may be found
"in Christ" is for one to be baptized into Christ. Notice Galatians
3:27 states, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ." In this passage Paul tells us what we are, that we are
"children of God" (v. 26); he tells us where we are, "in
Christ Jesus" (v. 26); and he tells us when we became children of
God, when we were "baptized into Christ" (v. 27). Passages
such as Ephesians 1:3 tell that all spiritual blessings are to be found
"in Christ"; II Corinthians 5:17 relates the fact that if we are
"in Christ", then we are considered as new creatures or a new
creation, that is, a new man spiritually. Once again in Romans 6:3-4 reference is made to the fact that one is baptized into
this new relationship with Christ. Faith, confession, and repentance are
equally essential, of course, in enjoying the blessings that are to be found
in Christ, however, it is the act of being baptized, immersed in water that
is the "threshold" step, if you will, that makes that new
relationship a reality. SUMMATION The reader can see by now that Philippians
3:13-14 is certainly a key passage to the book of Philippians. While
expressing Paul's thankfulness to the church for their help, he, also,
exhorts the church (Phil. 3) in important matters pertaining to certain
errors that they were facing. Paul insists that Christians are the true
circumcision, the true people of God, and that having God's favor is not
dependent upon the fleshly act of circumcision. Therefore, as with Paul, we
do not have confidence in the flesh, but we look forward to the day, when we
will attain unto that glorious resurrection referred to in the scriptures. We
do not claim to have reached perfection, but we press on with purpose of
heart; forgetting the things, which are behind, and reaching forth to the
things ahead. We so live, realizing that our citizenship is in heaven, which
we will one day, receive by the grace of God and by our obedient faith. END NOTES 1. This article is primarily based upon the
King James Version, unless otherwise indicated. 2. James Burton Coffman,
Commentary on
Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians (Austin, TX: Firm foundation
Publishing House, 1977), pp. 249-336. 3. William Barclay,
The Letters of the
Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonioans
(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 80. 4. James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, One-Volume
Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 368. 5. B. C. Caffin,
The
Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20, Philippians (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 115. 6. David Lipscomb,
A Commentary on NT
Epistles, Vol. IV (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1964),
pp.208-209. 7. There have been several important works that
have helped in the preparation of this material, such as the International
Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Vol. IV (Chicago:
The Howard Severance Company, 1915), 2375; Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, F.
Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1979), 764; Joseph Henry Thayer's, Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980), and Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, 10 vols., Gerhard Kittel,
ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976).
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