Press determinedly onward
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, 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 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
When believers are brought to faith, they become possessors of eternal life. As long as they are in the world, they are like people who hold a title to property in a distant land. The title makes the property theirs, but the owners are not yet physically in possession of what rightfully belongs to them. Similarly believers, though they are possessors of eternal life by faith and have the righteousness of Christ, are still also sinners living in a sinful world. They have not yet arrived at the full, physical possession of the perfection of eternal life. So, perhaps in response to the boastful claims of the Judaizers or others who taught that believers could achieve perfection already here on earth by their works, in this section Paul vividly describes the Christian life as a constant straining forward toward the great goal and prize of eternal life that God’s grace holds out to believers in Christ.
When Paul wrote these verses, he had been a Christian for many years. During those years he had grown in knowledge of Christ and in conformity to Christ. He had become a revered apostle and had experienced the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Most recently he had suffered the loss of his personal freedom for the sake of Christ, but that did not mean that he had “arrived” spiritually or had reached the goal of perfection. Paul was still living in a sinful world. He was still a sinner, still troubled by the weaknesses and failings of his sinful nature. Though he was a child of God by faith, he had not yet arrived at the point where he could perfectly and uninterruptedly serve God or enjoy the fullness of the blessings God had in store for him. That would have to wait until he entered heaven. Meanwhile he lived his life as a Christian in a constant striving for holiness. He pressed on toward perfection.
What Paul says of his own life here is an important key to viewing our own. As long as we are here on earth, we sinners will not reach perfection. That will come only in heaven’s glory. Nevertheless, our Christian lives of growing in Christ and living for him ought to be a constant striving for perfection, with the goal and prize of eternal life always kept before our eyes of faith.
The Greek and Roman worlds of the apostle’s day shared our American fascination for sports. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient stadiums as well equipped as many of our own. Paul uses the picture of the determined runner/athlete here in these verses to illustrate the intense yearning and striving for spiritual perfection that should characterize all believers as they run the race of their Christian lives. Success in athletic competition depends not only on ability and conditioning but also on an athlete’s mental state. Concentration is the key. Overconfidence or a lack of mental alertness or mental toughness can cost an athlete dearly.
Spiritual dullness, overconfidence, or lack of concentration can likewise cost Christians. Recall how Paul urged the Philippians in 2:12 to never stop working at their salvation. The apostle is saying basically the same thing here in a slightly different way. The Christian who does not concentrate on living the kind of life to which God calls him may, like the overconfident athlete, be eliminated from the race and in the end lose the blessings God has in store for him. A believer’s sanctification—that is, his life as a Christian in this world—will never be perfect. The struggle against sin and the devil must be carried on as long as the Christian is in this world. Neither Paul nor any other Christian can ever afford a lack of concentration or think that the race is as good as won.
The apostle Paul concentrated and pressed on so that he could take hold of that for which Christ Jesus had taken hold of him. Paul was a believer because Christ had redeemed Paul with his blood and called Paul by the gospel to be his own. That call of the Savior included the promise of eternal joy. It also included the call for Paul to serve the Savior with his life. God’s call to every believer includes that call to service here on earth, and in that call the Lord provides the spiritual power for such service. Motivated by the fact that Christ had reached out in grace and taken hold of him, Paul pressed onward with never-wavering concentration and all-out effort toward the blessed end to which Christ had promised that his life of faith would lead.
Twice in two verses Paul emphasizes the fact that he himself has not yet reached spiritual perfection or taken full possession of his eternal inheritance. This leads us to suspect that there were certain teachers who were confusing the Philippians with claims of perfection. Did some, perhaps the Judaizers, claim they could achieve perfection? Paul knew that he had not achieved it. When he viewed his life even as a Christian, he had to honestly admit, “What I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).
So Paul was not a perfectionist in the sense that he believed he had achieved perfection or could achieve it in his life on earth. That did not mean he became lazy or despaired or gave up striving for perfection. One writer called Paul an “untiring idealist.” As we read his epistles, we see quite clearly that during his entire life as a Christian, one holy passion filled the apostle’s soul. He wanted to serve the Lord Jesus. He wanted to do it constantly. He strove to do it perfectly. He did not want anything to distract him from doing it. “One thing I do:” he says, as he sums up that holy passion, “Forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Looking back while running ahead is a dangerous procedure for an athlete in a race. It can only result in a loss of speed and direction. In the race of his Christian life, the apostle did not look back either. He did not look back with pride on past accomplishments, which he knew could not earn him anything in God’s sight. Nor did he look back in regretful brooding over past sins, which had been washed away by Jesus’ blood. With each new day he put forth every effort to press ahead, to grow in his Christian living and service to Christ. The long distance runner strains and stretches every muscle, expending even more energy if at all possible, as he draws closer to the finish line. Similarly, Paul was expending all the energy he possessed as a Christian, straining with all his spiritual might as he drew ever closer to the goal and the prize of eternal life.
Every Christian should run the race of his Christian life in that way. No, we won’t reach perfection in our lives here on earth, because we are sinners, but there is no limit to the spiritual growth we can achieve by the grace and through the power of him who has called us to be his children and to serve him with our Christian lives.
At the end of the racetrack stood the goal. The winner of the race received the prize. For Christians, the goal and the prize are the same thing: the end of our faith in the perfection of eternal life. When God calls Christians and brings them to faith, he sets that prize and goal before them. He encourages them to always keep that goal and prize in mind as they run the race of Christian life. For Christians, being called, running, and reaching the goal are all “in Christ Jesus.” Without Christ’s atoning work for us, there would be no goal, no eternal prize. Without his Spirit’s work in our hearts, we would neither run the race nor reach the goal, but in Christ and through faith in Christ, we, the called ones, press on each day. We eagerly look forward to the day when we will reach the end and goal of our faith and take full possession of that for which God has taken hold of us.