I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that
Phil 3:12-16perfection1 for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting what’s behind and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. [NLT]
There are so many threads to Paul’s thoughts that it is hard to keep track of all the angles. A little like running a race and keeping an eye on all those around you who could make a break for the finish line. Keep in mind the big six thus far:
- The myopic attitude of the athlete or sportsperson (this one thing I do).
- Forgetting what is behind. (not looking behind).
- Straining or leaning forward to what is ahead.
- Pressing on to the finish line.
- Pursuing the goal.
- To win the prize.
It all fits doesn’t it? Paul’s analogy is a good one. The Christian running their race for life to reach the finish line, because that is what Paul is talking about ultimately, is paralleled to the athlete focused on the goal and heading to the finish line. We all know an athlete who looks backwards in a race has lost the race already. Have you ever seen a sprinter in a 100 metre event looking backwards? No, they are fixated on the finish line and push themselves toward the goal. It is classic 100 metre technique to stretch out for the line when you are almost there and to lean or even launch your body forward at the last moment in an attempt to have some part of your body cross the finish line first. Paul has used exactly this word picture to encourage his readers to compare their life’s walk with a race. But don’t leave out the overall construct of Paul weighing up the ledger and balancing the books in Gem 1964 (PhiI 3:7-9). He uses the same word again. This is a classic New Year message where Paul encourages us to keep the main thing the main thing. That which we have set our sights on, keep going. Take stock of where we are at in the plan. Irrespective of whether the plan is financial or sporting, they are all analogies of life. Paul has taken stock of what he has been involved in and has weighed it up, balanced the books and concluded it to be likened to dung, worthless. Now he is likening our life journey to a race.
It is not by chance that we have the recurring mind theme:
- Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus
- This one thing I do (the single-mindedness of the sportsperson)
- Paul returns to the mind and the way we think a few verses ahead.
All of it to focus our attention on what is important and to encourage us not to lose sight of the goal. After all, how do we cross the finish line and enter into eternal life? Remember too that Paul has deliberately not specified what the prize is. I think it is deliberate and one day I will ask him. I will let you know once I know. But we have that puzzle ahead of us to solve still. The astute ones among you have already solved the puzzle I’m sure, if you have paid attention to the details I have given you. Paul doesn’t miss a thing in the detail he has given us. It is all for a purpose. For the moment however, let’s keep our attention on the race. Don’t miss it or you will be left behind.
All our lives we have been preparing for this moment. Our big moment in the limelight, the sprint to the finish line. The moment has arrived – the Olympic 100 Metres Final. Or perhaps your event is not the 100 Metres; your event is the marathon. You are not a sprinter, a hare; you are a tortoise, a slower, long haul, long distant runner. Perhaps you are not even a runner, you are more of a specialist, like a clay-court tennis player on the red courts of Roland Garros. Horses for courses you say. Whatever your event the principle is still the same.
The race of your life is underway and you have the things that are behind you and the things, the people (runners) who are in front of you. Those are Paul’s words before us. The things behind and things in front are skilfully put by Paul to be open ended. Yes it can refer to the past and the future but he has written this in the context of his word picture of running the race. So the initial point of comparison is the race. Those behind Paul and those ahead of him. Like anyone who has been involved in running competitions over whatever distance, there comes a moment when you assess the opposition and decide when to make your break and open up a lead on the pack. More important in the longer distances. You don’t do that in the one stadion (192 m) race. You give it your all from the start. But in the longer races you watch your competitors and decide when to make your final move before the finish line. Do you go early or do you wait for the last 100 metres knowing you have the burst of speed to bring it home? Those are the words Paul has used.
But he has also put them together in a very meaningful way. Allow me to take you back to what I gave you in Gem 1975.
τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος
{the things} {on the one hand} behind forgetting {the things} {on the other hand} before {stretching forward to}
τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος
τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος
definite article on the one hand behind forgetting
no referent on the other hand in front straining forward to attain
Do you see how Paul has skilfully arranged the thoughts into contrastive pairs? I told you that Greek normally puts the conjunction or the first introductory word in the second place in the sentence. Leaving you free to use the first and last place in the sentence for the words you want to emphasize. Notice that the words in the emphatic position in this case in both clauses are paired. The first elements in the sentence emphasized in each segment are the things or the people. But they are the things behind and that which is in front. The part of the clause that should go together are: τὰ ὀπίσω and τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν These are the words which ought to be bound together. But they have been separated by the position of the conjunctions or the particles μὲν ~ δὲ the words which mean ‘on the one hand’ and ‘on the other’. These two words break up the unit meaning the things behind and the things ahead. The men ~ de combination is a way of flagging something that is contrastive. On the one hand we have this and on the other hand – contrasted – we have that. This construction serves to highlight the comparison. Now to complete the unit of meaning Paul finishes this rather poetic way of putting his thought with the final words ἐπιλανθανόμενος and ἐπεκτεινόμενος. Both are participles with durative, on going sense and also which contrast. Casting aside that and straining to appropriate this. There you have a nice little package of thought summed up skilfully in an arrangement of eight words set in contrastive pairs with hidden poetic meaning. The way these words are set shouts aloud to us the idea – the things behind me I am abandoning as worthless vs the things before me I strain to appropriate or attain to. Don’t forget the five-fold repetition of come up to, attain to, make my own. That is not a throw-away-line. It is all important in this whole flow of Paul’s thoughts.
This is added to the balancing the ledger where Paul keeps coming back to the accounting terms he scatters liberally throughout this little segment in the context of us running our race. Yes of course it’s a sporting motif but Paul’s prime focus is to cause us to think about our lives in the context of running a race. This is not new. We have all developed talks about running our race, running the race of life, likening life on this earth to a running race. We have all heard sermons and homilies on the idea as well. It’s a good way to picture human life on earth as a race with a finite end point. Ah, are you beginning to get the picture? Actually Paul could care less about the Pan Hellenic Games. Paul wasn’t a sportsman but he was a skilful orator and drew analogies from life in order to make his point. He wants us to think about the fact that our race will end; our lives will end. What will your end result be? When you have weighed everything up on the gain and loss ledger, how will it all work out? Will you realise your dream or will you come to the conclusion you have been setting your sights on the wrong things? Will your life’s work boil down to a pile of dung or a fast fading garland of leaves and flowers? After all your garland will become your wreath. In the scheme of things eternal, will what you focused on all your life really matter?
Paul came to realise for himself that what he had sowed his life into could be compared to a pile of dung. He then takes the background of the Pan Hellenic Games (All Greek Games) and uses them as an analogy for life. So Paul makes the statement:
But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in the Messiah Jesus.
Phil 3:14
We still have some more to ponder on before we’re done.
- What in reality is the prize?
- What do the words mean?
- What does it mean to be the Champion?
- What does it mean to be the Greatest?
- Who is the GOAT?
I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
Mohammad Ali
Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
Mohammad Ali
Don’t ever let your memories be bigger than your dreams.
Jim Craig
This world is given as the prize for the men in earnest; and that which is true of this world, is truer still of the world to come.
Frederick William Robertson
As I read this I’m reminded of the book my wife and I are reading together: “Finishing Strong” by Steve Farrar (Multnomah Books). It’s a good appendix to the thoughts above.
Thanks for the comment Alan. Glad you appreciated the Gem. Numbers of people have commented on the Gems I am writing on Philippians.