Bible Gem 1980 – What is the Heavenly Prize? (Phil 3:14)

 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. [NLT]

Phil 3:14

We seem to have danced around the meaning of the Heavenly Prize. Just what is the heavenly prize that Paul was alluding to? I told you in Gem 1976 that Paul himself doesn’t come straight out and tell us what the heavenly prize is. Instead he used relative pronouns to skirt around the need to make the heavenly prize clear. I told you in Gem 1971 that Paul openly stated in Phil 3:11 that he wanted to attain to the resurrection from the dead by any means. Using those words tell us that Paul was bent on obtaining the resurrection from the dead. But what does that even mean and how does one obtain, attain or appropriate it? In the previous Gem 1979 I gave you a table which among other things spelled out all of the words Paul used in his letter to the Philippians to hint at the nature of the prize. Furthermore in Gem 1972 I told you of the lead I felt to follow up when I came across commentators discussing the meaning of both [skopos] and [brabeion] where Kennedy in the EGT suggested there was no point separating the two words, that the meaning of goal and prize in the verse was the same.

I strongly disagreed and feel now I have explained clearly enough that Paul was comparing the garlands of leaves and flowers offered at the PanHellenic Games with the true heavenly prize. It is like he has drawn out the discussion in order to tantalise us and make us think about it. I also suggested Paul has looked back and seen that all he strived for in Judaism amounted to pile a dung. He has then inserted the word [brabeion] “prize” to make his readers think about the low value and fading nature of the prizes offered at the Greek games. Garlands of flowers on an assortment of leaves. What exactly is the point of expending all of that energy and effort to strive for a garland of leaves and flowers which will fade in a matter of days? It makes no sense unless you see the connection between dung and garlands of leaves. Both are worthless. It makes me think of what Peter told the lame beggar at the temple in Acts.

But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

Acts 3:6

Back in Peter and Paul’s day there were no Olympic gold, silver or bronze medals. When the All Greek Games were held the prizes were only garlands of leaves and flowers. What was sought after was that which flowed after the Champion’s garland was presented. The riches and the accolades behind the prize. I have explained that in detail already. Now we need to understand what Paul means by “the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” This construction needs investigation because there are different points of view as to exactly what it means.

Literally we have:

I press on toward the goal . . .

There is another reading in Greek which changes the preposition ἐπὶ to εἰς which means “to”, “into”, “to reach” “in the direction of”

The versions interpret this idea as:

• [ASV, KJV, LITV. LSV, MKJV, RV] for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
• (BBE)  even the reward of the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus.
• (CEV)  so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done.
• (CJB)   in order to win the prize offered by God’s upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.
• (ERV) to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven.
• (ESV)   for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• (GNB)  in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.
• (GW) to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.
• (Murdock)  that I may obtain the prize of victory of the call of God from on high, by Jesus the Messiah.
• (TLB)   and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

What is fascinating at this point is that the interpretation splits into all sorts of options as to what Paul meant by these words.

The Commentators come up with the following:

• The emphasis is on the purpose of God’s call.
• The emphasis is on the obedience to the call i.e Paul’s / ours.
• The prize is the call.
• The prize is Christ.
• This refers to the resurrection; i.e. the prize is resurrection.
• The call comes from above.
• The call is to come up above.
• The call is a call to move upwards.
• The call is the call to enter the Kingdom of God.
• The call is related to Paul’s call to apostleship.
• God calling men to their heavenly reward.
• The call is to the heavenly calling of God and not related to pressing toward the goal.

Well now everything is clear isn’t it? Hardly! Sometimes I really don’t see the point in consulting commentaries. As I remind participants in Deeper Bible, commentaries are just the opinions of people. As I told you in Gem 1972, I don’t spend hours going through all the commentaries I can find. Rather I use the Exegetical Helps series to enable me to do a quick survey of the commentaries on verses which attract a range of opinions. Just simply to give me the breadth of what others think about a particular verse or reading. I don’t collect commentaries. Rather, I choose to buy primary and secondary resources to enable me to do my own digging. I don’t study books about the Bible or Bible books; I spend my time studying the words that were written in the Greek or Hebrew text in order to understand better what the author was meaning.

I gave you Paul’s list of what the prize could be in the tabulation of his themes and motifs in the last Gem. Paul listed for us some possibilities:

Finished work, pure, blameless, fruit of salvation, to die is better, resurrection from the dead, perfection, heavenly prize, glorious bodies and a crown.

So which of those do you think Paul has in mind? None of them. I think it is very clear what Paul was thinking was the heavenly prize. I think some of the versions i have listed above have captured the idea but I don’t think any of the commentators have nailed it. Do you think you have got it sorted yet?

We have seen the number of times in Philippians Paul has referred to the end of life, the race being a metaphor for life:- 1:21-23; 2:16; 3:11; 3:13-14; 3:20.

Take note of the number of times Paul picks up on this same metaphor in other parts of his writings or in the case of Acts what Luke writes that Paul said:- Acts 20:24; 1 Cor 9:24-26; Gal 2:2; 5:7; 2 Tim 4:7.

There are many verses in the Bible which use walking and running as a metaphor of our life on earth. This is not a new concept. What about this reference to the upward call. Is Paul talking about his call to be a disciple or an apostle in his letter to the Philippians at all? No I don’t think so. His every reference seems to be talking about his coming death and how much better it is to die and be with Christ. What about the reference to the heavenly call? Paul does not actually mention heaven as such. The word he uses is [ἄνω] (anō) meaning above, up above, the call upward. Is it possible that Paul intended us to think of the call coming from above? Sure, he could likely have had in mind his own journey on the road to Damascus when the light and the voice came from above. Is it possible he intended his readers to interpret it as a call upward? Sure, he could have been recalling the time he witnessed and took an indirect part in the stoning of Stephen. It is clear in that passage that Stephen received an upward call. It fact Stephen received a standing ovation. (See Gem 1481 and 1482). Stephen appears to have had an upward call.

Paul is also the prime writer in the New Testament who refers to the time when those who are still living at the Day of Christ, which he has mentioned twice in this letter to the Philippians, will receive an upward call. We will be caught up to be with Him in air at the time of the Rapture. But I don’t believe Paul is referring to that in this letter. He could be, but I think his one thought, ‘one thing I do‘, is on the end of the race and coming to that moment when he attains to the resurrection from the dead. That is the moment Paul was thinking about. As we have seen already, he is considering the end of his life and the fact that he is likely to be executed by one of the despotic Roman Emperors. The likely candidates are: Caligula (37-41 AD), Nero (54-68 AD) or Domitian (81-96 AD). Caligula’s reign was too early as a date for Paul’s death. Nero would fit the time frame as would Domitian but the truth is we just don’t know for sure. What is clear is the fact that Paul was facing his likely death which makes it all the more likely that his metaphor of running the race relates to what he was looking toward in those classic verses in Phil 1:21-23.

Finally, the time has come for me to spell out for you what Paul MUST have been talking about. I believe he is referring to something I have talked about frequently. Paul’s thoughts were fixed on Zoē, the Life of the Age to Come. We call it Eternal Life, but as I have said many times the focus is not on the durative nature of the life (eternal) but on the quality. The idea of Zoē, eternal life, is the restoration of LIFE in all of its fullness as God first intended it. The life He designed for us in the Garden of Eden was a fullness of LIFE that God planned for all mankind. Life without pain, suffering, tears or death. The fullness of life lived in the presence of God, walking and talking with our Creator. The fullness of life that is talked about all over the Bible. That Life! Why would Paul be contemplating anything else? Of course he was longing to depart and be with Christ which is better by far. He was contemplating the moment when he stepped into the Life he always knew was his in Christ, the moment when he would become a citizen of heaven, as he had hinted at twice in this letter to the Philippians. All of what Paul has been telling the Philippians to encourage them has been focused on the Life of the Age to Come – Zoē. Who wouldn’t want that?

When Paul thinks of his pending death and going to be with Christ, the caricature of the value of all he sowed into being a good rabbi and pharisee seemed like dung. He then compares his race of life to the athletes of the All Greek Games in Isthmia, Delphi, Nemaea and Olympia and ponders the garlands the champions won. It all seemed so empty and frivolous, worth nothing of true value. Even the money, the riches, the gold, silver and bronze of modern day Olympic competition wouldn’t have tempted Paul. He knew where the true value lay. So this letter to the Philippians was packed with analogies to life, death, running the race and the prize on offer at the end. Paul knew the price tags had been switched on us all. He was intent on the finish line and stretching forward to that one thing that mattered. Oh, that he might attain to the resurrection from the dead. That he might be raised from the dead like Christ and go on to live the Life of the Age to Come.

But how does one appropriate that? Attain to it? Take hold of it? Get it?

Ah, that’s the focus of the following Gem.

At least now we know clearly what the prize is and what’s more, it is nothing like the garlands of the games, not even a gold, silver or bronze modern Olympic medal. Nothing so frivolous and fleeting as that. Nor the dung or the stench of human effort. No, the prize is of infinitely more worth than ordinary, earthly stuff.

Daring is the price of progress. All splendid conquests are the prize of boldness, more or less.

Victor Hugo

The greatest gift that God in His bounty made in creation, and the most conformable to His goodness, and that which He prizes the most, was the freedom of will, with which the creatures with intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed.

Dante

Let us prize Him as our Sacrifice and rest our whole weight on His death as atonement for sin. Let His blood be more precious in our eyes every year we live. Whatever else we glory in about Christ, let us glory above all things in His cross.

J C Ryle

To follow after that which perishes is to forfeit the prize of the high calling in Christ.

Frances J Roberts

You and I have never seen a hearse with a u-haul-trailer, taking the deceased’s treasures to bury with them. SELAH.

Ian Vail