Philippians 3:12-16

Context

Keep Going Forward

3:12 Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.¹ 3:13 Brothers and sisters,² I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded:³ Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 3:14 with this goal in mind,⁴ I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God⁵ in Christ Jesus. 3:15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view.⁶ If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways.⁷ 3:16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard⁸ that we have already attained.⁹

[3:12] ¹tn Grk “that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” The passive has been translated as active in keeping with contemporary English style.

[3:13] ²tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

[3:13] ³tn Grk “But this one thing (I do).”

[3:14] ⁴tn Grk “according to the goal.”

[3:14] ⁵tn Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”

[3:15] ⁶tn Grk “those of us who are ‘perfect’ should think this,” or possibly “those of us who are mature should think this.”

[3:15] ⁷tn Grk “reveal this to you.” The referent of the pronoun “this” is the fact that the person is thinking differently than Paul does. This has been specified in the translation with the phrase “the error of your ways”; Paul is stating that God will make it known to these believers when they are not in agreement with Paul.

[3:16] ⁸tc Although κανόνι (kanoni, “standard, rule”) is found in most witnesses, though in various locations in this verse (א² D² Ψ 075 Ï), it is almost surely a motivated reading, for it clarifies the cryptic τῷ αὐτῷ (tw autw, “the same”). Both the fact that the word floats, and that there are other variants which accomplish greater clarity by other means, strongly suggests the secondary nature of any of the longer readings here. Further, the shortest text has excellent and early support in Ì^16,46 א* A B I^vid 6 33 1739 co, rendering it decidedly the preferred reading. The translation adds “standard” because of English requirements, not because of textual basis.

[3:16] ⁹tn Grk “Nevertheless, to what we have attained, to the same hold fast.”