'That I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if
by any means I may attain unto the resurrection
from the dead.'--PHIL. iii. 10-11 (R.V.).
We have seen how the Apostle was prepared to close his letter at the
beginning of this chapter, and how that intention was swept away by the
rush of new thoughts. His fervid faith caught fire when he turned to
think of what he had lost, and how infinitely more he had gained in
Christ. His wealth is so great that it cannot be crowded into the narrow
space of one brief sentence, and after all the glowing words which
precede our text, he feels that he has not yet adequately set forth
either his present possessions or his ultimate aims. So here he
continues the theme which might have seemed most fully dealt with in the
great thoughts that occupied us in the former sermon, but which still
wait to be completed here. They are most closely connected with the
former, and the unity of the sentence is but a parallel to the oneness
of the idea. The elements of our present text constitute a part of the
Apostle's aim in life, and may be dealt with as such.