The apostle's confession of his imperfection and his method of Christian progress.
There is a touching and instructive humility in the language of these verses.
I. HIS CONFESSION OF IMPERFECTION. "Not as though I had already attained or have been made perfect;" and again," I count not myself to have apprehended."
1. This argues a high estimate of a Christian's duty. There is no inconsistency in the consciousness of hidden imperfection and the thought of a lofty ideal. We must ever keep Christ himself before us as the only ideal to be copied and followed after through life.
2. It argues a humble estimate of himself. It is a remarkable confession from such a man. He had done and suffered much for Christ, yet he says, "I have not been made perfect." Such an experience ought to rebuke the lofty pretensions of perfectionists of every class.
3. Yet this humble estimate of himself, as well as his aspiration for higher holiness, is sure evidence that he had made some progress. A writer says, "That which is best in you is your appreciation of what is better in others."
II. HIS METHOD OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. This is expressed in two separate and significant sentences.
1. "I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I also was apprehended by Christ Jesus."
2. "This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are past, and reaching forth to the things that are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
(a) The mark is perfect holiness.
(b) The prize is perfect blessedness.
(c) All his activity in this Divine race is sustained by the thought that he stands in the "high calling" of God and is supported by the grace of Christ Jesus.
It is a high calling, high as heaven, and seemingly inaccessible to men of such passions and infirmities as ours, but. then it is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is our hope and our consolation.—T.C.
Practical exhortation to unity in religious life.
The apostle gathers up the conclusion to be drawn from the preceding verses. "Therefore let us, as many as be perfect, mind the same thing."
I. CONSIDER THE DUTY OF BELIEVERS TO WALK IN THE FULNESS OF PRESENT TRUTH. The saints, who are here described as perfect, including that very apostle who had just said he was not perfect, are to be regarded as perfect in the sense of adultness of understanding. They were not "babes in Christ;" they had put away childish things; they had assumed the apostle's position concerning the Law. But on this very ground they were to stand strongly consistent in all moral and spiritual development. They were to be like the apostle, forgetting the past and pressing onward to the mark for the heavenly prize.
II. BELIEVERS MAY NOT SEE EYE TO EYE, BUT ARE ENCOURAGED TO LOOK TO THE LORD FOR FULLER KNOWLEDGE. " And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God will reveal even this to you." The principle is ever tree. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God? If a believer is rooted in the faith of Christ, the Lord will help him to see the truth respecting minor matters.
III. So FAR AS BELIEVERS AGREE, THEY OUGHT TO SHOW A VISIBLE CONFORMITY OF LIFE AND OPINION. "But let us walk according to that we have attained." Thus