CHRISTIAN STANDING AND CHRISTIAN PROGRESS
PHILIPPIANS iii. 12-16
Christian exultation--Christian confidence--"Not in the flesh"--"In
Jesus Christ"--The prize in view--No finality in the progress--"Not
already perfect"--The recompense of reward--What the prize will be
In a certain sense we have completed our study of the first section of
the third chapter of the Epistle. But the treatment has been so
extremely imperfect, in view of the importance of that section, that a
few further remarks must be made. Let us ponder one weighty verse,
left almost unnoticed when we touched it.
Observe then the brief, pregnant _account of the true Christian_, given
in ver. 3: "We are the circumcision, we who by God's Spirit worship,
and who exult in Christ Jesus, and who, not in the flesh, are
confident." This is a far-reaching description of the true member of
the true Israel, the man of the Covenant of grace.
Note first its positive lines. "_We worship_," "_we exult_," "_we are
confident_." Every affirmation is full of divine principles of truth.
"_We worship_"; ours is a hallowed, dedicated, and reverent life. It
is spent in a sanctuary. Whatever we have to be, or to do, as to
externals; whether to rule a province, a church, a school, a home;
whether to keep accounts, or sweep a room; whether to evangelize the
slums of a city, or the dark places of heathenism, or to teach
language, or science, or music; whether to be active all day long, or
to lie down alone to suffer; whatever be our actual place and duty in
the world, "_we worship_." "We have set the Lord always before us."
We have "sanctified Christ as LORD in our hearts" (1 Pet. iii. 15; so
read). We belong to Him everywhere, and we recollect it. We owe
adoring reverence to Him everywhere, and we recollect it. Let us
reiterate the fact; ours is a hallowed life, for it belongs to a divine
Master; it is a reverent life, for that Master in His greatness is to
us an abiding Presence. The fact of Him, the thought of Him, has
expelled from our lives the secular air and the light and flippant
spirit. We are nothing if not _worshippers_.
Then, secondly, "_we exult_." Ours is a life of gladness, so far as it
is the true Christian life. Constantly and profoundly chastened by its
worshipping character, it is constantly quickened and illuminated by
this element of exultation. The word is strong, _kauchomenoi_,
"exulting." We observe that the Apostle does not say that we are
resigned, that we are at peace, that there is a calm upon us. This is
true; but he says that "we _exult_." The "still waters," the _mey
m'nuchoth_ of Ps. xxiii. 2, are anything but stagnant. They are a
lake; but it is a lake upon a river, like the fair waters of Galilee,
receiving and giving, and therefore alive with pure movement, while yet
surrounded by the "rest," _m'nuchah_, which means repose not _from_
action but _underneath_ it. "We exult." Ours is not an autumn of
feeling; not a state of the soul in which the characteristics are the
sighs and starting tears of memory and apprehension. It is an
everlasting spring, in which the mighty but temperate Sun of Salvation
is shining, and will not set; not parching but quickening all day long.
"We exult." It is a happy life, not only with the happiness of a
cheerful contentment, beautiful as that is; ours is the happiness of
wondering discovery, and rich possession, and ever-opening prospects;
it is "quick and lively"; it is "exultation."
Then, "_we are confident_." If I traced the bearing of this clause
aright, in the last chapter, we shall feel that the word _pepoithotes_
is meant to carry a _positive_ message. It is not only that "we do not
rely on the flesh"; it is that "we are reliant, though not on the
flesh." Even so, in the true idea of the Christian life. "_We are
confident_." We are not wanderers from one peradventure to another; we
are reliant, we are assured, we know where we are, and what we are, and
whither we are bound. True, we, are intensely conscious of the limits
of our knowledge; it is only here and there that we can absolutely say,
"We know." But then, the points where we _can_ say so are points of
supreme importance. "We know that the Son of God is come." "We know
that our sins are forgiven us for His name's sake." "We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God." "We know that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; therefore
we are always _confident_." And all this is summed up in the thought
that "we know WHOM we have believed, and that HE is able to keep what
we have committed unto Him." Our certainty is a confiding certainty.
It does not reside in our courage, or our mental insight; it is lodged
in a Person, who is such that He claims our entire reliance on His
work, His word, Himself.
Then from its other side this wonderful verse gives us the cautions,
the negatives, of the Christian life; though even here it speaks the
language of the highest positive truth. "We worship _by God's
Spirit_"; our reverence, our adoration, the hallowing and religiousness
of our lives, is not a form imposed from without; it is a power
exerting itself from within, having come to our poor hearts from above.
Assuredly we do not neglect or slight actions and rites of worship; He
who has made each of us soul and body, one man, does not mean us to
despise the outward and physical in devotion. But we watchfully
remember that no such actions or rites are, for one moment, the soul of
worship, or its formative power. _That_ soul and power is "God's
Spirit" only; the Holy Ghost dwelling in the renewed being, and
teaching the man "to cry Abba, Father," and "making intercession for
him with groanings which cannot be uttered," and "taking of the things
of Christ, and shewing it unto us." We pray, and it is "in the Holy
Ghost." We worship, and it is "in Spirit, and in truth."
Again, "we exult _in Christ Jesus_." Our glad and animated happiness
lies in nothing short of HIM as its cause. We are thankful for noble
religious traditions and institutions, and for holy parentage, and for
all which makes Christianity correspond in practice to its name. But
we are watchful not to let even these blessings take the unique place
of "Christ Jesus" in our "exultation." "In all things He must have the
pre-eminence." Piety itself without Him, if it can be found, is not a
body but a statue. All the privileges of the Church of God, without
Him, though we reverently cherish every teaching and every ordinance
that is Christian indeed, are but the frame without the picture, the
casket without the stone.
Then again, "_not in the flesh_ are we confident." We have learnt a
deep distrust of everything which St Paul classes under that word
"flesh." It is always offering itself to us, in one Protean shape or
another, to be our comfort and our repose. Sometimes it takes the form
of our supposed usefulness and diligence; sometimes of our strict and
exemplary observances; sometimes, putting on a disguise still more
subtle, it sets before the Christian the depth, or the length, of his
spiritual experience. Or it grows bolder, and is content with coarser
masks; it tempts us to a miserable reliance on some imagined betterness
when we compare ourselves, forsooth, with some one else. I knew long
ago an old shepherd, in my father's parish, who based a hope for
eternity on the fact (if such it was) that he was never tipsy on a
Sunday. We are amused, or we are shocked. But this was only an
extreme type of a vast phenomenon, to be found lurking in countless
hearts, when God lets in the light; the "reliance" on our being
somehow, so we think, "not as other men are." And from this whole
world of delusion, in all its continents and islands, the Lord calls us
away here by His Apostle. He bids us migrate as it were to another
planet, laying our _whole_ confidence, not part of it, on HIM; let that
other world, our old world, roll along without us.
Christ presents to us Himself (as we follow out this rich Philippian
passage) as _all_ our Righteousness, in His precious justifying Merit,
offered for the acceptance of the very simplest faith. And He presents
Himself as _all_ our Power, for deliverance and for service, in His
resurrection Life; coming to reveal Himself to us in the divine beauty
of His sufferings, His death, through which he has passed for us into
"indissoluble life" (Heb. vii. 16). Our Righteousness--it is HE, "the
propitiation for our sins." Our Sanctification--it is still HE, in
"the power of His resurrection, and fellowship with His sufferings, and
assimilation to His death." Our Redemption, from the power of the
grave--it is still "this same Jesus," in union with whom alone we
"attain unto the resurrection which is out from the dead."
Even so, Lord Jesus Christ; let us thus be "found in Thee";
worshipping, exulting, confiding; resting on Thee, abiding in Thee,
with an accepting faith which only grows more simple and single as the
years move on and gather "since we believed."
"Help us, O Christ, to grasp each truth
With hand as firm and true
As when we clasp'd it first to heart
A treasure fresh and new;
"To name Thy name, Thyself to own,
With voice unfaltering,
And faces bold and unashamed
As in our Christian spring." [1]
But St Paul is again dictating, and we must follow. He has confessed
and affirmed, once for all, his standing and fixity in the Lord, and in
Him alone. Now he must emphasize another aspect of the living truth,
his progress in the Lord; the non-finality of any given attainment in
union with Him.
Ver. 12. +Not as though I had already received+ (_elabon_) the crown
of accomplished glory, +or had been already perfected+, with the
perfection which shall be when "we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is." +No, I am pressing on+ (_dioko de_), as on the racer's
course, +if indeed+, if as a fact, in blessed finality, +I may seize+
(_katalabo_) +that+ promised crown +with a view to which[2] I was
actually+ (_kai_) +seized by Christ Jesus+, when in His mercy He as it
were laid violent hands upon me, to pluck me from ruin, and to
constrain me into His salvation and His service. Yes, "I press on" to
"seize" that crown, with the animating thought that it was on purpose
that I might "seize" it that the Lord "seized" me; and that so every
stage in the upward and onward course of faith runs straight in the
line of His will whose mighty, gracious grasp is on me as I go.
+Brethren+,
Ver. 13. (I speak the word of pause and of appeal, as if I could stand
by you, and lay my hand upon your arm,) +I+ (_ego_), whatever others
may think and do about _them_selves, +do not account myself+
(_emauton_, emphatic like _ego_) +to have seized+ the crown as yet; no,
one thing (_en de_)--my thoughts, my purposes, are all concentrated on
this _one_ thing--+the things behind forgetting+, as one experience
after another falls behind me into the past, +and towards the things in
front stretching out and onward+ (_epekteinomenos_), like the eager
racer, with head thrown forward and body bent towards his object,
seeking for more and yet more, in the grace and power of my unchangeable
Ver. 14. Saviour, +goal-ward I press on+ (_kata skopon dioko_), "not
uncertainly," with no faltering or divided aim, +unto+ (_eis_), till I
actually touch, +the prize+ (_brabeion_, 1 Cor. ix. 24), the victor's
wreath,[3] the prize +of+, offered by, made possible through, +the high
call of God+, the voice of His prevailing grace[2] coming from _the
heights_ (_ano_) of glory and leading the believer at length up
thither, +in Christ Jesus+; for through Him comes the "call," and its
blessed effect is to unite the "called," the converted, sinner _to_
Him, so that he lives here and hereafter in Him. +So let all+
Ver. 15. +us perfect ones+ (_hosoi oun teleioi_), with the perfection
not of ideal attainment but of Christian maturity and entirety of
experience, +be of this mind+; the "mind" of those who rest in Christ
immoveably for their acceptance, and press forward in Christ
unrestingly in their obedience, ever discovering fresh causes for
humility and for progress, as they keep close to Him. +And if you are
diversely+ (_eteros_) +minded in any thing+, if in any detail of theory
or statement you cannot yet see with me, +this also God shall unveil to
you+. Sure I am that "the Spirit of God speaketh by me," and that
ultimately therefore you will, in submission to Him, see as I have
taught you. But I am not therefore commissioned in this matter to
denounce and excommunicate; I lay the truth before you, and in love
leave it upon your reverent thoughts. +Only, as to+
Ver. 16. +what we have succeeded in reaching+,[5] so far as our
insight into Christ has actually gone, up to our full present light in
the Gospel, +let us step in the same path+ (_to auto stoichein_[6]), on
the unchanging principles of faith, love, and holiness, and with a
watchful desire to cherish to the utmost a holy harmony of spirit and
conduct.
Here, in suggestive contrast or complement to the section we studied
last, the Christian appears in full and energetic movement, animated
with a sacred discontent, repudiating all thought of finality in his
conformity to his Lord, and in his actual spiritual condition; running,
pressing on, remembering at every step that, although grace is present
in power, and glory is in view, still this is the journey, not the
home; the race, not the goal;
_Nil actum reputans dum quid sibi restat agendum._
The passage contains of course much divine teaching in detail. But two
main points come up conspicuously "for our learning."
i. We have here a strong, and at the same time a most tender, warning
against all approaches to a theoretical "perfectionism." Under that
word, as I am well aware, many varieties of opinion in detail may be
found. And again, few who hold opinions commonly called perfectionist
like the word "perfectionism." But I speak with practical accuracy
when I give that title to such views as on the whole affirm the
attainableness here below of a spiritual condition in which man needs
no longer confess himself as now a sinner, and in which his attention
tends to be drawn more to his perfectness than to his imperfections of
condition. That such views are held, and strongly held, by many
earnest Christians, is a familiar fact. As far as my own observation
goes, such views are not uncommonly attended, in those who hold them,
by a certain oblivion to personal shortcomings and inconsistencies; by
an obscuration of consciousness, and of conscience, more or less
marked, towards the sinfulness of ordinary, everyday violations of the
law of holiness in respect of "meekness, humbleness of mind,
longsuffering," sympathy, and other quiet graces.
In the present passage the Apostle's whole spirit moves in just the
opposite direction. His complete repose in Christ as the Righteousness
of God for him, and then his deep nearness to his Lord as the Power of
God in him, alike seem not so much to banish as utterly to preclude any
thought about himself but that of his own imperfection. He writes as
one whose very last feeling is that of complacency in his spiritual
condition. I deliberately do not say "self-complacency"; for all
Christians would repudiate that word; I say, complacency in his
spiritual condition. His spiritual _position_, in Christ, as he is
"found in Him," fills him with much more than complacency; it is his
glory and his boast. But when he comes to speak of his spiritual
_condition_, the possessing thought is that all is imperfect and
progressive. He has a perfect blessing; but he is an imperfect
recipient of it; he has "not attained." He is deeply happy. But he is
thoroughly humble. As we read the passage, we feel very sure that the
man who wrote it would lie very tenderly and candidly open to reproofs,
and to painful truths told him about himself. For his Lord, he is
ready to bear rejoicing witness to the whole world. For himself, even
as in Christ, he holds no brief; nay, he takes the other part.
He has had a vision of absolute holiness which has completely guarded
him from the delusion of thinking that he is himself absolutely holy,
even in the fullest state of grace. He is so genuinely "perfect" in
the sense of mature knowledge of his Lord that he is incapable of
thinking himself "perfected."
All the while, this does not for a moment leave him in the miserable
plight of acquiescing in sin because he knows he is still a sinner. If
he were merely going by a theory, it might be so. But he is going by
the Lord Jesus Christ; he is using HIM, daily and hourly, as not only
his always abasing standard, but as "all his salvation, and all his
desire"; as the infinitely blissful Object of his affections and of his
knowledge; as his _Summum Bonum_. While Christ is fully this to the
Christian, he will be little likely on the one hand to say, "I am
perfect" (Job ix. 20); on the other he will be always seeking, in the
most practical of all ways, watching, praying, believing, for a closer
conformity and yet closer (_summorphixomenos_) to his Lord's bright
image.
And at the back of all his thoughts about defect and progress will lie
the restful certainties to which no ideas of defect attach, and from
which the idea of progress is absent, because it is out of place--the
certainties of the Righteousness of God, "of peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ"; the being "found in Him."
ii. The passage puts very distinctly before us the thought of the
Reward of Grace. The writer is living, loving, working, in view of a
"prize," _brabeion_: he looks forward to the Master's hand as it will
extend the wreath of victory, and to His voice as it will utter the
longed-for words, "Well done, good and faithful Servant." This same
man has laboured, in many an hour of public and private teaching, and
in many an inspired page, to emphasize the magnificent truth that grace
is grace; that God owes man nothing; that "all things are of God"; that
"to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness." He well knows that
there is a side of truth from which the one possible message is the
Lord's own solemn question and answer (Luke xvii. 9), "Doth he thank
that servant? I trow not." The most complete and laborious service
cannot possibly outrun the obligation of the rescued bondservant to the
Possessor, of the limb to the blessed Head. But then, this absolute
servitude is to One who is, as a fact, eternal Love. The work is done
for a Master who, while His claims are absolute, is such that He
personally delights in every response of love to His love, of will to
His will. His servant _cannot_ serve Him with a grateful heart without
thereby pleasing the heart of his Lord. And so, at the close of the
day's work, while, from the side of law and claims, the Lord "doth not
thank that servant," from the side of love and of moral sympathy He
will welcome him in with "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord." And that holy "prize" does, and must,
prove a magnet to the Christian's will and hopes. What is he looking
for? Not an accession of personal dignity in heaven, but a word from
his beloved Master's heart. There is nothing mercenary in this. True,
it "has respect unto the recompense of reward." But the "reward" is
what only love can give, and only love can take. It is love's approval
of the service of love.
Much discussion has been spent upon the theory of reward, in the matter
of our service rendered to "our King who has saved us." The theme no
doubt is one which admits of much interesting and important enquiry;
and it has many sides. But after all the true philosophy of it lies in
"the truth as it is _in Jesus_." Let the Christian be seeking the
reward of personal aggrandizement in heaven, "to sit on His right hand,
or on His left, in His glory"; and the motive is as earthly as if the
scene of its fulfilment were to be an earthly palace. Let him be
seeking the "well done" of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ has
redeemed him, and is dear to him; and he is in the line of the will,
and of the love, of God.
[1] Dr H. Bonar.
[2] _Heth o katelephthen_: grammatically we may render, "inasmuch as I
was seized"; cp. the Greek of Rom. v. 12; 1 Cor. v. 4. But the
connexion of thought seems to be best met by the above rendering, which
is practically that of A.V. and R.V.
[3] _Stephanos_, as in 1 Cor. ix. 25, Rev. iii. 11, and often.
_Stephanos_ is properly the victor's wreath, _diadema_ the king's crown
(Rev. xix. 12).--For a short essay on St Paul's use of athletic
metaphors see this Epistle in _The Cambridge Greek Testament_, Appendix.
[4] _Klesis_, _kalein_, _kletoi_, in the Epistles will be found
regularly to refer not to the general _invitations_ of the Gospel, but
to the actually prevailing power of God over the wills of His people.
See particularly 1 Cor. i. 23, 24, where the "call" is clearly
distinguished from the general proclamation, which alas so many
"Greeks" and "Jews" heard, but only to reject it.
[5] _Hephthasamen_: the verb seems always to indicate not merely
reaching, but reaching _with some difficulty_. I attempt to express
this in the translation.
[6] There is good evidence for omitting the words _kanoni, to auto
phronein_.--_Stoichein_ is more in detail than _peripatein_: "to
_step_," not only "to walk." See the Greek of Rom. iv. 12.
"Sovereign Lord and gracious Master,
Thou didst freely choose Thine own,
Thou hast call'd with holy calling,
Thou wilt save, and keep from falling;
Thine the glory, Thine alone!
Yet Thy hand shall crown in heaven
All the grace Thy love hath given;
Just, though undeserv'd, reward
From our glorious, gracious Lord."
F. R. HAVERGAL.
_THE BLESSED HOPE AND ITS POWER_
"We are waiting, we are yearning for Thy voice
Through the long, long summer day and winter night;
We are mourning till Thou bid'st our souls rejoice,
Till Thy coming turns our darkness into light:
Come, Lord Jesus, come again;
We shall see Thee as Thou art,
Then, and not till then,
In Thy glory bear a part;
Then, and not till then,
Thou wilt satisfy each heart."
J. DENHAM SMITH.