glimpse of the heavenly Jerusalem, that, centuries later, the Apostle John was also to see

and describe in all its glory and beauty (Rev. 21:). Abraham was able to "weigh up" and

"discriminate" and "to prove the things that are excellent" and, by faith, to embrace

God's best for him. It is this ability and keenness that is so lacking today in Christian

circles. Why should we "rightly divide the Word of truth"? they say. Why bother about

three spheres of blessing in the Bible? Is it necessary to know this? We are saved and

that is all that matters!

The example of Abraham and the worthies of Heb. 11: condemns this attitude.

Overcoming faith wants the best that God has revealed. This is not presumption; it is

honouring and valuing what God has been pleased to make known for the obedience of

faith. The other is just spiritual laziness and unbelief, which can only result in loss for

the believer who indulges in it. We are often amazed at how little of the fullness of

God's revealed truth the average believer desires to receive.

Presently Paul is going to introduce the figure of a race, and here, therefore, the mind

or thinking is all-important. Those who wish to be victorious in the race, must be "thus

minded" with the Apostle (3: 15). This quality then of spiritual perception is a mark of

one who is pressing on in the race for the heavenly prize. All wrong attitudes of mind

will only clog and slow up the runner and they must be rigorously discarded. This leads

to the next clause in the prayer, "in order that ye might be sincere and without offence

with a view to the Day of Christ" (literally, verse 10). The word sincere is eilikrines,

which also occurs in II Pet. 3: 1. The noun eilikrineia occurs three times (I Cor. 5: 8;

II Cor. 1: 12; 2: 17). The derivation of these words is doubtful, and neither of them are

common in the papyri. There are two possible sources. (1) A derivation from eilein, to

shake to and fro in a sieve, till all the foreign matter is extracted and only the pure

substance left. This would describe the mind which has been purified and cleansed by

the Word of God (John 15: 3; Psa. 19: 9).  (2) Or they could be derived from two

words, heile, sunlight, and krinein, to judge, and would describe something that could

stand the test of sunlight and show no flaws. Both are searching ideas and would fit into

the context. The successful runner in God's race is one who has been purified, has laid

aside every weight and sin that so easily besets us (Heb. 12: 1, 2), and is running this race

with patience, looking unto Jesus, the Beginner and the Finisher. Or he can stand the test

of God, Who is light, and penetrates the innermost thoughts and motives of the mind and

finds nothing there that is out of His will. Such a person is "pure" or "transparent" as

Moffatt so aptly renders it.

He is also "without offence", that is, not causing offence or stumbling in other people;

and so would be filled with the fruit of righteousness (note the R.V. margin, "fruit" is

singular). This is practical righteousness in action, as the figure of fruit always indicates

(Gal. 5: 22) and this comes only "through Jesus Christ" (1: 11 R.V.). The athlete does not

run a race by theorizing or merely thinking, but by intense action and effort, and the final

goal is "unto the glory and praise of God". This is the acid test, not the glorification of

man, or even of the believer, but the ultimate glory of God Himself. Every prize winner

in the Day of Christ will contribute to this glory. For it is only by the grace and

resurrection power of Christ that any saved sinner can press on to the goal, breast the