Notes on Readings on Philippians 3:13-18
The New Translation renders the word "apprehended" as "take possession of." It says "Brethren, I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing—forgetting the things behind." (JND Trans.) The apostle has something before him which he is pressing towards. The word "possession" is simply getting hold of or possessing the apostle for a certain thing, but he had not yet the possession of that thing. The purpose of possessing was that the apostle was to conform him to Himself, to His own glory, either by resurrection from among the dead or by His transforming power when He comes again. Consequently, what the Lord laid hold of him for, possessed him for, he does not yet possess and never will possess until he is glorified in his body.
The state of being absent from the body and present with the Lord is a state that comes in and forms no part of what God had purposed; it is an imperfect state. When the body of humiliation is changed, then he will have possession.
"The prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" (JND Trans.) is conformity to Christ. That was the prize for him because all through here the Christian is seen as running a race and making for the end. We get the same thing from God's side in the 8th of Romans as we have from Christ's side here. In the 8th of Romans it is God's predestinating us to be conformed to the image of His Son; here it is Christ laying hold of one, possessing one, to be like Himself in glory, the same thing in result. Speaking of running in a race makes one think of a remark of Capt. Trigge's: "Some people ask, What is the harm of wearing a collar? If a collar hinders me, away it goes!" Hebrews 12: "Let us lay aside every weight." In that chapter the Lord is seen as running the course before Him. In the 15th verse of Phil. 3: "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded"; what does that mean? Is not "perfect" in the 15th verse "full-grown"? We take "perfect" in the 15th verse to mean, as many as have this object before them. "This one thing I do"—as many as are in that state of mind. He had just one thing before him, that is, as near perfect as any can be now, to have this object before him and pressing towards it. That is his state of mind and heart: energy and freshness.
What is it in this passage, "wisdom among them that are perfect"? There it is full-grown in contrast to babyhood.
What is the meaning of "forgetting those things that are behind"? Do not let them hinder. One running in a race cannot be looking back. The figure of a racer is used. "Those things that are behind" with the apostle were really those he could glory in as a man in the flesh. No matter what it was, it was behind.
It is remarkable how little the objective character of the gospel is thought of by saints. Take a passage from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, "To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."It is objective. Here it is the "prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus"— objective. So in the 8th of Romans and a great many other scriptures, "I press"; there is energy.
1 Corinthians 9: another line of truth—there we have energy; 26th and 27th verses: "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." It is a different line of truth, but a very important line of truth, and it shows the real in contrast to mere profession. "Not as one that beateth the air"—nothing to it. It was a real thing to the apostle. "I keep under my body." We do not always keep under our bodies; it is often trying, but it contemplates things that are really sinful.
The difference in "the prize of the high calling of God" and "the calling on high of God" is important. Any calling of God would be a "high calling" when God called him, the fact that God had called. "The calling on high" is another thing. Abraham's calling was a "high calling" when God called him; but the "calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" is to conformity to and companionship with Christ. Here it is individual—not collective or corporate.
How do we understand the 15th verse? "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you"? There are differences of judgment. Our differences of judgment tell a tale: that we all have not had Christ before us; that is, if we really and truly are of one mind, having Christ as our Object, God will reveal any differences. John 7:17: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." In the light of this passage what a tale the condition of the church tells: that Christ has not been the Supreme Object.
I think we shall find it increasingly important to have what we have just spoken of, the objective side of truth before us, not the subjective. It is so natural to be occupied with what is subjective. A certain kind of pious feeling leads to it; but it is nothing but the power of the Spirit of God and acknowledging the truth that leads to occupation with objective truth.
Does "subjective" mean what concerns ourselves? Yes, what is going on inside, not leaving behind. All that comes from not ceasing to expect anything from one's self. As long as we expect anything from ourselves, we will always be left. How can a bad tree bring forth good fruit? We have an example of it in the first Christian martyr, stoned to death—gnashed upon with their teeth. "He . . . looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus"; "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"; "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." There is moral conformity. The Lord said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit"; He prayed for His murderers first: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Stephen's was moral conformity. Had he been occupied with the wicked side of it, it would have led him to say, "How long, 0 Lord, before Thou wilt avenge?"
How are Christians to take the exhortations that are subjective? It is to occupy us with objective truth. Take for instance, Colossians: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved"; start from this point: "holy and beloved." The thing is to "put on" according to that objective truth. "Put on therefore"—it is a wonderful passage.
There is another thing: occupation with Christ in glory conforms to Christ in humiliation. 2 Corinthians: "We all, with open[unveiled] face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory"—objective again, but the subjective is the result of the objective: "Beholding the glory of the Lord" as in a mirror.
The 16th verse is important. "Nevertheless"—whatever the state, let us walk according to what we have, and when that is the state, we will get more. Consequently, there is growth in walking according to the truth we already have to begin with. A soul says, I am saved, born again, walk according to that truth. That is individual truth, but you will be led on to corporate truth: that God has a family, and we are His household and members of Christ's body; that is another thing—a corporate thing. All is not learned at once.
Presently we will all be around the table to remember the Lord to partake of the emblems of the Lord's death—have the same precious Saviour before us. Some of us have been there for many years and some for only a short time, but it is the same thing to all. Degrees of apprehension is another thing, but it is the same thing: all have been made to drink into one Spirit. God does not expect as much from one who has been there one year as from one who has been there many years. He is remembering the Lord, and perhaps it is more to his heart than to the one who has been there much longer. God would occupy us with the same Person, leading both on and keeping the same Object before each one.
There is another thing: we find the apostle is no stranger to tears. He shed tears over the saints of God. Acts 20, 2 Corinthians 2, and our passage here illustrate what is meant in 2 Corinthians when he says, "out of anguish of heart and many tears"; so he wrote to them. He had gone in and out among those at Ephesus for a number of years. "By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." (Acts 20:31.) "Of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping" (Phil. 3:18). These were not of the outside world but saints of God, earthly minded, selfish Christians that called forth these tears. "Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies (not of Christ] of the cross of Christ."
We have called attention a number of times to the fact that in Scripture the death, blood and cross of Christ are all found in connection with certain lines of truth, and that the cross in this way is in connection with the world: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). Also the 12th verse: "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." It is the end of man in the flesh as connected with the world. We have here in our passage—"enemies of the cross." Enemies of the death or enemies of the blood would not do, but of the cross. How solemn and beautiful—"enemies of the cross." The truth as to the cross of Christ is little known. We do not say the truth as to the death and the blood, but as to the cross and its use in Scripture. The cross has separated us from this world and the world from us, and in the cross the world is a judged thing.
We begin by being sheltered from judgment under the blood; God does not leave us there; He takes us through the Red Sea; that is deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt, then the wilderness and that is where the cross comes in. That truth as to the cross is very important. When the Red Sea closed upon their enemies, it shut them out of Egypt. If it shut them out of Egypt it left them in the wilderness. That is where the truth of the cross comes in.
We find ourselves content, as it were, to be sheltered from judgment under the blood of Christ. The cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were cast into the fire that consumed the victim (Numbers 19). Cedar wood speaks of earthly glory—the glory of Lebanon—man at his best estate. The hyssop is man at his lowest. There is a mighty contrast in that little hyssop and the mighty cedar, the whole range cast into the fire. That is the cross.