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"going on to the end", and the alternatives put before the reader of these epistles are
either the leaving of the elements and the pressing on to the full personal realization of all
that Christ can mean, or the drawing back, for a variety of specified reasons, unto
"waste":--
"Leaving . . . . . let us go on unto perfection" (Heb. 6: 1).
"We are not of them who draw back unto perdition" (Heb. 10: 39).
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after
. . . . . forgetting the things which are behind" (Phil. 3: 11-13).
"Many walk . . . . . whose end is destruction" (Phil. 3: 18, 19).
Things associated with perfection and perdition.
Linked with these two focal terms are a series of others which find parallels in each
epistle. Closely associated with the overcoming faith of Abraham is the fact of a
heavenly citizenship:--
"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God"
(Heb. 11: 10).
"Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem" (Heb. 12: 22).
"Our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3: 20).
Both epistles have a "prize" or a "reward" in view. Both speak of "pressing toward
the mark" or of "running the race set before them", and in both epistles Christ, and His
endurance of the cross, are used, not so much as the basis of redemption, but as an
example in attaining the reward. Corresponding with this it will be seen that in both
epistles Christ's exaltation to the right hand of God is viewed as in the nature of a
reward:--
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author (Captain) and
Finisher (Perfecter) of faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God"
(Heb. 12: 1, 2).
"Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him" (Phil. 2: 8, 9).
"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus" (Phil. 3: 13, 14).
Both epistles foster the spirit that willingly gives up the present for the future, and that
weighs over against present "loss" future "gain":--
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3: 8).
"Ye endured a great fight of afflictions . . . . . cast not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompense of reward" (Heb. 10: 32-35).