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THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING
Paul wrote `but withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you'
(Philem. 22).
Ephesians appears to have been written earlier in the period, for, although Tychicus was to make known to the
believer all Paul's affairs, there is not the slightest hint that his trial was imminent or that he expected release. If
Ephesians had already been written then Philippians must have been written in the full light of the revelation of the
mystery. Philippians therefore takes its place as one of the prison epistles, and demands from every member of the
One Body a patient hearing and a ready response.
The analogy between Philippians and Hebrews
Ephesians may be looked upon as holding the same position in the Dispensation of the Mystery, that Romans
occupies in the earlier ministry of the Reconciliation. Both are basic. The same basic teaching that is found in
extenso in Romans is found in a more controversial form in Galatians and this finds its parallel in Colossians where
the basic doctrines of Ephesians are repeated, but supplemented and intertwined with warning and exhortation.
Philippians finds its parallel in such an epistle as that to the Hebrews, which presents an exhortation `to go unto
perfection', with a warning about drawing back to perdition which is equally true of the Philippian epistle.
Perfection and Perdition are the focal points of Hebrews :
`Let us go on unto perfection' (Heb. 6:1).
`We are not of them who draw back unto perdition' (Heb. 10:39).
`Perfection' is the Greek word
teleiotes, `perdition' is apoleia. In Philippians we read :
`Not as though I ... were already perfect' (Phil. 3:12).
`Whose end is destruction' (Phil. 3:19).
`Perfect' here is the Greek word teleioo, `destruction' is apoleia.
From this parallel it will be seen that Philippians will not be giving basic doctrine as to what constitutes the high
calling, so much as exhorting the believer to walk worthy of the calling he has already received.
In both epistles, a prize, or a reward is in view, enforced by the figure of a race course and by the example of
Christ Himself.
PRIZE. `I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Phil. 3:14).
REWARD. `Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward' (Heb. 10:35).
THE RACE. `I press toward the mark'. `Striving together' (Phil. 3:14; 1:27).
`Let us run with patience the race that is set before us' (Heb. 12:1).
In this going on unto perfection, some things must necessarily be left behind.
LEAVING. `Leaving the principles of the doctrine (margin leaving the word of the beginning) of Christ let us go
on' (Heb. 6:1).
FORGETTING. `Forgetting those things which are behind' (Phil. 3:13).
This pressing forward had in view a special resurrection. In Philippians it is called the out-resurrection (Phil.
3:11), while in Hebrews the equivalent is found in chapter 11:35, where it speaks of those who obtained a `better
resurrection'. In both epistles there is the guarantee of grace for the exercised believer.
`It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Phil. 2:13).
`Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ' (Heb. 13:21).