Philippians 3:12

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 (Philippians 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 viewits coming completion is always linked with the saint's faithful watching and prayer, the keeping open of the "eyes ever toward the Lord" (Psalms 25:15).

attained Better, received, or, with R.V., obtained; for the verb is not the same as that in Philippians 3:11. (It is the same as that in Revelation 3:11.) The thought of "the crown" is probably to be supplied. See below, on Philippians 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" (1 John 3:3; cp. Romans 8:29); a promise implying that we are never so here, completely. Cp. the Greek of Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 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 Philippians 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 Hebrews 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 followafter] R.V., I press on. The thought of the race, with its goal and crown, is before him. Cp. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Galatians 2:2; Gal 5:7; 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 12:1.

if that I may Better, if indeed I may. On this language of contingency, see note above on Philippians 3:11.

apprehend i.e., grasp. Cp. 1 Corinthians 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 (Romans 5:12; 2 Corinthians 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 himwith the express purpose in view that he, through the path of faith and obedience, might be glorified at last. Cp. Romans 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.