Philippians 3:15

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Perfect.—The word is apparently used with a touch of irony (as perhaps the word “spiritual” in Galatians 6:1), in reference to those who hold themselves “to have already attained, to be already perfect.” It is, indeed, mostly used of such maturity in faith and grace as may be, and ought to be, attained here (Matthew 5:48; 1Corinthians 2:6; 1Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 4:12; Hebrews 5:14). But, strictly speaking, this life, as St. Paul urges in 1Corinthians 13:10-11, is but childhood, preparing for the full manhood, or “perfection” of the next; and his disclaimer of perfection above suggests that this higher meaning should in this passage be kept in view. The prospect of being “perfect” in indefectible faith or grace is the Christian’s hope; the claim to be already “perfect” is always recurring in various forms—all natural but unwarrantable anticipations of heaven on earth. St. Paul, by a striking paradox, bids those who hold themselves perfect to prove that they are so by a consciousness of imperfection. If they have it not, he says, they have something yet to learn. “God will reveal even this unto them.” The conviction of the Holy Ghost unites inseparably the “conviction of sin” and the “conviction of righteousness.” The “judgment” of absolute decision between them is not yet.

MacLaren's Expositions

Philippians

THE SOUL’S PERFECTION

Php 3:15.

‘As many as be perfect’; and how many may they be? Surely a very short bede-roll would contain their names; or would there be any other but the Name which is above every name upon it? Part of the answer to such a question may be found in observing that the New Testament very frequently uses the word to express not so much the idea of moral completeness as that of physical maturity. For instance, when Paul says that he would have his converts to be ‘ men in understanding,’ and when the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of ‘them that are of full age,’ the same word is used as this ‘perfect’ in our text. Clearly in such cases it means ‘full grown,’ as in contrast with ‘babes,’ and expresses not absolute completeness, but what we may term a relative perfection, a certain maturity of character and advanced stage of Christian attainment, far removed from the infantile epoch of the Christian life.

Another contribution to the answer may be found in observing that in this very context these ‘perfect’ people are exhorted to cultivate the sense of not having ‘already attained,’ and to be constantly reaching forth to unattained heights, so that a sense of imperfection and a continual effort after higher life are parts of Paul’s ‘perfect man.’ And it is to be still further noticed that on the same testimony ‘perfect’ people may probably be ‘otherwise minded’; by which we understand not divergently minded from one another, but ‘otherwise’ than the true norm or law of life would prescribe, and so may stand in need of the hope that God will by degrees bring them into conformity with His will, and show them ‘this,’ namely, their divergence from His Pattern for them.

It is worth our while to look at these large thoughts thus involved in the words before us.

I. Then there are people whom without exaggeration the judgment of truth calls perfect .

The language of the New Testament has no scruple in calling men ‘saints’ who had many sins, and none in calling men perfect who had many imperfections; and it does so, not because it has any fantastic theory about religious emotions being the measure of moral purity, but partly for the reasons already referred to, and partly because it wisely considers the main thing about a character to be not the degree to which it has attained completeness in its ideal, but what that ideal is. The distance a man has got on his journey is of less consequence than the direction in which his face is turned. The arrow may fall short, but to what mark was it shot? In all regions of life a wise classification of men arranges them according to their aims rather than their achievements. The visionary who attempts something high and accomplishes scarcely anything of it, is often a far nobler man, and his poor, broken, foiled, resultless life far more perfect than his who aims at marks on the low levels and hits them full. Such lives as these, full of yearning and aspiration, though it be for the most part vain, are

‘Like the young moon with a ragged edge E’en in its imperfection beautiful.’

If then it be wise to rank men and their pursuits according to their aims rather than their accomplishments, is there one class of aims so absolutely corresponding to man’s nature and relations that to take them for one’s own, and to reach some measure of approximation to them, may fairly be called the perfection of human nature? Is there one way of living concerning which we may say that whosoever adopts it has, in so far as he does adopt it, discerned and attained the purpose of his being? The literal force of the word in our text gives pertinence to that question, for it distinctly means ‘having reached the end.’ And if that be taken as the meaning, there need be no doubt about the answer. Grand old words have taught us long ago ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.’ Yes, he who lives for God has taken that for his aim which all his nature and all his relations prescribe, he is doing what he was made and meant to do; and however incomplete may be its attainments, the lowest form of a God-fearing, God-obeying life is higher and more nearly ‘perfect’ than the fairest career or character against which, as a blight on all its beauty, the damning accusation may be brought, ‘The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified.’

People sneer at ‘saints’ and point at their failings. They remind us of the foul stains in David’s career, for instance, and mock as they ask, ‘Is this your man after God’s own heart?’ Yes, he is; not because religion has a morality of its own different from that of the world {except as being higher}, nor because ‘saints’ make up for adultery and murder by making or singing psalms, but because the main set and current of the life was evidently towards God and goodness, and these hideous sins were glaring contradictions, eddies and backwaters, as it were, wept over with bitter self-abasement and conquered by strenuous effort. Better a life of Godward aspiration and straining after purity, even if broken by such a fall, so recovered, than one of habitual earthward grubbing, undisturbed by gross sin.

And another reason warrants the application of the word to men whose present is full of incompleteness, namely, the fact that such men have in them the germ of a life which has no natural end but absolute completeness. The small seed may grow very slowly in the climate and soil which it finds here, and be only a poor little bit of ragged green, very shabby and inconspicuous by the side of the native flowers of earth flaunting around it, but it has a divine germinant virtue within, and waits but being carried to its own clime and ‘planted in the house of the Lord’ above, to ‘flourish in the courts of our God,’ when these others with their glorious beauty have faded away and are flung out to rot.

II. We have set forth here very distinctly two of the characteristics of this perfection.

The Apostle in our text exhorts the perfect to be ‘ thus minded.’ How is that? Evidently the word points back to the previous clauses, in which he has been describing his own temper and feeling in the Christian race. He sets that before the Philippians as their pattern, or rather invites them to fellowship with him in the estimate of themselves and in their efforts after higher attainments. ‘Be thus minded’ means, Think as I do of yourselves, and do as I do in your daily life.

How did he think of himself? He tells us in the sentence before, ‘Not as though I were already perfect. I count not myself to have apprehended.’ So then a leading characteristic of this true Christian perfection is a constant consciousness of imperfection. In all fields of effort, whether intellectual, moral, or mechanical, as faculty grows, consciousness of insufficiency grows with it. The farther we get up the hill, the more we see how far it is to the horizon. The more we know, the more we know our ignorance. The better we can do, the more we discern how much we cannot do. Only people who never have done and never will do anything, or else raw apprentices with the mercifully granted self-confidence of youth, which gets beaten out of most of us soon enough, think that they can do everything.

In morals and in Christian life the same thing is true. The measure of our perfection will be the consciousness of our imperfection--a paradox, but a great truth. It is plain enough that it will be so. Conscience becomes more sensitive as we get nearer right. The worse a man is the less it speaks to him, and the less he hears it. When it ought to thunder it whispers; when we need it most it is least active. The thick skin of a savage will not be disturbed by lying on sharp stones, while a crumpled rose-leaf robs the Sybarite of his sleep. So the practice of evil hardens the cuticle of conscience, and the practice of goodness restores tenderness and sensibility; and many a man laden with crime knows less of its tingling than some fair soul that looks almost spotless to all eyes but its own. One little stain of rust will be conspicuous on a brightly polished blade, but if it be all dirty and dull, a dozen more or fewer will make little difference. As men grow better they become like that glycerine barometer recently introduced, on which a fall or a rise that would have been invisible with mercury to record it takes up inches, and is glaringly conspicuous. Good people sometimes wonder, and sometimes are made doubtful and sad about themselves, by this abiding and even increased consciousness of sin. There is no need to be so. The higher the temperature the more chilling would it be to pass into an ice-house, and the more our lives are brought into fellowship with the perfect life, the more shall we feel our own shortcomings. Let us be thankful if our consciences speak to us more loudly than they used to do. It is a sign of growing holiness, as the tingling in a frost-bitten limb is of returning life. Let us seek to cultivate and increase the sense of our own imperfection, and be sure that the diminution of a consciousness of sin means not diminished power of sin, but lessened horror of it, lessened perception of right, lessened love of goodness, and is an omen of death, not a symptom of life. Painter, scholar, craftsman all know that the condition of advance is the recognition of an ideal not attained. Whoever has not before him a standard to which he has not reached will grow no more. If we see no faults in our work we shall never do any better. The condition of all Christian, as of all other progress, is to be drawn by that fair vision before us, and to be stung into renewed effort to reach it, by the consciousness of present imperfection.

Another characteristic to which these perfect men are exhorted is a constant striving after a further advance. How vigorously, almost vehemently, that temper is put in the context--’I follow after’; ‘I press toward the mark’; and that picturesque ‘reaching forth,’ or, as the Revised Version gives it, ‘stretching forward.’ The full force of the latter word cannot be given in any one English equivalent, but may be clumsily hinted by some such phrase as ‘stretching oneself out over,’ as a runner might do with body thrown forward and arms extended in front, and eagerness in every strained muscle, and eye outrunning foot, and hope clutching the goal already. So yearning forward, and setting all the current of his being, both faculty and desire, to the yet unreached mark, the Christian man is to live. His glances are not to be bent backwards, but forwards. He is not to be a ‘praiser of the past,’ but a herald and expectant of a nobler future. He is the child of the day and of the morning, forgetting the things which are behind, and ever yearning towards the things which are before, and drawing them to himself. To look back is to be stiffened into a living death; only with faces set forward are we safe and well.

This buoyant energy of hope and effort is to be the result of the consciousness of imperfection of which we have spoken. Strange to many of us, in some moods, that a thing so bright should spring up from a thing so dark, and that the more we feel our own shortcomings, the more hopeful should we be of a future unlike the past, and the more earnest in our effort to make that future the present! There is a type of Christian experience not uncommon among devout people, in which the consciousness of imperfection paralyses effort instead of quickening it; men lament their evil, their slow progress and so on, and remain the same year after year. They are stirred to no effort. There is no straining onwards. They almost seem to lose the faith that they can ever be any better. How different this from the grand, wholesome completeness of Paul’s view here, which embraces both elements, and even draws the undying brightness of his forward-looking confidence from the very darkness of his sense of present imperfection!

So should it be with us, ‘as many as be perfect.’ Before us stretch indefinite possibilities of approximating to the unattainable fulness of the divine life. We may grow in knowledge and in holiness through endless ages and grades of advance. In a most blessed sense we may have that for our highest joy which in another meaning is a punishment of unfaithfulness and indocility, that we shall be ‘ever learning, and never coming to the full knowledge of the truth.’ No limit can be put to what we may receive of God, nor to the closeness, the fulness of our communion with Him, nor to the beauty of holiness which may pass from Him into our poor characters, and irradiate our homely faces. Then, brethren, let us cherish a noble discontent with all that we at present are. Let our spirits stretch out all their powers to the better things beyond, as the plants grown in darkness will send out pale shoots that feel blindly towards the light, or the seed sown on the top of a rock will grope down the bare stone for the earth by which it must be fed. Let the sense of our own weakness ever lead to a buoyant confidence in what we, even we, may become if we will only take the grace we have. To this touchstone let us bring all claims to higher holiness--they who are perfect are most conscious of imperfection, and most eager in their efforts after a further progress in the knowledge, love, and likeness of God in Christ.

III. We have here also distinctly brought out the co-existence with these characteristics of their opposites.

‘If in anything ye are otherwise minded,’ says Paul. I have already suggested that this expression evidently refers not to difference of opinion among themselves, but to a divergence of character from the pattern of feeling and life which he has been proposing to them. If in any respects ye are unconscious of your imperfections, if there be any ‘witch’s mark’ of insensibility in some spot of your conscience to some plain transgressions of law, if in any of you there be some complacent illusion of your own stainlessness, if to any of you the bright vision before you seem faint and unsubstantial, God will show you what you do not see. Plainly then he considers that there will be found among these perfect men states of feeling and estimates of themselves opposed to those which he has been exhorting them to cherish. Plainly he supposes that a good man may pass for a time under the dominion of impulses and theories which are of another kind from those that rule his life.

He does not expect the complete and uninterrupted dominion of these higher powers. He recognises the plain facts that the true self, the central life of the soul, the higher nature, ‘the new man,’ abides in a self which is but gradually renewed, and that there is a long distance, so to speak, from the centre to the circumference. That higher life is planted, but its germination is a work of time. The leaven does not leaven the whole mass in a moment, but creeps on from particle to particle. ‘Make the tree good’ and in due time its fruit will be good. But the conditions of our human life are conflict, and these peaceful images of growth and unimpeded natural development, ‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear,’ are not meant to tell all the truth. Interruptions from external circumstances, struggles of flesh with spirit, and of imagination and heart and will against the better life implanted in the spirit, are the lot of all, even the most advanced here, and however a man may be perfect, there will always be the possibility that in something he may be ‘otherwise minded.’

Such an admission does not make such interruptions less blameworthy when they occur. The doctrine of averages does not do away with the voluntary character of each single act. The same number of letters are yearly posted without addresses. Does anybody dream of not scolding the errand boy who posted them, or the servant who did not address them, because he knows that? We are quite sure that we could have resisted each time that we fell. That piece of sharp practice in business, or that burst of bad temper in the household which we were last guilty of--could we have helped it or not? Conscience must answer that question, which does not depend at all on the law of averages. Guilt is not taken away by asserting that sin cleaves to men, ‘perfect men.’

But the feelings with which we should regard sin and contradictions of men’s truest selves in ourselves and others should be so far altered by such thoughts that we should be very slow to pronounce that a man cannot be a Christian because he has done so and so. Are there any sins which are clearly incompatible with a Christian character? All sins are inconsistent with it, but that is a very different matter. The uniform direction of a man’s life being godless, selfish, devoted to the objects and pursuits of time and sense, is incompatible with his being a Christian--but, thank God, no single act, however dark, is so, if it be in contradiction to the main tendency impressed upon the character and conduct. It is not for us to say that any single deed shows a man cannot be Christ’s, nor to fling ourselves down in despair saying, ‘If I were a Christian, I could not have done that.’ Let us remember that ‘all unrighteousness is sin,’ and the least sin is in flagrant opposition to our Christian profession; but let us also remember, and that not to blunt our consciences or weaken our efforts, that Paul thought it possible for perfect men to be ‘otherwise minded’ from their deepest selves and their highest pattern.

IV. The crowning hope that lies in these words is the certainty of a gradual but complete attainment of all the Christian aspirations after God and goodness.

The ground of that confidence lies in no natural tendencies in us, in no effort of ours, but solely in that great name which is the anchor of all our confidence, the name of God. Why is Paul certain that ‘God will reveal even this unto you’? Because He is God. The Apostle has learned the infinite depth of meaning that lies in that name. He has learned that God is not in the way of leaving off His work before He has done His work, and that none can say of Him, that ‘He began to build, and was not able to finish.’ The assurances of an unchangeable purpose in redemption, and of inexhaustible resources to effect it; of a love that can never fade, and of a grace that can never be exhausted--are all treasured for us in that mighty name. And such confidence is confirmed by the manifest tendency of the principles and motives brought to bear on us in Christianity to lead on to a condition of absolute perfection, as well as by the experience which we may have, if we will, of the sanctifying and renewing power of His Spirit in our Spirit.

By the discipline of daily life, by the ministry of sorrow and joy, by merciful chastisements dogging our steps when we stray, by duties and cares, by the teaching of His word coming even closer to our hearts and quickening our consciences to discern evil where we had seen none, as well as kindling in us desires after higher and rarer goodness, by the reward of enlarged perceptions of duty and greater love towards it, with which He recompenses lowly obedience to the duty as yet seen, by the secret influences of His Spirit of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind breathed into our waiting spirits, by the touch of His own sustaining hand and glance of His own guiding eye, He will reveal to the lowly soul all that is yet wanting in its knowledge, and communicate all that is lacking in character.

So for us, the true temper is confidence in His power and will, an earnest waiting on Him, a brave forward yearning hope blended with a lowly consciousness of imperfection, which is a spur not a clog, and vigorous increasing efforts to bring into life and character the fulness and beauty of God. Presumption should be as far from us as despair--the one because we have not already attained, the other because ‘God will reveal even this unto us.’ Only let us keep in mind the caution which the Apostle, knowing the possible abuses which might gather round His teaching, has here attached to it, ‘Nevertheless’--though all which I have been saying is true, it is only on this understanding--’Whereto we have already attained, by the same let us walk.’ God will perfect that which concerneth you if--and only if--you go on as you have begun, if you make your creed a life, if you show what you are. If so, then all the rest is a question of time. A has been said, and Z will come in its proper place. Begin with humble trust in Christ, and a process is commenced which has no natural end short of that great hope with which this chapter closes, that the change which begins in the deepest recesses of our being, and struggles slowly and with many interruptions, into partial visibility in our character, shall one day triumphantly irradiate our whole nature out to the very finger-tips, and ‘even the body of our humiliation shall be fashioned like unto the body of Christ’s glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.’

Benson Commentary

Php 3:15-16. Let us, as many as are perfect — As many as are genuine believers in Christ, thorough Christians, justified and regenerated, new creatures in Christ, and so fit for the Christian race of duty and suffering; be thus minded — Minded as I have said that I am, namely, inclined and determined to press forward with zeal and diligence to still higher attainments in holiness, usefulness, and patient sufferings, till as Christ was, they are made in this world. Let us apply wholly to this one thing; and if in any thing — In any of the particulars before mentioned; ye — Any of you being yet weak in faith, wavering in hope, and imperfect in love, see Hebrews 6:11-12; 1 John 4:17-18; be otherwise minded — Contented with, and resting in, past attainments, and sunk into a remiss and indolent frame of mind, destitute of zeal and Christian fervency; God — If you be sincere, and truly desire it of him; shall reveal even this unto you — Shall show you your error and your sin, and excite you to fresh zeal and diligence in your Christian calling. Nevertheless — Let us remember this is on the supposition that, whereunto we have already attained — Or, so far forth as we have already made any progress toward perfection, we walk by the same rule — By which we have hitherto walked, and take care not to lose the ground we have already gained, which, by giving way to unbelief, diffidence, and distrust of God’s love, power, and faithfulness engaged for us, or by sinking into lukewarmness and sloth, we should easily do. Macknight takes the passage in rather another sense, namely, as signifying “that such of the Philippians as sincerely feared the Lord, if they happened, from ignorance or prejudice, to think differently from the apostle concerning any important article of faith, would have their error discovered to them, not by a particular revelation, but by the ordinary influences of the Spirit, agreeably to Psalm 25:12, What man is he who feareth the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:12-21 This simple dependence and earnestness of soul, were not mentioned as if the apostle had gained the prize, or were already made perfect in the Saviour's likeness. He forgot the things which were behind, so as not to be content with past labours or present measures of grace. He reached forth, stretched himself forward towards his point; expressions showing great concern to become more and more like unto Christ. He who runs a race, must never stop short of the end, but press forward as fast as he can; so those who have heaven in their view, must still press forward to it, in holy desires and hopes, and constant endeavours. Eternal life is the gift of God, but it is in Christ Jesus; through his hand it must come to us, as it is procured for us by him. There is no getting to heaven as our home, but by Christ as our Way. True believers, in seeking this assurance, as well as to glorify him, will seek more nearly to resemble his sufferings and death, by dying to sin, and by crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts. In these things there is a great difference among real Christians, but all know something of them. Believers make Christ all in all, and set their hearts upon another world. If they differ from one another, and are not of the same judgment in lesser matters, yet they must not judge one another; while they all meet now in Christ, and hope to meet shortly in heaven. Let them join in all the great things in which they are agreed, and wait for further light as to lesser things wherein they differ. The enemies of the cross of Christ mind nothing but their sensual appetites. Sin is the sinner's shame, especially when gloried in. The way of those who mind earthly things, may seem pleasant, but death and hell are at the end of it. If we choose their way, we shall share their end. The life of a Christian is in heaven, where his Head and his home are, and where he hopes to be shortly; he sets his affections upon things above; and where his heart is, there will his conversation be. There is glory kept for the bodies of the saints, in which they will appear at the resurrection. Then the body will be made glorious; not only raised again to life, but raised to great advantage. Observe the power by which this change will be wrought. May we be always prepared for the coming of our Judge; looking to have our vile bodies changed by his Almighty power, and applying to him daily to new-create our souls unto holiness; to deliver us from our enemies, and to employ our bodies and souls as instruments of righteousness in his service.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect - see the notes at Philippians 3:12. Or, rather, those who would be perfect; or who are aiming at perfection. It can hardly be supposed that the apostle would address them as already perfect, when he had just said of himself that lie had not attained to that state. But those whom he addressed might be supposed to be aiming at perfection, and he exhorts them, therefore, to have the same spirit that he himself had, and to make the same efforts which he himself put forth.

Be thus minded - That is, be united in the effort to obtain the prize, and to become entirely perfect. "Let them put forth the same effort which I do, forgetting what is behind, and pressing forward to the mark."

And if in anything ye be otherwise minded - That is, if there were any among them who had not these elevated views and aims, and who had not been brought to see the necessity of such efforts, or who had not learned that such high attainments were possible. There might be those among them who had been very imperfectly instructed in the nature of religion; those who entertained views which impeded their progress, and prevented the simple and earnest striving for salvation which Paul was enabled to put forth. He had laid aside every obstacle; renounced all the Jewish opinions which had impeded his salvation, and had now one single aim - that of securing the prize. But there might be those who had not attained to these views, and who were still impeded and embarrassed by erroneous opinions.

God shall reveal even this unto you - He will correct your erroneous opinions, and disclose to you the importance of making this effort for the prize. This is the expression of an opinion, that to those who were sincere and true Christians, God would yet make a full revelation of the nature of religion, or would lead them on so that they would fully understand, it. They who are acquainted with religion at all, or who have been truly converted, God will teach and guide until they shall have a full understanding of divine things.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. therefore—resuming Php 3:3. "As many of us then, as are perfect," that is, full grown (no longer "babes") in the Christian life (Php 3:3, "worshipping God in the Spirit, and having no confidence in the flesh"), 1Co 2:6, fully established in things of God. Here, by "perfect," he means one fully fit for running [Bengel]; knowing and complying with the laws of the course (2Ti 2:5). Though "perfect" in this sense, he was not yet "made perfect" (Greek) in the sense intended in Php 3:12, namely, "crowned with complete victory," and having attained absolute perfection.

thus minded—having the mind which he had described, Php 3:7-14.

otherwise minded—having too high an opinion of yourselves as to your attainment of Christian perfection. "He who thinks that he has attained everything, hath nothing" [Chrysostom]. Probably, too, he refers to those who were tempted to think to attain to perfection by the law (Ga 3:3): who needed the warning (Php 3:3), "Beware of the concision," though on account of their former piety, Paul hopes confidently (as in Ga 5:10) that God will reveal the path of right-mindedness to them. Paul taught externally God "reveals" the truth internally by His Spirit (Mt 11:25; 16:17; 1Co 3:6).

unto you—who sincerely strive to do God's will (Joh 7:17; Eph 1:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

A learned man reads it from the Greek to this purpose: As many therefore as are perfect, let us think this; and if ye think any thing otherwise, even this also God will, or may, reveal to you, (besides what we have attained to), to walk by the same rule, to think the same thing: conceiving it not congruous to the sense, or syntax, but alien from all manner of speaking, to translate it imperatively: Let us walk by the same rule. But following our own translation:

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect; from the instance of himself, imitating Christ, in loving condescension and lowliness of mind, Philippians 2:3,5, worshipping God in the spirit, and not having confidence in the flesh, Philippians 3:3, in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, Philippians 3:10, pressing forward to absolute perfection, he here doth with himself encourage as many rulers and ruled who were settled in the fundamentals of Christianity, and who had made progress in holiness, to mind that main business of religion, for the prevention of what might ensue upon exasperating differences; whereupon he styles them comparatively perfect in the way, not in the heavenly country, 1 Corinthians 13:10; which doth not disagree with what he said before, if we further distinguish of a perfection:

1. Of integrity and sincerity, which some call of parts; as a perfect living child, that hath all the parts of the parent, so, upon the new birth, every real believer receiving grace for grace, John 1:13,16.

2. Of maturity, proficiency or degrees where grown to a full stature in Christ; here relatively and comparatively to others, who are more rude, ignorant, and weak brethren, since, in regard of their progress in godliness, they are not taken up with childish things, 1 Corinthians 13:9-11, with 1 Corinthians 14:20; but are grown more adult, and no more children, 1 Corinthians 2:6 Ephesians 4:13,14 Heb 5:13,14 6:1; which he doth elsewhere, in regard of their experimental knowledge, call spiritual, Galatians 6:1, who here worship God in the spirit, Philippians 3:3: as many as are sincere, of whatsoever stature, whether bishops, deacons, or private Christians.

Be thus minded; he would have them to be so minded as he himself was, in renouncing all carnal confidence, acknowledging their gradual imperfection, and still to be striving and contending to a fuller measure of holiness, till they come to be consummate in Christ.

And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded; and if any, through ignorance of Christ and themselves, conversing with those ready to mislead them, should be of any other persuasion in some things only, considering the different attainments of the strong and weak, and thereupon the variety of sentiments, whence would spring some differences not only in opinions but practices amongst them, (which yet hindered not their agreement in what they were attained to),

God shall reveal even this unto you; he hoped Christ, who had already called or apprehended those sincere ones, would in due time rescue them from so dangerous an error, 1Jo 2:20,27, if they would attend upon him in the use of means to come to the knowledge of the truth, with faith and prayer, yielding up themselves to be taught of him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect,.... Not absolutely, but comparatively, with respect to other believers, in a lower class of knowledge and experience; and not with respect to degrees, but parts; and regards such who were not children, but of riper age in divine things, unless the words are spoken ironically:

be thus minded; as the apostle was, to count what were gain to him, loss for Christ; to reckon all things but loss and dung, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ; to be willing to suffer the loss of all things, to win him, Philippians 3:8; to desire to be found in him, and in his righteousness, and not a man's own, Philippians 3:9; to know more of him in his person, righteousness, sufferings, death, and resurrection from the dead, Philippians 3:10; and to attain to such a state, and yet to disclaim all perfection, and acknowledge their imperfection, Philippians 3:11; and to forget things behind, and reach to those before, Philippians 3:13; and press towards the mark, Christ, for the prize of eternal glory, Philippians 3:14,

and if in anything ye be otherwise minded; as to seek for justification by the works of the law, or partly by Christ and partly by the law, and to imagine and expect perfection in this life:

God shall reveal even this unto you; such errors will be made manifest sooner or later; the day will declare them, and such wood, hay, and stubble, will be burnt up by the fire, which will reveal every man's work, 1 Corinthians 3:12.

Geneva Study Bible

{7} Let us therefore, as many as be {m} perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

(7) The conclusion of this exhortation standing upon three members: the first is, that those who have profited in the truth of this doctrine should continue in it. The second is, that if there are any who are yet ignorant and do not understand these things, and who doubt of the abolishing of the Law, they should cause no trouble, and should be gently waited for, until they also are instructed by the Lord. The third is, that they judge the false apostles by their fruits: in which he does not doubt to set forth himself as an example.

(m) He said before that he was not perfect. So that in this place he calls those perfect who have somewhat profited in the knowledge of Christ and the Gospel, whom he sets against the rude and ignorant, as he himself expounds in Php 3:16.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Php 3:15. Application of the passage Php 3:12-14 for the benefit of the Philippians, down to Php 3:17.

τέλειοι] denotes not perfection, like τετελείωμαι in Php 3:12, but the moral ripeness which, with differences of degree in the case of individuals, belongs to the true Christian state that has advanced beyond the novitiate—that Christian maturity in which one is no longer νήπιος ἐν Χριστῷ; comp. on 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:1; Ephesians 4:13. The τετελείωμαι is the ideal goal of the development of this τέλειον εἶναι, contradistinguished from the νηπιότης. The special aspect of this maturity, which Paul had in view in using τέλειοι, is to be regarded, not as theoretical knowledge,—the doctrine of righteousness by faith being conceived to be specially referred to (Erasmus, Wolf, Rheinwald, and others),—but as the moral character and striving of believers, as appears from Php 3:13 f., along with which the corresponding relation of practical insight is self-evident as a necessary presupposition (comp. Colossians 4:12; Colossians 1:28); although there is no reason to suppose that particular questions in this domain (such as those relating to sacrificial flesh, fasts, feasts, and the like) had arisen in Philippi and occasioned division, of which no trace exists. The jealousy and partial disunion in the church arose from a moral conceit, which was prejudicial to mutual humility (Php 2:3 ff.) and to personal genuine striving after holiness (Php 2:12 ff.). In using ὅσοι—with which we are to supply sumus simply, and not volumus esse

Paul leaves it to the conscientious judgment of every reader whether he, on his part, belongs to the number of the τέλειοι; but by including himself in this predicate, and yet having previously negatived the ἤδη τετελείωμαι in his own case (Php 3:12), the apostle removes all idle misunderstanding and abuse of his words which might tend to moral pride, and then by τοῦτο φρονώμεν leaves room only for the consciousness: ὡς τελείου τὸ μὴ νομίζειν ἑαυτὸν τέλειον εἶναι, Chrysostom. A tone of irony (Schenkel) is utterly alien to the heartfelt character of the whole discourse, which is, moreover, in this application, Php 3:15, so expressed as to include the apostle in common with his readers. To the Catholic fictions of a state of perfection the passage is in direct opposition.

τοῦτο φρονῶμεν] let us have this frame of mind, namely, which I, in Php 3:13 f., have just expressed as mine; the frame of humble self-estimation, and at the same time incessant pressing forward. Grotius holds quite arbitrarily that Paul reverts to what he had said in Php 3:3. But it is also wrong to seek the reference of τοῦτο φρον. in the passage from Php 3:4 onwards: “renunciandum esse splendidis virtutibus Judd. (Php 3:4-7), contra in solo Christo acquiescendum (Php 3:8-10) et ad victricem palmam studio indefesso annitendum (Php 3:12-14),” Hoelemann; comp. Calvin, Wolf, Heinrichs, and others, including Matthies, Baumgarten-Crusius, Rilliet, and Reiche; similarly Hofmann, who makes it refer to the entire presentation—joining on to Php 3:3—of a frame of mind which is opposed to the disposition of those against whom they are to be on their guard. Php 3:4-11 are certainly said by way of warning against the false teachers, and are opposed to these; but this opposition is of a dogmatic nature, for the upholding of the Pauline fundamental doctrine against Judaism, and it is only Php 3:12 that begins what has regard to the moral progress of the Church in the right way pressing onward to the goal, in which respect Paul desires to serve for their model (Php 3:17),—as which he has sketched himself in Php 3:13 f, when he begins with ἀδελφοί and introduces his ἐγώ. Besides, the φρονῶμεν, which is correlative with the λογίζομαι, does not point back beyond Php 3:13 f. Therefore, not even the appropriation of Christ, Php 3:8-11, is to be included in the reference of the τοῦτο (in opposition to de Wette and Wiesinger). Van Hengel is inclined to refer τοῦτο to τὸ βραβεῖον; but the readers needed the exhortation to the right mode of striving after the βραβεῖον, and not the summons generally, that they should have the βραβ. in view. This applies also against the similar, although more exact, interpretation of Fritzsche (Diss. II. in 2 Cor. p. 92): “hac mente simus sc. ut τὸ βραβ. τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως consectemur.”

καὶ εἴ τι ἑτέρως φρον.] and if as to any point (τὶ, accusative of the object) ye be otherwise minded, take up another way of thinking, varying, namely, from that specified in τοῦτο φρονῶμεν. A man may, forsooth, have in general the same frame of mind which Paul has represented in himself, and to which he has summoned his readers; but at the same time an isolated concrete case (τὶ) may occur, which a man cannot fit into the φρονεῖν in question, and regarding which he is of opinion that he ought to be differently minded, so that in such a state of things he becomes morally inconsistent in his frame of mind, inasmuch as he lacks the befitting ἐπίγνωσις and αἴσθησις εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν κ.τ.λ., Php 1:9, in the moral judgment which determines the φρονεῖν. Hofmann arbitrarily limits the τὶ to some matter independent of the essential disposition of the Christian life. This sense would have required a more precise definition, in order to be found. And the hope which is uttered in the apodosis, is in perfect harmony with the prayer in Php 1:9 f.; hence Hofmann’s objection, that the readers must have themselves corrected the fault which according to our view here emerges, is quite groundless. The subject addressed is the readers generally (see Php 3:17), not the νήπιοι (Hunnius, Wolf, Bengel, Storr, and others, including Flatt, Rheinwald, Hoelemann, Rilliet, Reiche), whom several expositors have regarded as those who had not yet raised themselves to the pure righteousness of faith excluding the law (see Rheinwald and Reiche), or who had allowed themselves to be led away by false teachers (see Hunnius, Grotius, Storr). But setting aside the arbitrariness generally with which this contrast is introduced, it is opposed by the fact, that Paul does not assume any thorough and essential diversity in the φρονεῖν, but only such a variation as might affect some one or other isolated point (τὶ), and that not in the doctrinal, but in the moral province of Christian conduct. Moreover, if persons led astray were here in question, nothing would be less in harmony with the character of the apostle than the hopeful tolerance which is expressed in the words καὶ τοῦτο … ἀποκαλύψει. Lastly, the change of person (in opposition to Bengel) was necessary, because Paul, speaking of a partial ἑτέρως φρονεῖν, could not include himself.

In ἑτέρως, otherwise (not occurring elsewhere in the N. T.), there is implied, according to the context, an unfavourable sense, the notion of incorrectness, secius quam oportet. Comp. Hom. Od. i. 234; Dem. 298. 22, 597. 3; Eustath. ad Od. p. 1448. 2; Soph. Phil. 503; Valckenaer, Diatr. p. 112; just as ἕτερος (comp. on ἄλλο, Galatians 5:10) may denote even that which is bad or hostile (Wis 19:3; Dissen. ad Pind. Nem. viii. 3, Pyth. iii. 54; Wyttenbach, ad Plat. Phaed. p. 321). It is here the ἑτεροδοξεῖν (Plat. Theaet. pp. 190 E, 193 D), as frame of mind. This has not been attended to by van Hengel, when he takes with equal unsuitableness τὶ in an emphatic sense, and φρονεῖν as to strive for: “si quid boni per aliam viam expetitis, quam ego persequor.”

καὶ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς ὑμ. ἀποκ.] Expression of the hope that such variations will not fail to be rectified, on the part of God, by His revealing operation. Certainly, therefore, the variations, which Paul so forbearingly and confidently and without polemical handling commits to revealing correction on the part of God, were not on matters of principle or of an anti-Pauline character.

καὶ τοῦτο] this also, like other things which He has already revealed unto you; so that in καὶ is contained the idea also still (Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 135). Hofmann erroneously says that καὶ implies: there, where the disposition is present, which I require. It in fact belongs to τοῦτο. This τοῦτο, however, is not: that ye (Oecumenius, Grotius, Cornelius a Lapide, Fritzsche, l.c. p. 93), but what ye wrongly think; the frame of mind in question, as it ought to be instead of the ἑτέρως φρονεῖν, not: “whether you are right or I” (Ewald). Calvin aptly says: “Nemo ita loqui jure posset, nisi cui certa constat suae doctrinae ratio et veritas.” The passage is very far from betraying uncertainty or want of firmness (Baur).

The ἀποκαλύψει, which is to be taken as purely future, is conceived by Paul as taking place through the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:10), not by human instruction (Beza). He might also have written διδάξει (comp. θεοδίδακτοι, 1 Thessalonians 4:9; also John 6:45), by which, however, the special kind of instruction which he means would not have been indicated. This is the inward divine unveiling of ethical truth, which is needed for the practical reason of him who in any respect otherwise φρονεῖ than Paul has shown in his own example; for οὐ περὶ δογμάτων ταῦτα εἴρηται, ἀλλὰ περὶ βίον τελειότητος καὶ τοῦ μὴ νομίζειν ἑαυτοὺς τελείους εἶναι, Chrysostom. Wherever in this moral respect the right frame of mind is not yet completely present in one or the other, Paul trusts to the disclosing operation of God Himself, whose Spirit rules and works in the Church and its individual members (1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 2:21 f.; Romans 8:9; Romans 8:15; Romans 8:26

Expositor's Greek Testament

Php 3:15. τέλειοι. What Paul understands by τέλ. we can easily discover from Ephesians 4:13-14, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 4:12, 1 Corinthians 2:6 (Cf. also the definition of the word in Hebrews 5:14 taken in connexion with Hebrews 6:1). In all these passages τέλ. depends upon knowledge, knowledge gained by long experience of Christ, resulting both in firm conviction and maturity of thought and conduct. It has not so much our idea of “perfect” = “flawless,” as of “perfect” = “having reached a certain point of completeness,” as of one who has come to his full growth, leaving behind him the state of childhood (νήπιος). Cf. chap. Php 1:9-10. Lft[8]. supposes a reminiscence of the technical term τέλειος, used in the Mysteries to denote the initiated, and imagines Paul to speak with a certain irony of people at Philippi who claimed to be in this fortunate position as regards the Christian faith. There is no need to assume here the language of the Mysteries (as Anrich shows, Das Antike Mysterienwesen, Gött., 1894, p. 146, n. 1), or to find irony in Paul’s words. Probably there were some (see on Php 3:13 supr.) at Philippi who boasted of a spiritual superiority to their brethren and who may have called themselves τέλειοι. This may have been due to special equipment with the Spirit manifesting itself in speaking with tongues, etc. See 1 Corinthians 12 passim. But Paul takes the word seriously and points out what it involves. [Wernle’s attempt in Der Christ u. die Sünde bei Paul., pp. 6–7, to show that this passage is no argument against Christian perfection which he believes Paul to hold, rests on the erroneous association of τέλ. with the Mysteries.]—τοῦτο φρ. Let us show our humble conviction that we are still far from the goal which we desire to attain.—καὶ εἴ … ἀποκαλ. If, in the case of any separate detail of character or knowledge, you imagine yourselves to be τέλειοι, to have reached the highest point, God will reveal the truth (the true standpoint of humility) on this matter also. The form of the conditional sentence suggests that Paul knew of persons at Philippi who had erroneous views on this subject. But his hint of rebuke is very delicately put. εἴ τι κ.τ.λ. It is far-fetched to take this (as Hpt[9]. does) of their judgment on the Judaisers. Paul has forgotten, for the time, the special anxiety which weighs upon him, and has become absorbed in the glorious vista which unfolds itself to the Christian. καὶ τοῦτο κ.τ.λ. A firm conviction of the Apostle’s. See esp[10]. 1 Corinthians 2:10 (and Cf. Von Soden, Abhandlungen C. v. Weizs. gewidmet, p. 166).

[8] Lightfoot.

[9] Haupt.

[10] especially.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. perfect] An adjective, not a perfect participle, as was the kindred word (“perfected”) in Php 3:12.—Is there a contradiction between this place and that? On the surface, but not really. The Apostle appears to be taking up the favourite word of teachers who upheld some phase of “perfectionism,” and using it, with loving irony, on the side of truth; as if to say, “Are you, are we, ideal Christians, perfect Christians, all that Christians should be? Then among the things that should be in our character is a holy discontent with, and criticism of, our own present attainment. The man in this sense ‘perfect’ will be sure to think himself not perfected.”—And it is important to remember that the Greek word rendered “perfect” is an elastic word. It may mean “adult,” “mature,” as against infantine; cp. Hebrews 5:13-14. A “perfect” Christian in this respect may have spiritual faculty well developed, and yet be very far from “perfected” in spiritual character.—Such considerations, in the light of this whole passage, will do anything for such a Christian rather than teach him to tolerate sin in himself; they will at once keep him humble and contrite, and animate him to ever fresh developments in and by Christ.

be … minded] The same word as that in Php 1:7, Php 2:2; Php 2:5, where see notes.

God shall reveal] by the action of His Holy Spirit on heart, mind, and will, amidst the discipline of life. There need not be any new verbal revelation, but there would be a new inward revelation of the correspondence of the inspired Word with the facts of the soul, and so a fresh light on those facts.—Such language implies the Apostle’s certainty of his commission as the inspired messenger of Christ; it would otherwise be the language of undue assumption. Cp. Galatians 1:6-12.

Bengel's Gnomen

Php 3:15. Τέλειοι, perfect) Php 3:12, note.—τοῦτο) this one thing, Php 3:14.—ἑτέρως) otherwise than perfect (for the person is changed, let us be minded, ye are minded). He does not, however, say ἕτερον or ἄλλο [φρονεῖτε; which would mean difference or disagreement of mind]: nor does he mean aught of “minding earthly things,” Php 3:19. Comp. also Galatians 5:10.—καὶ τοῦτο) even this, which we, that are perfect, mind, expressed in Php 3:14.—ὁ Θεὸς, God) even though I do not write it.—ὑμῖν, to you) striving at perfection.—ἀποκαλύψει, will reveal) Ephesians 1:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. "Perfect" here means mature, full grown, as opposed to babes or children. The word is so used (in the Greek) in 1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 5:14. "There is a difference," says Bengel, on ver. 12, "between the perfect and the perfected: the first are ready for the. race; the last are close upon the prize." St. Paul exhorts all full-grown Christians to imitate his perseverance; like him, to forsake any claims to legal righteousness; to seek that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ; to know Christ, to win Christ; to press ever forwards to obtain the prize. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.. If only we be in earnest, pressing onwards in the Christian race with sustained perseverance, God will, by the manifestation of his Spirit in our heart, correct any minor errors of doctrine or of practice. Comp. John 7:17, "If any man willeth to do (θέλῃ ποιεῖν) his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." "Otherwise" (ἑτέρως) seems here to mean otherwise thin is right, wrongly, amiss - a meaning which it has not unfrequently in classical Greek, and in our word "heterodox." Even this; rather, this too, as well as the one thing needful, the knowledge of Christ, which he has already revealed. Mark the word "reveal." Paul may teach, but living spiritual knowledge is a revelation from God. This passage shows that the word "perfect" is used here in a restricted sense, not of consummated holiness; as it implies that some of the "perfect" may be "otherwise minded," may be involved in minor errors. Good Christians must have that righteousness which is through faith; they must persevere: they may err in less essential points. It is a lesson of charity and humility. Philippians 3:15

Vincent's Word Studies

Toward the mark (κατὰ σκοπὸν)

Rev., goal. Bear down upon (κατά). Σκοπός mark, only here in the New Testament. See on look, Philippians 2:4. Used in the classics of a mark for shooting at, or as a moral or intellectual end. A somewhat similar figure occurs 1 Timothy 1:6; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 2:18, in the verb ἀστοχέω to miss the aim or the shot. A.V., swerved and erred.

Prize (βραβεῖον)

See on 1 Corinthians 9:24. Ignatius uses the word θέμα that which is deposited as a prize: a prize of money as distinct from the crown. "Be temperate as God's athlete. The prize is incorruption and eternal life" (to Polycarp, 2). Chrysostom says: "He that runs looks not at the spectators, but at the prize. Whether they be rich or poor, if one mock them, applaud them, insult them, throw stones at them - if one plunder their house, if they see children or wife or anything whatsoever - the runner is not turned aside, but is concerned only with his running and winning the prize. He that runneth stoppeth nowhere; since, if he be a little remiss, all is lost. He that runneth relaxeth in no respect before the end, but then, most of all, stretcheth over the course."

High calling (ἄνω κλήσεως)

Lit., upward calling. A calling which is from heaven and to heaven. Κλῆσις calling, is habitually used in the New Testament of the act of calling. Compare Hebrews 3:1. The prize is bound up with the calling; promised when the call is issued, and given when the call is fulfilled.

Perfect (τέλειοι)

Mature Christians. See on 1 Corinthians 2:6.

Be thus minded

Lit., think this, or have this mind, namely, to forget the past and to press forward.