Thesis: Paul’s letter addressed to the church in Philippi is an encouraging letter of friendship,

emphasizing the need for progress in Christian living, reaching forward to see God’s kingdom
expanded.
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ST FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY

PRESSING ON: AN EXEGETICAL STUDY OF PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14

SUBMITTED TO DR. KEN PENNER

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
RELS 275: PAUL’S LETTERS

BY
COURTNEY URQUHART
April 6, 2009
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“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the
loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may
gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith
in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I
may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share
his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means
possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already
perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has
made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it
my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal
for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:7-14 (ESV) 1

Paul’s letter addressed to the church in Philippi is an encouraging letter of friendship,

emphasizing the need for progress in Christian living, reaching forward to see God’s kingdom

expanded. This church in particular was of special significance to Paul, as it was the first church

that he had founded in Europe (McDonough). Paul probably visited the Philippians several

times after founding the church, and he hints at having written another letter to them in Phil 3:1,

having received word and a gift from the church in 4:14, which was most likely monetary in

nature, as he speaks of having been in need (Phil 4:11-13).

Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians from prison, although scholars have debated

whether he was imprisoned in Rome, Caesarea, or Ephesus (Saunders). His letter gives thanks to

the Philippians for their gift, carries news of Epaphroditus’ recovery from a serious illness

(Epaphroditus was a member of the Philippian congregation (Saunders)), and that he was sending

1
Although this passage appears in its entirety, only the second paragraph (verses 12-14) will be
analyzed in depth in this paper because of its length. The first part of the passage appears for
contextual reasons.
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their friend and church member back to them. Paul wanted to assure the recipients of the letter

that although he was imprisoned he was still in good spirits because of his faith in Christ (Phil

1:12-18), and pass along his concern that they continue to grow in their faith (Phil 1:25).

Although they seem to be on the right track, especially compared to the churches at Galatia and

Corinth, Paul urges them not to focus on their past achievements but to look forward to what

they can still do, to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus”

(Phil 3:14 ESV).

Within the passage on which this paper is based, Philippians 3:7-14, Paul outlines his

progress in the gospel, which is through Christ and not the law. Earlier in chapter three, he

speaks of his past as a Jew, a “Hebrew of Hebrews”, zealous even to the point of persecuting the

Christian church. Beginning in 3:7, Paul tells of his new outlook on life; what he once counted as

“gain,” the power he held in the Jewish community as well as his obedience of the law, he now

refers to as “loss.” Likewise, what he would have once considered “loss” he now sees as the

ultimate “gain,” knowing Jesus Christ. Instead of relying on his own righteousness through the

law, he could now put his hope in the righteousness “which comes through faith in Christ” (Phil

3:9 ESV).

Paul continues, claiming he has not yet fully obtained this status, the complete reliance on

Christ, since he is human, and humans in general tend to rely on themselves and other worldly

things. But he has not given up; he is moving forward, striving to attain the resurrection from the

dead, the power of Christ’s resurrection and to be a partner in his suffering (Phil 3:10-14).

Although this passage could be divided at several points, as is evident in various

translations of Philippians, I have chosen to divide it in the same way as the New International

Version, with divisions before the seventh verse, between verses eleven and twelve, and after
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verse fourteen. I think that this most accurately represents Paul’s thought process, since he was

speaking of obtaining resurrection in verse twelve, which is where many translations (NIV

included) place a section break. Philippians 3:12 reads, “Not that I have already obtained this”,

but there is no explanation of what “this” is in reference to, except the previous paragraph’s,

attainment of the power of Christ’s resurrection and sharing in his suffering.

Through reading many different translations of this passage, I have found that none

contain exegetical difficulties. Many use different wording, especially in 3:12, “Not that I have

already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ

Jesus has made me his own” (ESV). Some translations use the phrases, “take hold of that for

which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (NIV), or “apprehend that for which also I am apprehended

of Christ Jesus” (KJV), however I do not consider these to be of exegetical significance, but

instead simply a matter of translators’ word choice, differences in writing, editing, and compiling

which do not make a significant difference in the overall purpose of the text.

The number of significant words in these three short verses is in fact rather large. Words

such as obtained, perfect, brothers, forget, strain, goal, prize, and upward/heavenly jump out

from the text as being of importance, and while some have proven to show some interesting

correlation with the rest of the New Testament, others were not found in the concordance at all.

Although the word obtain in this passage appears to be of little consequence, merely

something that the author is doing, or in this case, trying to do, it is surprising how many times

the New Testament uses the word for purposes not unlike what Paul is speaking of in this

particular passage. It is often used in the context of attaining glory or righteousness from God

(Rom 8:21, 11:7; 2 Thess 2:14) or salvation from Christ (1 Thess 5:9; 2 Titus 2:10).

Perfect is obviously significant, and similar results were found through it. Paul stresses
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that he has not been made perfect (Phil 3:12), and he will never be truly perfect, as that is a term

reserved for things of God, and not of man, throughout the New Testament (God as perfect, Matt

5:48; God’s will, Rom 12:2; Jesus’ patience, 1 Titus 1:16).

The word brothers is another that is obviously important, and this is seen by merely

looking at the number of times it appears in the Bible. A staggering 505 times in the Bible in its

entirety, 222 of which appear in the New Testament. Besides the obvious use of referring to a

male sibling as a brother, the New Testament often finds followers of Jesus referring to fellow

Christians as brothers in Christ (Rom 7:4; 1 Cor 1:10; Heb 2:11) (Saunders).

At the time that this letter was written, the church at Philippi was still relatively new, and

in a world that worshipped many gods, as well as the ruler of the day. Therefore in the Roman

province of Macedonia, wherein Philippi was situated, the people would have worshipped Caesar

as if he were a god. In his letters, Paul does not hesitate to remind the churches everywhere that

Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, and that they are under heavenly rule, not that of the emperor.3

The meaning of this passage is not really affected by the sociological differences between

the situations of the original readers and those of today’s readers, as it is more of an encouraging

passage, rich with theological purpose, than a historical, social message meant only for the

original reader. Paul gets personal with the Philippians as he tells his own story (3:4-6), and

perhaps the true meaning of these verses is lost on today’s average reader, as these practices and

hierarchies are not as common as they may have been in Paul’s time. However, Philippians 3:7-

14 shows Paul’s perseverance for the body of Christ, and his desire for all congregations to do

the same, coming together in the name of Jesus and striving for resurrection, for fellowship with

him, and for perfection. These desires can certainly carry over into today’s situations, and can

affect today’s readers as well as the original readers.

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Philippians follows the same general form as the other Pauline letters, and would

be classified as a letter of support in ministry. Paul is writing to those who are providing financial

support and prayer, which was necessary for his ministry work in spreading the gospel to the

Gentiles. It is a letter of gratitude, spiritual encouragement, and general updates on his mission

and imprisonment.

Paul does make use of parallelism in this passage, referring to his “gains” and

“losses” as if it were a case of accounting. What he once considered gain is now filed under the

“loss” category, and what once was loss is now credited as “gain”.

The spiritual encouragement of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi is laid out well in

Philippians 3:7-14. Paul lets the recipients of the letter know that he is not perfect, but he is

straining for perfection, he has made it his goal to be like Christ, and he has set his focus solely

on that goal. He encourages his readers to do so as well, in order to gain Christ and be found in

him, to break free of the law and of trying to obtain righteousness through it, but instead focusing

on Jesus and his faithfulness to carry him toward the “goal of the prize of the upward call of God

in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14 ESV)

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As a Jew, Paul of Tarsus lived what he and others thought to be a perfect and blameless

life, full of zeal for the law, and a persecutor of the emerging Christian church. Once converted

and called to Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul came to realize that all of his good

deeds and zeal got him no closer to the ultimate goal, that of resurrection with Christ.

In writing the passage studied in this paper, Paul certainly had in mind his past, and used

his imperfections to show the church at Philippi that even he has not attained a perfect life, but

that righteousness and perfection are to be found in Christ. He emphasizes that he has not yet

reached his goal, but that he is aiming for the prize (Phil 3:14), ignoring what is behind him and

setting his eyes forward. What exactly is he not looking back at? The New Interpreter’s Bible

seems to think it may be Paul’s progress to date, or more likely, the things that he once prided

himself in, but has now thrown away (Keck).

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References

McDonough, Sean M. “The Letter of Paul to the Philippians.” In The ESV Study Bible, English

Standard Version (eds. Lane T. Dennis et al.; Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2275-87.

Keck, Leander, E. “The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary” Nashville, TN, 2000. 11:532-533

Munck, Johannes. “Paul and the Salvation of Mankind.” Richmond, VA, 1954. 22-23.

Saunders, Stanley P. “Philippians, Letter to the,” The New Interpreter’s Bible 2008 4:503-507.

Wenham, David. “The Christian Life: A Life of Tension?” In Pauline Studies (eds. Donald A.

Hagner and Murray J. Harrris.) Grand Rapids, MI, 1980. 81.