The Dedication Of A Racer
THE DEDICATION OF A RACER
PHILIPPIANS 3:12-16
Are we preoccupied with our past, or do we, with Paul, constantly reach ahead to follow Christ?
This section continues to develop the line of thought set out in 3:7-11: the apostle thinks of himself as a contestant in the stadium (see also 2:16; 1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Timothy 4:7f.). He is a “runner” who speeds toward the goal with outstretched, but empty, hands. Although he knows himself to be thoroughly committed to the race, he has not yet attained anything. He therefore strains every muscle to the demands of the course and sprints toward the prize which is still before him. What sustains the apostle in a life of unbroken “running” is the divine constraint in the call of Christ (3:12). On the road to Damascus the exalted Lord laid hold of Paul and made himself known to his athlete as “Lord” (Acts 9:3-6,17). He filled Paul with the power of his resurrection and enrolled him in the fellowship of his sufferings (see also Acts 9:15f.). Paul is content with that. He finds within himself a new kind of zeal. Formerly he had persecuted the church (3:6); now he pursues the fulfillment of God’s plan for his life (3:12) and the prize of the resurrection, “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:14; see also 3:10).
The suggestion that Paul had not yet attained anything provokes in his readers (and us) a protest. Is he not the apostle of Christ to the Gentiles? Do not his knowledge, his work, his clear successes, indicate he has already reached many goals? Paul remains firm: “Not that I have already obtained this” (3:12). With resolute will Paul refuses to look back on the part of the course which now lies behind him (3:13). To speak now of achievements would be to return to the attitude of 3:4-6, which Paul has renounced. He will rely on a new surge of strength, and race on toward the goal in the confidence that responding to the call of Christ carries its own prize (3:14). Jesus Christ is not only the beginning of his life, but also its present reality and its future goal.
Having begun with a threefold “beware” (3:2), Paul now urges the Philippians to consider the relevance for their lives of what he has said in 3:4-14. In the conditions of existence under which Paul lives and labors they are to see the conditions which govern their own existence (3:15). A man becomes conformed to Christ, not as in the Greek culture by a dedication ceremony, but by work, struggle and suffering. While there may be different opinions regarding the details of what this involves, Paul is confident that both he and his readers are on a path which has, in principle, taken the direction marked out in 3:4-l4. He urges them to continue in that same direction.