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No.48.
The Epistle to the Philippians (15).
pp. 236 - 239
We have given a consideration to the very important "out-resurrection" of Phil. 3: 11
and its purpose as a prelude to the PRIZE in connection with the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. Some find the doctrine concerning resurrection in its various aspects
difficult to grasp. One feels this is largely because the average Christian mind is
dominated by the Platonic idea of the immortality of the soul which is unknown to the
Scriptures of truth. Modern Christendom is leavened with ideas which have their basis in
paganism if traced back far enough and this is one of them.
Professor F. W. Beare is undoubtedly right when he says:
"Paul, unlike us, was affected by Greek notions only in a secondary way. His
inheritance was Hebraic, and the Hebrew thought instinctively of the person as a whole;
for him the body was a valid expression of the whole person, not a more or less
indifferent frame for the soul. Paul was constitutionally incapable of thinking of life
eternal in terms of a `soul' existing in some disembodied state . . . . . a `spiritual'
resurrection would to him be no resurrection at all; a disembodied existence would be no
better than the shadowy and unsubstantial existence of a shade" (Epistle to the
Philippians, pp. 125, 126, italics ours).
It is significant that the Scriptures never use the phrase "the resurrection of the body"
which we find in the creeds, but always the resurrection of the dead, for it is always the
whole person that is in view.
The Apostle now uses a favourite metaphor of a race, drawn from the Olympic games.
We have references to this in I Corinthians & Galatians and it is significant that the
epistle to the Hebrews likewise uses it (12: 1, 2). When this figure is employed, we are
not dealing with God's free gift by grace apart from merit or works, that is salvation
and its kindred aspects, but service and the possibility of reward or loss. This is clear in
I Cor. 9: 24, 25 and it is just as true in the Philippian context we are now considering.
Paul was longing to reach the full end for which Christ had saved him. As J. B. Philips
puts it: "grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me". This
means he is not content with being just saved, as so many are, but eagerly pressed
forward to reach maturity, or full-growth (perfection), for attached to this is a Divine
prize or reward. God has no crowns for immature Christians!
"Brethren I count not myself to have yet apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting
the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press
on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (3: 13, 14
R.V.).
Here is the concentration of the disciplined athlete and runner. He is not going to be
distracted, "one thing I do", nor is he going to turn his head backwards and glance at the
"things that are behind", but with his eye on the goal, the Lord in heaven's glory, he is
pressing forward with the greatest speed possible.