Christian Maturity
The culmination of Christian maturirty is knowing where we are going. Rejecting those who add to salvation and consequenlty for us, Scripture; and pushing forward in our growth and knowledge of the Savior and thereby becoming a more and more mature Christian. The mature Christian lives the life of maturity by observing lives of Spiritual maturity in order to finish well here the race to be run.
View of things should be mature.
Life of Maturity Phil. 3:15-16
Not all the apostle’s Christian friends at Philippi have the same attitude that he has just expressed. He recognizes that he has not yet achieved his great ambition of fully gaining Christ; but as a runner he presses on determinedly, aiming to finish the race and win the prize (vv. 12–14). He wants to encourage his dear readers in their progress, so he sets forth his own example, effectively applying vv. 12–14 to their lives and assuring them that God will ‘remove any remaining inadequacies or inconsistencies in their Christian outlook’.
Paul is an example to the congregation (cf. v. 17), and his personal testimony reflects a truly Christian attitude: those who are τέλειοι are encouraged to adopt the same approach.
The idea is to call all those who think they have arrived and give them instruction. In doing so, Paul uses a much softer form of address compared to the commands he uses throughout the book. Instead of saying “Do this!” he uses the Greek equivalent of “Let’s do this.” Paul mitigates the directness of the instruction by including himself in the audience; he’s telling himself to do the same thing.
Instead of assigning blame or taking a side, he addresses the conflict in the context of calling the believers to a higher standard of Christian practice. He doesn’t solve the problem for them, but instead provides the rules of engagement. Paul is much less direct about addressing this problem than he is the problems in Galatians or Corinthians. He begins laying the groundwork for chapter 4 by softening his tone from “Do this!” to “Let’s do this.”
What view of things? The one he had expressed regarding persistently pressing on toward the goal. One mark of spiritual maturity is a desire to go on with Christ. Paul’s appeal here was to maturing believers who shared his ambitions. He trusted God to make things clear to those who disagreed with him.
Life of Observation Phil. 3:17-19
Surely he did not mean that they should imitate every single area of his life, for he had just stated that he was not sinlessly perfect. But in the matter of relentlessly pursuing after Christlikeness, he did set himself up as an example. Those Philippians who followed him would join with others who were already doing so.
Life Finished Well. Phil. 3:20-21
The believer looks with keen anticipation for his Savior’s return from heaven. Eagerly await translates a word (apekdechometha) that suggests a tiptoe anticipation and longing. This word is also used in Romans 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Galatians 5:5; Hebrews 9:28.
At the Rapture of the church, Christ will transform (metaschēmatisei, “change the outward form of”) our lowly bodies so that they will be like (symmorphon, “identical in essential character”; cf. the participle symmorphizomenos in Phil. 3:10) His glorious body. Then every child of God will be made like the Son of God (1 John 3:2), that is, all Christians will receive glorified bodies like His.
At the Rapture of the church, Christ will transform (metaschēmatisei, “change the outward form of”) our lowly bodies so that they will be like (symmorphon, “identical in essential character”; cf. the participle symmorphizomenos in Phil. 3:10) His glorious body. Then every child of God will be made like the Son of God (1 John 3:2), that is, all Christians will receive glorified bodies like His. No