Philippians 3:12

ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. So אA, 47 73 80, vulg copt arm, Chrys Aug. BD2*G2, 17, goth, Clem Or (Lat. transl.) Tert Hilar read ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ. The evidence is well balanced. Tisch Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, WH Χριστοῦ [Ἰησοῦ], Lachm Treg Wordsw Ell Alf Ltft read Χριστοῦ.

12. Οὐχ ὅτι κτλ. This passage of caution and reserve, following out the εἴπως καταντήσω just above, is probably suggested by the thought of the antinomian teaching which he denounces explicitly below, Philippians 3:18-19. Such teaching would represent the Christian as already at the goal; lifted beyond responsibility, duty, and the call to go forward. No, says St Paul; I have indeed “gained” Christ; I have “the righteousness of God”; I “know” my Lord, and His “power,” and am “getting conformed to His death”; but I must be only the humbler and more watchful; the process, the outcome, must be ever moving on; the goal lies, from one great view-point, only at the close of a path of watching and prayer.

Οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον. Non quod jam acceperim, Vulg. “Not that I have already obtained,” R.V. The aorist is best represented here by our perfect; with “already” we can hardly do otherwise. Greek tends, more than English, to throw back the past; to treat as in the past what still affects the present.—The verb gives the notion not of “attaining” a height but of “receiving” a gift. What the gift is, is indicated just below, Philippians 3:14, τὸ βραβεῖον κτλ. Cp. 1 Corinthians 9:24, εἷς λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον.

τετελείωμαι. He would be τέλειος, in the absolute sense, only when he joined the πνεύματα δικαίων τετελειωμένων (Hebrews 12:23). Indeed, as to his whole being, he would be τέλειος only when the ἀπολύτρωσις τοῦ σώματος was achieved in resurrection (Romans 8:23). Only when “we see Him as He is” shall we be altogether ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ. And nothing short of that can be an absolute “perfection,” the goal of the συμμορφίζεσθαι (Philippians 3:10).

Τελειόω, τελείωσις, were used in later church-Greek as special terms for the death of martyrs; in the Menologium it is the regular phrase: ξίφει τελειοῦται, ποντισθεὶς τελειοῦται, and the like. Chrysostom (Hom. XIV. on 1 Tim.), in a passage on the monastic life, says that the monks never speak of a brother’s “end,” but of his “perfecting”: κἄν�, πολλή ἡ εὐφροσύνη, πολλὴ ἡ ἠδονή· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τολμᾷ τις εἰπεῖν ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα τετελεύτηκε, ἀλλʼ ὁ δεῖνα τετελείωται. In Scripture this bright ideal is intended to be realized by all believers, as they enter on the heavenly rest.

διώκω δὲ. “But I press on,” R.V. He thinks of the race, with its goal and crown; cp. Acts 20:24, ὡς τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μον: 2 Timothy 4:7, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα. Cp. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 12:1.

εἰ καταλάβω. “If I may grasp.” Again the conjunctive with εἰ. See note on εἴπως καταντήσω above.—Cp. for the phrase 1 Corinthians 9:24, οὕτως τρέχετε ἵνα καταλάβητε.—The ἔλαβον just above is intensified into καταλάβω here; he thinks of the crown, till in thought he not only “receives” but “grasps” it.

Lightfoot quotes διώκοντες οὐ κατέλαβον from Lucian, Hermot. 77.

ἐφʼ ᾧ καὶ κατελήμφθην. Either, “Inasmuch as I was actually grasped” (cp. 2 Corinthians 5:4, στενάζομεν, ἐφʼ ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν, κτλ.: and cp. Romans 5:12) or, “That, with a view to which I was actually grasped.” St Paul’s usage (as quoted) inclines to the former rendering; the phraseology and context somewhat recommend the latter, which is adopted by A.V., R.V. (text; margin, “seeing that I was apprehended”), Ellicott, Alford, and (on the whole) Lightfoot.—He presses on to “grasp,” with the animating thought that Christ had “grasped” him, in the hour of conversion, on purpose that he, through the path of faith and obedience, might at length reach the goal and prize of glory. The remembrance of the Divine energy of that “grasp” energizes here all his thought and language.