Philippians 3:15-16; Christian Maturity

PastorRodney’s Weblog

06/30 Philippians 3:15-16; Christian Maturity; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20240630_philippians-3_15-16.mp3

Paul is pursuing Jesus, fixing his eyes on knowing him, experiencing his resurrection power in the new birth, experiencing intimacy with him through suffering, allowing that suffering to create in him Christlike humility expressed in self-sacrificial service to others. But he wants to be clear, he has not yet arrived.

Philippians 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In verses 15-16 Paul gives a call to Christian maturity.

Philippians 3:15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Who is mature? What is Christian maturity? What does he mean ‘think this way’? How will God reveal it to those who think differently? What does it mean to hold true to what we have attained?

As Many As Are Perfect

When Paul says ‘therefore as many as are mature, think this way’, who is included in those who are mature? What is Christian maturity?

The KJV translates this verse ‘Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded’. Paul has just finished saying in verse 12 that he is not already perfected. Now with a touch of irony, he says ‘therefore as many as are perfect, think this way.’ This word can be translated ‘perfect, mature, complete’.

Jesus uses this word to call us to perfection even as the Father is perfect (Mt.5:48). He calls the rich young man who thought he had kept the whole law to perfection by giving up his possessions and following Jesus (Mt.19:21).

Paul uses this word to point to maturity in contrast to the immaturity of speech and reasoning of children (1Cor.13:10-11), the inexperience of infants (1Cor.14:20), the fickleness and gullibility of children (Eph.4:13-14). The author of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

There is nothing wrong with milk. Peter tells us that like a newborn we are to crave pure spiritual milk. But Hebrews is telling us that for an adult to be dependent on others like a baby evidences inappropriate immaturity. We ought to be ‘skilled in the word of righteousness’; we ought to have ‘our powers of discernment trained by constant practice’

James reminds us

James 1:3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full [or perfect] effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Testing, trials, opposition, produce character, grow us up to maturity.

The Catch-22 of Pride

Paul in verse 12 makes it very clear that he does not think of himself as having already arrived, he has not already been perfected. But here in verse 15, tongue firmly in cheek, he says ‘as many as are perfect ought to think this way’.

Paul points us to the catch-22 of pride. If you are perfect or mature, you will think like Paul, who does not consider himself as having arrived. If you’re thinking you have been perfected, you’re not thinking like Paul, and that is evidence that you lack spiritual maturity. He is pushing back on that arrival mentality, those who felt they had already attained spiritual maturity, that they had no further need for growth or the trials that produce growth.

Humility, a healthy level of self-distrust, is evidence of spiritual maturity.

Think Which Way?

But to what exactly is Paul referring when he says that as many as are mature think this way. Which way? In the immediate context, Paul is acknowledging his supreme desire to press on to know Christ fully, but he clearly confirms that this is a future reality to which he has not yet attained. He is inviting us into humility.

In verse 10 he tells us how he is thinking, what is his supreme desire.

Philippians 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

We must begin to think this way, that knowing Jesus, knowing the power of his resurrection does not exempt us from sufferings, but rather empowers us to be shaped by sufferings, to be conformed into Christlike character by those sufferings.

But Paul used this phrase ‘think this way’ or ‘have this mindset’ just a little further back. In Philippians 2:2 he exhorts:

Philippians 2:2 complete my joy by being of the same mind [ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε], having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

What is this common thinking that is to unite them? He goes on to point them to selfless humility

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look [σκοποῦντες (v.)] not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This word ‘look’ is another link between these passages. It is the verb form of this noun translated ‘goal’ in 3:14. What we are to be setting as our goal, looking toward, is not only our own stuff, our own interests, but the interests of others. Ultimately our goal, what we look toward, is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

He goes on in Philippians 2:5 to use a phrase identical to that in 3:15

Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Literally ‘this think in you which also in Christ Jesus’ [τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ]. Think this way. Which way? Have in yourselves the mindset of Christ Jesus, who humbled himself in selfless service to others, even to the point of death, even death on a cross. Think this way.

Paul used this same phrase back in chapter 1.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way [or think this way] about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. [ τοῦτο φρονεῖν ὑπὲρ πάντων ὑμῶν]

Paul thought this way; he had this confidence in God. It was right for him to have this confidence that God would complete what he started in them, because they were partakers with him in grace, specifically the grace of partnership with him in his imprisonment for the sake of the advance of the gospel. His thinking was rooted in God’s character to finish what he started, and the evidence that he had begun a good work in them was that they began to fellowship with him in his sufferings. Do you see this thread running through this letter?

Philippians 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Think this way. Have this mind in you, the mindset of Christ, the humility of Jesus.

When Is It OK To Think Differently?

What he says next is interesting, if a bit puzzling.

Philippians 3:15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

What is Paul saying here? Is he saying ‘I want you to think this way, but in the end it really doesn’t matter what you think’? No. He is clear. Those who are mature will have the mindset of the humility of Jesus. Anything outside of that is immaturity. But Paul leaves room for growth, for us to mature in our thinking. There is such a thing as Christian maturity, but Paul is clear that he has not fully arrived, and he doesn’t expect that we have fully arrived either. So he leaves room for us to grow in spiritual maturity, in Christlikeness.

Paul has lines. He is clear. There are issues that divide believers from unbelievers. There are things we believe that distinguish between those who are being saved and those who are perishing. It matters what we believe. It matters that we put our trust in the right God, the right Jesus, the right means of salvation. To believe differently on these issues results in eternal life or eternal separation from God.

At the beginning of this chapter he warns against those who preach a different gospel; he calls them dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh; in the next verses he will call them enemies of the cross, who have a different god, whose end is destruction. Paul is clear. He doesn’t blur the lines.

In verses 1, 13 and 17 he addresses the Philippians as ‘brothers’. He is addressing ‘the saints in Christ Jesus’ (1:1), but he writes to them to pursue their growth, their maturity; he prays for their love to abound, he urges them on to Christian unity, to be of the same mind. To the brothers, the saints, he says ‘if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.’

He doesn’t say ‘if any of you think differently, that’s fine, it doesn’t really matter’. He says ‘if in anything you think differently, God will reveal this to you’. He is expressing again his confidence in the God who began a good work in you to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (1:6). Or as he said to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

Or as he said to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:

Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul’s confidence is not in himself, his persuasive speech, his ability to convince. His confidence is in the God in whom he has believed. His confidence is in the Lord. He has confidence in the transforming power of the gospel, in the word of his grace. His confidence is in the God who spoke light into darkness, who is able to open blind eyes and set captives free. He is confident that if some do not see the way of humility as the way of maturity, who do not see resurrection power as power to face suffering in a way that allows it to shape us more into the image of Jesus, he is confident that God will reveal that to us.

What We Have Attained

Philippians 3:16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

What have we attained? Paul is clear he has not yet arrived. But he is also clear that he counted his every gain as loss in light of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. This loss of religious righteousness was a gain of something of greater worth. This was revelation; God revealed to him the futility of his performance based religion and his need for a rescuer. He revealed the identity of Jesus as Lord and God. Hold on to that.

Paul is clear that he has not yet been perfected, but he is equally clear that he had received God’s righteousness as a gift through believing in Jesus. He traded in his own righteousness for the righteousness of Christ, that belongs to him through faith. He received salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. Hold on to that.

He is clear that he has not yet attained to a full and complete knowledge of Jesus, but he is also clear that he does have a real knowledge of Jesus, a real fellowship with Jesus, the beginnings of Christlike conformity to his death. Hold on to that.

This word ‘hold true’ is a military term meaning to march together. This is not an individualistic exhortation to each believer to personally hold true. He envisions the church as falling in line, in unison marching eagerly toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is the same word he used in Galatians 5

Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Keep in step with the Spirit. March in cadence with the Holy Spirit. If we match our march to the Spirit, we will find that we are in step with one another. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will find we are moving in the same direction, pursuing the greatest good, the supreme goal, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org