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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Philippians 3:15 - 3:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Toward the mark (κατὰ σκοπὸν)
Rev., goal. Bear down upon (κατά). Σκοπός mark, only here in the New Testament. See on look, Phi 2:4. Used in the classics of a mark for shooting at, or as a moral or intellectual end. A somewhat similar figure occurs 1Ti 1:6; 1Ti 6:21; 2Ti 2:18, in the verb ἀστοχέω to miss the aim or the shot. A.V., swerved and erred.
Prize (βραβεῖον)
See on 1Co 9:24. Ignatius uses the word θέμα that which is deposited as a prize: a prize of money as distinct from the crown. “Be temperate as God's athlete. The prize is incorruption and eternal life” (to Polycarp, 2). Chrysostom says: “He that runs looks not at the spectators, but at the prize. Whether they be rich or poor, if one mock them, applaud them, insult them, throw stones at them - if one plunder their house, if they see children or wife or anything whatsoever - the runner is not turned aside, but is concerned only with his running and winning the prize. He that runneth stoppeth nowhere; since, if he be a little remiss, all is lost. He that runneth relaxeth in no respect before the end, but then, most of all, stretcheth over the course.”
High calling (ἄνω κλήσεως)
Lit., upward calling. A calling which is from heaven and to heaven. Κλῆσις calling, is habitually used in the New Testament of the act of calling. Compare Heb 3:1. The prize is bound up with the calling; promised when the call is issued, and given when the call is fulfilled.