Philippians 3:12-15

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 God ⁵  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 

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

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

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

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

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

[3:15]  ⁷ tn 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.