Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

Paul addresses all the Philippian believers as brethren, and gives them his honest spiritual selfevaluation.
After careful reasoning (Latin: arbitration), he concludes (Aoristic Present tense) that
he has not yet attained (Consummative Perfect tense) ultra-supergrace status. That is his ultimate
objective, the intended result of his life on earth, but he hasn’t arrived at his final destination.
However, there is one thing that he did conclude after his self-evaluation. On the one hand, he is
going to constantly forget (Gnomic Present tense) the things from his past (Latin: retro). He is
not going to focus on all the testing, suffering and divine discipline he received (Latin:
oblivious) while getting to the point he is at now. He is not going to recall his reversionistic
behavior and engage in self-pity.
The memory of past sins and failures tends to reproduce them again. They interrupt our
concentration from biblical principles and shift our focus to the repetition of errors. Endless
cogitation over past sins can quench the Holy Spirit and destroy forward momentum. What we
should be concentrating on, like Paul, is future triumphs. Paul says he is going to pursue the final
objective, stretching and straining (Latin: extending) towards the finish line (Pictorial Present
tense). His goal is to attain ultra-supergrace at all costs (Latin: priority), so he is going to charge
forward without looking back. He concentrates on the "Mind of Christ" (I Cor.2:16), because he is
occupied with the "Person of Christ" (Phil. 1:21), and has begun to share the "Happiness of God"
(John 15:11).
REVELANT OPINIONS
Like a Greek runner who pays no attention to the opponents whom he is leading in the race … Paul
knew Greek racing technique. He knew that the minute the Greek runner listened for the runners that
were behind him in the race, and heard the thud, thud of their pounding feet, his speed would be
slackened ... To revert to the former way of life, even for a moment, could retard your speed in life's
race … The Christian's onward progress is hindered should he dwell on the past, full of failures and
sins, full of heartaches and discouragements, full of disappointments and thwarted hopes and plans.
As long as a Christian has made things right with God [rebound], he should completely forget the
past and move on. (K. Wuest) This emphatic and personal assertion of the apostle, to the effect that
he has not reached perfection, is not simply the observation of a godly and zealous servant of Christ
who might be somewhat pessimistic about his own progress. Rather, it is grounded in the fact that he
who has been united to Christ and who is now being continuously conformed to His death has not
yet attained to the resurrection of the dead. Only then will he have fully laid hold of the One who
apprehended him. Nor have others reached that resurrection – be they opponents, detractors, or even
some members of the congregation at Philippi. (P. O’Brien)
If we are to reach the goal, we must forget failures that may be in the past. Failures can discourage.
We start out to run and then trip and fall, and so we give up. We conclude we are not cut out for the
race and are content to let someone else run. Failures can bring preoccupation with self just as much
as blessings or attainments can. Preoccupation with self can bring discouragement that would cause
us to retire before the race is finished. The apostle says, “I must forget those things that are behind.”