No Retreat.

The NIV translates Philippians 3:16, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”  What does Paul mean by, “what we have already attained”?  I believe he’s talking about our level of spiritual progress, spiritual momentum, the spiritual altitude you’ve “attained.”  Paul is essentially saying what all Bible expositors, all true students of the Word, come to realize eventually as an important distinction.  And that is, here’s what a Truth, a parable, a Psalm, a passage means spiritually; here’s what it has come to mean experientially in my life.  This is the hermeneutical distinction between interpretation and application.

The present passage is no different.  “Let all of us who are mature ...keep living up to what we have already attained,” vv. 15a-16.  Here’s the basic, fundamental meaning: Do what you know to do.  Live according to the level of growth you— and not someone else— have attained in Christ’s Kingdom.  Do not deviate from the principles and practices which have brought you to this present state of maturity.

The word “attained,” phthano, means- ‘arrive at’ a level of understanding, ‘reach and attain’ what you are pursuing.  Paul uses it of the nation of Israel in Romans 9:31 when he say’s, “but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness [By her own works, her own deeds, and her own self-righteousness:], has not attained it.  Why not?  Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.  They stumbled over the ‘stumbling stone,’” v. 32.  We might even say it this way: ‘Live up to the Light that you have, the Truth which illuminates your soul.’  This is simple enough and easily grasped, but there’s more.  The deeper meaning, the underlying spiritual point is this: What you have achieved in the spiritual realm, do not forfeit; from where you have advanced on spiritual ground, do not retreat!

These Saints in Philippi had “attained” a certain spiritual stature, they had ‘arrived at’ a level of functional maturity.  They were on their way down the Path which leads from the Cross to the Crown.  The goal is ultimately to finish the Race, to achieve your purpose, to fulfill your destiny in the Father’s Plan.  Maturity, a functioning spiritual adulthood, is the halfway point.

What if you’ve just recently been ‘birthed’ into the realm of Eternal Life and into the Kingdom of Grace, and are still a babe in Christ, or are still an adolescent in the things of God, does this make you inferior somehow?  No ...live up to the Light that you have.  In the walking and war-faring of your faith live according to the stature which belongs to you.  My point is: Once you go from babyhood to adolescence, don’t retreat.

Once you go from being an adolescent to being a full-grown Man or Woman, don’t retreat.

Once you go from being a spiritual adult to being a Hero of Faith, don’t retreat.

And once you go from being a Hero of Faith to being the Friend of God, don’t retreat!

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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