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Here we have two features combined. The resurrection, and the doing of
His will. These are found in Philippians:
`That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if
by any means I might attain unto the out -resurrection, that which is
out from among the dead' (Phil. 3:10,11).
`Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure'
(Phil. 2:12,13).
`Bearing His reproach' (Heb. 13:13).
This is in line with the apostle's desire to have `fellowship with His
sufferings', being `made conformable unto His death'. Not salvation, but
those `better things' that accompany salvation (Heb. 6:9); working out, as
God works in; a `better resurrection' in the shape of a `prize'; overcoming
as did Caleb and Joshua; it is these things that characterize these epistles
and unite them together.
The figure of race and prize which both Philippians and Hebrews
associate with going on unto perfection, is further emphasized by the
`athletic' terms that are found in both epistles. The `race' which was set
before the Saviour is, in the Greek, agona and the word is used by Paul in 2
Timothy 4:7, where he says, `I have fought a good fight'. So, in Hebrews
10:32, `great fight of afflictions', which the Hebrew believers had endured,
is the translation of the Greek athlesis. So, too, the argument that is
derived from Hebrews 12:1,2 uses the word antagonizomai, `striving against'
sin (Heb. 12:4). Even those who `subdued' kingdoms (Heb. 11:33) did so in
this same spirit of contest, the word translated `subdue' being
antagonizomai. When the apostle opened his appeal to the Philippians in
chapter 1:27 the word translated `striving together' which he used is
sunathleo, a word repeated in Philippians 4:3, `laboured with'. At the close
of this section the apostle refers to the `conflict', as being the same which
they had seen in him, and now heard to be in him, and here he goes back to
the word agona (Phil. 1:30). None of these words has any place in the
epistle to the Ephesians.
This conflict is epitomized and carried to its extreme in the cross of
Christ -- `Even the death of the cross' (Phil. 2:8), He `endured the cross'
(Heb. 12:2), and in both epistles the cross is brought in, not to speak of
redemption from sin, but as an example in association with conflict and
crown.
Closely linked with this theme is the majestic revelation of the Person
of Christ, Who was originally in `the form of God' (Phil. 2:6), which is but
another aspect of the truth set forth in Hebrews 1:3, where He is shown to be
`the express image of His person'. Where Philippians says that, at last,
`every knee shall bow' (Phil. 2:10), Hebrews says, `Let all the angels of God
worship Him' (Heb. 1:6). Where Philippians says `that Jesus Christ is Lord'
(Phil. 2:11), referring to the end, Hebrews says, `Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth' (Heb. 1:10). Where, with
holy awe, Philippians tells us that `He made Himself of no reputation' (2:7),
Hebrews says, `He was made a little lower than the angels' (2:7).