Philippians 3:12

My Notes

What Does Philippians 3:12 Mean?

Paul — the most accomplished apostle in the history of the church — confesses that he hasn't arrived. And in the same breath, he describes a pursuit so intense it sounds like a manhunt. The hunter is also the hunted. The chaser has been chased.

"Not as though I had already attained" — Paul says: I don't have it yet. Whatever "it" is — full Christlikeness, complete resurrection power, the final prize — Paul hasn't grabbed it. The man who wrote Romans, who planted churches across the empire, who received visions of the third heaven — says openly: I haven't arrived. The honesty is disarming.

"Either were already perfect" — the word "perfect" (teleioō) means complete, brought to the intended end. Paul isn't finished. The transformation is in process. The telos hasn't been reached. He's on the way, but he's not there. And he says so — to a church that might be tempted to put him on a pedestal.

"But I follow after" — the verb (diōkō) means to pursue aggressively, to chase, to hunt. It's the word used for persecution — the same word that described Saul chasing Christians on the Damascus Road. Now Paul uses it for his pursuit of Christ. The intensity hasn't diminished. The direction has reversed. The man who once hunted believers now hunts Christlikeness with the same relentless energy.

"If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" — the chase is double. Paul is chasing Christ. And Christ already chased Paul. "Apprehend" (katalambanō) means to seize, to lay hold of, to capture. Paul is pursuing Christ because Christ already pursued and captured him. The Damascus Road wasn't just a conversion. It was an apprehension — Christ laid hold of Paul. And now Paul's entire life is the effort to lay hold of the reason Christ seized him.

The chase is mutual. Christ grabbed Paul. Paul chases Christ. The apprehending and the being apprehended mirror each other. And the space between — the not-yet-attained, not-yet-perfected middle — is where Paul lives. Where you live. Where the pursuit continues.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Where do you catch yourself thinking you've 'arrived' — that your spiritual growth is essentially complete?
• 2.How does Paul's admission that he hasn't attained perfection change the way you evaluate your own progress?
• 3.What does it mean that Christ 'apprehended' you — seized you, laid hold of you? What were you doing when He grabbed you?
• 4.What are you chasing — the purpose Christ apprehended you for, or something else entirely?

Devotional

Paul says he hasn't arrived. The apostle who wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else. The church planter who changed the world. The man who saw the third heaven. Not there yet. Not perfect. Still chasing. If Paul hadn't arrived, you certainly haven't. And the admission isn't defeat. It's fuel.

The pursuit is what matters. Not the arrival. Paul doesn't describe the Christian life as standing still in a state of achieved holiness. He describes it as a chase — aggressive, relentless, full-speed pursuit of something you haven't caught yet. The same energy that once drove him to persecute the church now drives him to pursue Christ. Saul the hunter became Paul the hunter. The target changed. The intensity didn't.

"That for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" — this is the line that unlocks everything. Paul chases Christ because Christ chased him first. The pursuit isn't self-generated motivation. It's a response. Christ grabbed Paul on the Damascus Road, and Paul has been running toward the reason ever since. Why did you grab me? What did you seize me for? I'm going to spend the rest of my life chasing the answer.

You were apprehended too. Christ laid hold of you — in your conversion, in your calling, in the moment you realized you belonged to Him. And now the question that drives the rest of your life is: what was that for? What did He seize me to become? What is the purpose that His apprehension implies? The chase is the pursuit of that answer. And you run — not because you might arrive today, but because the one who grabbed you is worth chasing for a lifetime.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture