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

(1) God is glorified;

(2) believers are maintained in a peaceful fellowship;

(3) the world is impressed and won by the exhibition of Christian unity. - T.C.

I. ITS SIGNS.

1. Humility.

2. Singleness of purpose.

3. Charity.

II. ITS DUTIES.

1. Persevering effort.

2. Forbearance with others.

3. The encouragement of the weak.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

The word "perfect" does not express the idea of moral completeness so much as that of physical maturity. It means "full grown," as in contrast to "babes." And the perfect here 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 further noted that "perfect" people may be otherwise minded, and so stand in need of the hope that God would by degrees show them their divergence from His pattern.

I. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHOM WITHOUT EXAGGERATION THE JUDGMENT OF TRUTH CALLS PERFECT. In the language of the New Testament men are "saints" who had many sins, and "perfect" who had many imperfections.

1. The main thing about a character is not the degree to which it has attained completeness in its ideal, but what that ideal is. The distance a man has walked is of less consequence than the direction in which his face is turned. Men are to be ranged according to their aims rather than their achievements. The visionary who attempts something high and accomplishes little is often a nobler man than he who aims at marks on the low levels and hits them.

2. So there is a class of aims so absolutely corresponding to man's nature and relations, that to take them for one's own and to approximate to them in some measure may fairly be called the perfection of human nature. The literal force of the word "having reached the end" gives pertinence to that question. And there need be, in that ease, no doubt about the answer, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." He who lives for God is doing what he was made and meant to do, and however imperfect, he is more nearly perfect than the fairest character against which the damning accusation may be brought, "The God in whose hand thy breath is...thou hast not glorified." People ask sneeringly about David, "Is this the man after God's own heart." Yes; not because religion has a different morality from that of the world (except in being higher), nor because saints make up for adultery and murder by singing psalms, but because the main set of the life was towards God.

3. 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 here and be only a poor bit of green, but it has Divine germinant virtue within, and waits but being carried to its own clime to flourish.

II. TWO OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS PERFECTION. "Thus minded" carries us back to the preceding clauses, Think as I do of yourselves, and do as I do.

1. "Not as though I were already perfect," etc., shows us that true Christian perfection has in it a constant consciousness of imperfection. In all fields of effort, as faculty grows consciousness of insufficiency grows with it. The more we know the more we know our ignorance. Only people who never have or will do anything, or else raw apprentices, with the mercifully granted self-confidence which gets beaten out soon enough, think that they can do everything. So in Christian life. Conscience becomes more sensitive as we get nearer right; the worse a man is the less he hears it. One little stain will be conspicuous on a brightly polished blade, but if it be all dirty a dozen more or fewer will make little difference.

2. A constant striving after further advance. How vigorously this temper is put in the context. 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.

3. This buoyant energy of hope and effort is to be the result of the consciousness of imperfection. This, however, paralyses many. Men lament their evil and slow progress and remain the same year after year. How different this from the grand wholesome completeness of Paul's view here which embraces both elements.

III. THE COEXISTENCE OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS WITH THEIR OPPOSITES. "If in anything ye be otherwise minded" refers not to difference of opinion among themselves, but a divergence of character from the pattern set before them. If in any sense ye are unconscious of your imperfections, or are nonprogressive, God will show you what you are. Plainly he supposes that a good man may pass for a time under the dominion of impulses and theories of another kind from those which rule his life.

1. He does not expect the complete and uninterrupted dominion of these higher powers. The higher life is planted, but its germination is a work of time. The conditions of our life are in conflict. Interruptions from external circumstances, struggles of flesh with spirit, are the lot even of the most advanced.

2. Such an admission does not make such interruptions less blameworthy. That piece of sharp practice, that burst of bad temper — could we have helped it or not?

3. The feelings with which we should regard sin and contradictions in ourselves and others should be so far altered by such thoughts, that we should be slow to pronounce that a man cannot be a Christian because he has done so and so. A single act, if it be in contradiction to a man's main tendency, is not necessarily an incompatibility.

IV. The crowning hope that lies in these words is the certainty of a GRADUAL BUT COMPLETE ATTAINMENT of all the Christian's aspirations after God and goodness.

1. The ground of that confidence lies in no natural tendency in us or effort of ours, but solely, in God. Paul is certain that "God will reveal," etc., because He is God. He has learned that God is not in the habit of leaving off His work before He has done.

2. By the discipline of daily life, merciful chastisements, His Word, the secret influences of His Spirit, etc. He will reveal to the lowly soul all that is wanting in its knowledge, and communicate to it all that is lacking in character.

3. So for us, then, the true temper is confidence in His power and will, an earnest waiting upon Him, a brave forward yearning hope, blended with a lowly consciousness of imperfection. Presumption should be as far from us as despair.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

I. EXPLAIN THE POINT BY SEVERAL DISTINCTIONS.

1. There is a perfection of the reward and a perfection of grace.(1) Of the reward the saints will have in heaven when they are freed from all sinful weakness (1 Corinthians 13:10; Ephesians 5:17; Jude 1:24). This we have not in this world, but because we expect it in the next we are to labour after the highest perfection in holiness here, because allowed imperfection is a disesteem of blessedness (1 John 3:3). He that looketh for a sinless state will get as much as he can of it now.(2) The perfection of grace and holiness is such as the saints may attain unto in this life (Colossians 4:12).

2. Legal and evangelical; the one is where there is no sin, the other no guile; the one stands in an exact conformity to God's law, the other in a sincere endeavour to fulfil it; the one can endure the balance, the other only the touchstone.(1) Legal perfection is described in Galatians 3:10, and supposes a man innocent, and requires that he keep so. This is impossible through the weakness of the flesh (Romans 8:3).(2) Evangelical (2 Kings 20:3) is consistent with weakness (2 Chronicles 15:17). This all must have (1 Chronicles 28:9). What is done for God must be done willingly and with all the exactness possible. Some do many things that are good, but their hearts are not perfect with God (2 Chronicles 25:2); the heart is divided between God and other things (Hosea 10:2; James 1:8).

3. Absolute and comparative.(1) That is absolutely perfect to which nothing is wanting. This is in Christ only, not in us.

(a)Where there are so many relics of the flesh a man cannot be absolutely perfect (Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:24).

(b)There is none but sometimes sin (1 Kings 8:46; Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8).

(c)There is none but need the mercy of God and ought to pray for this as for daily bread (Matthew 6:13).(2) Comparative perfection is two fold.(a) When the professors of Christianity are compared with those that live under other institutions. They that submit to Christ's terms are said to be perfect, because Christianity itself is perfection (Matthew 19:21).(b) When compared with others of the same profession, believers are distinguished into perfect and imperfect. Though none can attain to absolute perfection, yet there are several degrees of grace, and diversities of growth (Ephesians 4:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 14:20; Hebrews 5:13-14). It is a monstrous thing after many years' growth to be an infant still.

4. Of parts and of degrees.(1) Of parts, when we have all things that belong to a sincere Christian — as living creatures are perfect as soon as they are brought forth. Thus a Christian must have grace to enlighten and govern, one grace added to another (James 1:4). What is defective in parts cannot be supplied by any after growth. Leave out any necessary grace and the new creature is maimed; some leave out temperance, or patience, or love (1 Peter 5:1-7).(2) Of degrees, when thing has attained its highest pitch. So we are only perfect in heaven (Hebrews 12:23).

5. Of growth and consummation.(1) Things are said to be done when they are begun to be done (2 Corinthians 5:17). And so they are said to be perfect who are in the way of perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:16). This perfection is taken —

(a)As to means (Ephesians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:10).

(b)As to improvement of means (2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Peter 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:1).(2) Consummate; when after the hazards of life we are presented to Christ (Colossians 1:28); and by Christ to God (Colossians 1:22).

II. THE REASONS WE MUST BE PERFECT.

1. We have a perfect God (Matthew 5:43) whom we are required to imitate, and therefore we must not set bounds to our holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16).

2. We have a perfect rule (Psalm 19:7; 2 Timothy 3:17).

3. We have a perfect Redeemer (Colossians 2:10).

4. There is a perfect reward (Ephesians 4:13).

III. THE MOTIVES OF THIS PERFECTION.

1. What you lost in Adam must be recovered in Christ, or else you dishonour your Redeemer (Romans 5:17).

2. We pray for perfection and therefore must endeavour after it, otherwise our prayers are a mockery (Matthew 6:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

3. In our making covenant we purpose to do the will of God, and so must endeavour to carry it out, otherwise it is not made with a true heart (Hebrews 10:22; Psalm 18:23; Revelation 3:2).

4. Consider the comfort and peace of the man who presses toward perfection (Psalm 37:37).

IV. THE MEANS.

1. See that the work be begun, for there must be converting grace before confirming grace. What good will it do to blow a dead coal, or to seek strength before we have life.

2. The radical graces must be strengthened — strong faith, fervent love, lively hope.

3. Use the means with all seriousness and good conscience.(1) In the Word you have principles of faith, obligations to love, arguments of hope, and therefore are built up (Acts 20:32).(2) The sacraments strengthen our faith and hope as a bond or vow, and excite and engage our love and obedience.(3) Prayer (1 Peter 5:10).

4. Think much and often of your perfect blessedness which you expect according to promise, which will quicken and excite you to more diligence. There will be —(1) A complete vision of God and Christ (1 Corinthians 13:12).(2) A complete possession and fruition of God (Ephesians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30).(3) A complete transformation into the image of Christ (1 John 3:2; Psalm 17:15).(4) A complete delectation arising from all this (Psalm 16:11.)

V. THE NOTES.

1. When there is such a base esteem of worldly things that our affections are weakened to them every day (Galatians 6:14).

2. When more unsatisfied with present degrees of holiness with a constant desire to grow better.

3. When we are swayed more by love than by fear (Galatians 4:6; 1 John 4:18).

4. When we are more humble and see more of our defects than others do.

(T. Manton, D. D.)

I. ITS SIGNS.

1. A base esteem of worldly privileges and honours (ver. 7).

2. A. forgetting of the past and an earnest pressing towards the prize (vers. 12-13).

3. A desire for the coming of Christ, such as banishes the fear of death.

4. Sweet communion with Christ and boldness of access without fear of God's presence or judgment.

5. Stability amidst either prosperity or adversity.

6. Experience in finding out Satan's devices, whereas a beginner, for want of experience and practice, runs, ere he is aware, into many offences, and looks for no remedy.

7. Strength to stand against the bitter blasts and oppositions of the world. Nothing could move Paul or separate him from the love of Christ, but immature Christians are shaken or blown away.

8. Endurance of the infirmities of others (Galatians 6:1).

9. Knowledge of particular wants, and hence a seeking after further supplies of grace.

10. Ability and endeavour to beget other Christians. It is the property of a grown creature to beget its like. A weak Christian has enough to do to look to himself.

II. ITS MEANS.

1. We must know the order. We must first grow in fundamental graces, for we water not leaves but the root of our plants. When root graces are diligently cherished, works, like leaves, will soon put forth.

2. Whatsoever we do we must do it with the best advantage, labouring to practise as many graces as we can.

3. We must not neglect little things, small occasions of doing good, or beginnings of evil.

4. We must keep our affections to holy exercises and means, and consider what will fit our disposition when indisposed. Are we dull in prayer? Then read. If that will not be endured, use communion of saints.

III. ITS MOTIVES — Consider —

1. The privilege of a perfect Christian (Psalm 46:5).

2. The beautiful example he sets, so as to make others in love with religion.

3. The glory he secures for God.

4. The close communion he has with Christ.

5. His blessed reward.

(R. Sibbes, D. D.)

I. MUST NECESSARILY ARISE from —

1. the diversity of the human mind;

2. Habit;

3. Attainment.

II. OUGHT TO BE REGARDED WITH FORBEARANCE.

1. The perfect must not despise the weak.

2. The weak must not judge the perfect (Romans 14:3).

III. ARE BEST REMOVED BY PRAYER. God gives wisdom to all who seek it.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

When God's people are divided in opinion they should not come to an open rupture.

I. WHAT LENITY AND FORBEARANCE SHOULD DE USED.

1. There often are differences of opinion about lesser things in the Church, partly because of different degrees of light — all barks that sail to heaven draw not a like depth of water — and partly because of the remainders of corruption.

2. When differences arise we should take care they come not to open breach. This is the course Paul takes here. So should we, because the Church is in danger of being rent and destroyed (Galatians 5:15), because the world is scandalized (John 17:21), mutual means of edification hindered (Galatians 4:16), and the power of godliness lost.

3. To prevent this all lenity must be used. This I shall state(1) as to the matter of the strife. If we agree in substantials let us go by the same rule and mind the same thing.(2) As to the persons contending there is a difference. Paul distinguishes between erring Christians and their factious guides (Philippians 3:2).

4. The forbearance itself is not out of necessity but voluntary choice and Christian compassion, knowing that we need as much from God and others. Nor is it a forbearance of policy, till we get opportunity to suppress others (Ephesians 4:2-3). There are four graces that enforce it.

(1)Lowliness — a sense of personal infirmity.

(2)Meekness (James 3:17).

(3)Long suffering.

(4)Love (1 Peter 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:4, 7).

5. In this forbearance, both strong and weak have their part.(1) What they are not to do.(a) Not to leave the truth or do anything against it. Strings in tune must not be brought down to strings out of tune, but the reverse.(b) Not to connive at sin or error (Leviticus 19:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:15).(2) What they are to do.(a) The strong are not to deal rigorously with the weak, but wait till God declare the truth unto them, and promote their conviction with all gentleness (Isaiah 40:11).(b) The weak are not to rend and cut themselves off from the rest of Christians, or be strange to them on every lesser dissent, but to be teachable and lay aside obstinate prejudices, and examine into the cause of the difference; and leave room for the discovery of God's mind.

II. THE REASONS FOR THIS EXERCISE OF THIS LENITY AND FORBEARANCE.

1. From the necessity, excellency, and utility of union. What more clear in the Scriptures than that Christians should endeavour to be united. Christ prayed for it (John 17:21-23); Paul enforces it (Philippians 2:1-2); those that cause divisions are sternly cautioned (Romans 16:17-18); unity is pressed by the most cogent arguments (Ephesians 4:4-6).

2. From the consideration of our mutual frailties. Hebrews 5:2 should be verified in us (Galatians 6:1; Romans 14:1).

3. From the consideration of the probability of Divine illumination.(1) This illumination comes from God only (Acts 16:4; 1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Let us, then, in meekness use the means and refer the issue to God (2 Timothy 2:25). If we force men before they are convinced it may only make hypocrites.(2) This illumination is given by degrees (Mark 8:24-25).(3) They who are not for the present may be afterwards instructed in the truth. The apostle proceeded in the hopes of that.

(a)Upon the supposition that they were already converted (Philippians 1:6).

(b)That they were humble and tractable (Psalm 25:9).

(c)That they will not neglect any means of study and prayer (Proverbs 2:4; Psalm 119:18).

(d)That they continue in the communion of the Church.

(e)That they walk according to their light (John 7:17).

4. From the temper of those who are perfect. A grounded Christian bears with the infirmity of others and helps them.

III. CONSIDERATIONS HELPFUL TO THIS FORBEARANCE.

1. In how many things we agree, in how few we differ. There is a three-fold unity.

(1)In mind (Romans 15:5-6).

(2)In heart (Acts 4:32).

(3)In scope (Romans 15:5-7; Jeremiah 32:39).

2. Take more notice of their graces than of their infirmities (Revelation 2:2, 5, 6).

3. Remember how open the enforcements to love and unity are, and in how much the grounds of separation lie in the dark and are doubtful.

4. Think of God's love and forbearance towards us.

5. This forbearance cannot be expected from others unless shown to others (James 3:2; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 18:28).

6. How dangerous it is to reject any whom Christ will own for His. Will Christ admit him, and you cast him out (Romans 14:3)?

7. As we must not give offence so we must not take it (1 Corinthians 13:5; Matthew 5:9).

8. Our endeavour for unity ought to be earnest and constant (Ephesians 4:3; 2 Corinthians 12:15).

(T. Manton, D. D.)

The perfect ones, among whom, by the idiom he employs, the apostle places himself, are those who have burst the fetters of intellectual and spiritual bondage; who have made some advancement in the Divine life, who are acquainted with the higher forms of truth, and are no strangers to the impulses and powers of Divine grace; who are the circumcision; who by the spirit worship God; who are conscious of union with Christ, of possessing righteousness through faith in Him, and some measure of conformity to Him, and who cherish through Him the hope of a happy resurrection. And, perhaps, if we take in the previous context the imperfect are those who have not been able so fully to rise above all confidence in the flesh; who still thought circumcision might not be wholly without value; who would scruple to count all such things dead and positive loss, but hankered after some of them; and who, in formally renouncing them secretly or unawares, clung to them, and might not distinctly comprehend the freeness, adaptation, and perfection of that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ. They could not be perfect runners, for they had not laid aside every weight.

(Professor Eadie.)

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 habit 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. 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 some times 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.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

As surely as we live, this truth of truths can only be so discerned; to those who act on what they know, more shall be revealed; and thus, if any man will do His will, he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God. Any man — not the man who has most means of knowing, who has the subtlest brains, or sits under the most orthodox preacher, or has his library fullest of most orthodox books — but the man who strives to know, who takes God at His word, and sets himself to dig up the heavenly mystery, roots and all, before sunset and the night come, when no man can work. Beside such a man, God stands in more and more visible presence as he toils, and teaches him that which no preacher can teach, no earthly authority gainsay.

(J. Ruskin.)

The mists that shrouded the earth before the dawn do not take their flight at the very first touch of the morning sun. But before his waxing strength they disappear. So will it be, the apostle says, with moral mists. God's dealings in this respect, in the dispensation of His grace, accord with what we see every day in the physical sphere. Within certain limits, the exercise of power tends to bring more power. "To him that hath is given." To the "shatirs" who run before the king of Persia — as "Elijah girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" — practice from childhood has given such activity of limb, that they can keep pace for many hours with a fleet horse. The swing of the heavy hammer makes the muscles of the blacksmith's arms "strong as iron bands." Similarly, "if a man be willing to do the will of God," which is the legitimate exercise of such religious knowledge as he has, "he shall know of the doctrine" further. The believer who, "whereto he has attained, walks by the same," will find his "attainment" increasing continually. For the man who fills his sphere of light with spiritual vigilance — strenuous opposition to the temptations of the world, and the flesh, and the devil — earnest effort, according to opportunity, to extend the kingdom of truth and righteousness — the illuminated circle will steadily widen.

(R. Johnstone, LL. B.)

Benjamin, Paul, PhilippiansPhilippiAnything, Attitude, Believers, Cherish, Clear, Different, Differently, Full, Growth, Mature, Mind, Minded, Otherwise, Perfect, Point, Respect, Reveal, Thoughts, Thus, View1. He warns them to beware of the false teachers;
4. showing that himself has greater cause than they to trust in the righteousness of the law;
7. which he counts as loss, to gain Christ and his righteousness;
12. acknowledging his own imperfection and pressing on toward the goal;
15. He exhorts them to be thus minded;
17. and to imitate him,
18. and to decline carnal ways.

Philippians 3:15

     1445   revelation, responses

Philippians 3:10-17

     5109   Paul, apostle

Philippians 3:13-15

     5904   maturity, spiritual
     8763   forgetting

September 6. "Finally, My Brethren, Rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. Iii. 1).
"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. iii. 1). There is no spiritual value in depression. One bright and thankful look at the cross is worth a thousand morbid, self-condemning reflections. The longer you look at evil the more it mesmerizes and defiles you into its own likeness. Lay it down at the cross, accept the cleansing blood, reckon yourself dead to the thing that was wrong, and then rise up and count yourself as if you were another man and no longer the same person; and then, identifying …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 25. "That I May Know Him" (Phil. Iii. 10).
"That I may know Him" (Phil. iii. 10). Better to know Jesus Himself than to know the truth about Him for the deep things of God as they are revealed by the Holy Ghost. It was Paul's great desire, "That I may know Him," not about Him, not the mysteries of the wonderful world, of the deeper and higher teachings of God, but to enter into the Holy of Holies, where Christ is, where the Shekinah is shining and making the place glorious with the holiness of God, and then to enter into the secret of the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 27. "This one Thing I Do" (Phil. Iii. 13).
"This one thing I do" (Phil. iii. 13). One of Satan's favorite employees is the switchman. He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose. Something will come up in the pathway of the earnest soul, to attract its attention and occupy its strength and thought. Sometimes it is a little irritation and provocation. Sometimes it is some petty grievance we stop to pursue or adjust. Sometimes it is somebody …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 15. "I Press Toward the Mark" (Phil. Iii. 14).
"I press toward the mark" (Phil. iii. 14). We have thought much about what we have received. Let us think of the things we have not received, of some of the vessels that have not yet been filled, of some of the places in our life that the Holy Ghost has not yet possessed for God, and signalized by His glory and His presence. Shall the coming months be marked by a diligent, heart-searching application of "the rest of the oil," to the yet unoccupied possibilities of our life and service? Have we known …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Twenty Third Sunday after Trinity Enemies of the Cross of Christ and the Christian's Citizenship in Heaven.
Text: Philippians 3, 17-21. 17 Brethren, be ye imitators [followers] together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample. 18 For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. 20 For our citizenship [conversation] is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 who …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Laid Hold of and Laying Hold
'I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended of Christ Jesus.'--PHIL. iii. 12. 'I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' That is how Paul thinks of what we call his conversion. He would never have 'turned' unless a hand had been laid upon him. A strong loving grasp had gripped him in the midst of his career of persecution, and all that he had done was to yield to the grip, and not to wriggle out of it. The strong expression suggests, as it seems to me, the suddenness …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Rule of the Road
'Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.'--PHIL. iii. 16. Paul has just been laying down a great principle--viz. that if the main direction of a life be right, God will reveal to a man the points in which he is wrong. But that principle is untrue and dangerous, unless carefully guarded. It may lead to a lazy tolerance of evil, and to drawing such inferences as, 'Well! it does not much matter about strenuous effort, if we are right at bottom it will all come …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Soul's Perfection
'Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.'--PHIL. iii. 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 …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Warnings and Hopes
'Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as ye have us for an ensample. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Preparing to End
'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 2. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.'--PHIL. iii. 1-3 (R.V.). The first words of the text show that Paul was beginning to think of winding up his letter, and the preceding context also suggests that. The …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Saving Knowledge
'That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.'--PHIL. iii. 10-11 (R.V.). We have seen how the Apostle was prepared to close his letter at the beginning of this chapter, and how that intention was swept away by the rush of new thoughts. His fervid faith caught fire when he turned to think of what he had lost, and how infinitely more he had gained in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Race and the Goal
'This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize.'--PHIL. iii. 13, 14. This buoyant energy and onward looking are marvellous in 'Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.' Forgetfulness of the past and eager anticipation for the future are, we sometimes think, the child's prerogatives. They may be ignoble and puerile, or they may be worthy and great. All depends on the future …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Loss of All
'Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gain of Christ
That I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.'--PHIL. iii. 8, 9 (R.V.). It is not everybody who can say what is his aim in life. Many of us have never thought enough about it to have one beyond keeping alive. We lose life in seeking for the means of living. Many of us have such a multitude of aims, each in its turn drawing us, that no one of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Toleration
Preached at Bideford, 1854] Philippians iii. 15, 16. And if in any thing ye shall be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. My friends, allow me to speak a few plain and honest words, ere we part, on a matter which is near to, and probably important to, many of us here. We all know how the Christian Church has in all ages been torn in pieces by religious quarrels; we all know …
Charles Kingsley—Sermons for the Times

Do You Know Him?
Have I imagined emotions which would not be natural? I think not. The most cool and calculating would be warmed with desires like these. Methinks what I have now pictured before you will wake the echoes in your breasts, and you will say, "Ah, it is even so! It is because Christ loved me and gave himself for me that I want to know him; it is because he has shed his blood for me and has chosen me that I may be one with him for ever, that my soul desires a fuller acquaintance with him." Now may God, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

The Power of Christ Illustrated by the Resurrection
Beloved, how intimately is the whole of our life interwoven with the life of Christ! His first coming has been to us salvation, and we are delivered from the wrath of God through him. We live still because he lives, and never is our life more joyous than when we look most steadily to him. The completion of our salvation in the deliverance of our body from the bondage of corruption, in the raising of our dust to a glorious immortality, that also is wrapped up with the personal resurrection and quickening …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

False Professors Solemnly Warned
Note, too, that the apostle was a very honest pastor--when he marked anything amiss in his people, he did not blush to tell them; he was not like your modern minister, whose pride is that he never was personal in his life, and who thus glories in his shame, for had he been honest, he would have been personal, for he would have dealt out the truth of God without deceitfulness, and would have reproved men sharply, that they might be sound in the faith. "I tell you," says Paul, "because it concerns …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Freedom of the City.
(Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity.) PHIL. iii. 20. "Our conversation is in Heaven." People often fail to get at the meaning of this glorious text because they mistake that word conversation. Really the text means--our citizenship is in Heaven, we belong to the Eternal City. Once S. Paul declared with pride that he was a Roman citizen; and when the Chief Captain in surprise declared that he himself had purchased that privilege at a great price, the Apostle answered, "but I was free born." Every …
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

"To what Purpose is the Multitude of Your Sacrifices unto Me? Saith the Lord,"
Isaiah i. 11.--"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord," &c. This is the word he calls them to hear and a strange word. Isaiah asks, What mean your sacrifices? God will not have them. I think the people would say in their own hearts, What means the prophet? What would the Lord be at? Do we anything but what he commanded us? Is he angry at us for obeying him? What means this word? Is he not repealing the statute and ordinance he had made in Israel? If he had reproved …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," &C.
Matth. vi. 33.--"But seek ye first the kingdom of God," &c. II. The Christian's chief employment should be to seek the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof. "Seek first," &c. Upon this he should first and chiefly spend his thoughts, and affections, and pains. We comprehend it in three things. First, He should seek to be clothed upon with Christ's righteousness, and this ought to take up all his spirit. This is the first care and the chief concern. Did not this righteousness weigh much …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Righteousness.
--that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.--Ep. to the Philippians iii. 8, 9. What does the apostle mea …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Entire Sanctification
By Dr. Adam Clarke The word "sanctify" has two meanings. 1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service. 2. It signifies to make holy or pure. Many talk much, and indeed well, of what Christ has done for us: but how little is spoken of what he is to do in us! and yet all that he has done for us is in reference to what he is to do in us. He was incarnated, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead; ascended to heaven, and there …
Adam Clarke—Entire Sanctification

That True Solace is to be Sought in God Alone
Whatsoever I am able to desire or to think of for my solace, I look for it not here, but hereafter. For if I alone had all the solaces of this world, and were able to enjoy all its delights, it is certain that they could not endure long. Wherefore, O my soul, thou canst be fully comforted and perfectly refreshed, only in God, the Comforter of the poor, and the lifter up of the humble. Wait but a little while, my soul, wait for the Divine promise, and thou shalt have abundance of all good things …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

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