Pressing Toward the Mark A Meditation on Philippians 3:13–14 Santamaria

Pressing Toward the Mark

A Meditation on Philippians 3:13–14

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:13–14

The apostle Paul does not speak as a man trying to earn eternal life. He speaks as one who has already been apprehended by Christ and now longs for the complete realization of that for which Christ apprehended him. His pressing is not the cause of his salvation. It is the consequence of being seized by sovereign grace.

This distinction governs the entire passage. Paul has already renounced confidence in the flesh. He has counted his religious pedigree, legal righteousness, and former accomplishments as loss that he might win Christ and “be found in him, not having mine own righteousness.” His hope rests entirely upon the righteousness of God received through faith. Therefore, when Paul says, “I press toward the mark,” he is not returning to the system of human merit he has just rejected.

He is not pressing in order to become accepted by God. He presses because he is accepted in Christ.

“I Count Not Myself to Have Apprehended”

Paul refuses to claim that he has already reached the final condition for which Christ called him. He knows Christ, but he desires to know Him more fully. He has experienced the power of Christ’s resurrection, but his body still bears weakness, suffering, and mortality. He has been justified, but he has not yet experienced the resurrection of the body and the complete deliverance awaiting him.

This confession is remarkable because it comes from an apostle. Paul had seen the risen Christ. He had received extraordinary revelations, preached throughout the Roman world, suffered for the gospel, and established churches. Yet he would not speak as though the journey were complete.

“I count not myself to have apprehended.”

The believer must be suspicious of spiritual pride. No amount of biblical knowledge, ministerial experience, church membership, or suffering gives a person reason to boast. Whatever we know of Christ has been revealed by grace. Whatever faithfulness appears in us is the fruit of God’s operation. We remain dependent upon Christ at every moment.

Paul’s confession is not unbelief. He does not doubt the certainty of salvation. He doubts the flesh’s claim to have already reached the final glory. Assurance and humility stand together. The believer may know that Christ has saved him while also knowing that he has not yet received everything salvation will finally include.

“But This One Thing I Do”

Paul’s life possesses a governing direction. “This one thing I do.” He is not claiming that he performs only one activity. He preached, prayed, traveled, worked, suffered, wrote, and ministered to the churches. Yet all these activities were gathered under one commanding purpose: the knowledge of Christ and the fulfillment of His heavenly calling.

Much of human life is scattered. Men pursue wealth, reputation, comfort, entertainment, political influence, religious recognition, and personal security. Their energies move in a hundred directions, and yet they never arrive at anything that can survive death.

Paul’s heart is concentrated. Christ has become the great object before him.

The church also loses strength when it becomes distracted from this one thing. It may become consumed with political agitation, institutional growth, denominational rivalry, cultural respectability, or endless controversy. Some controversies must be faced, but none must replace Christ. The church exists to proclaim Him, worship Him, obey Him, and wait for His appearing.

“Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind”

Paul does not mean that the believer should erase all memory of the past. Scripture frequently commands God’s people to remember His works. Paul himself repeatedly remembered his former persecution of the church because the memory magnified divine mercy.

Forgetting those things behind means refusing to allow the past to govern the present pursuit of Christ.

Paul had accomplishments he might have celebrated. He also had sins that might have crushed him. He had been a Pharisee, a defender of the law, and a man honored among his people. But those former distinctions could not give him righteousness before God. He had also persecuted Christians, consented to Stephen’s death, and attempted to destroy the church. Yet those sins, terrible as they were, could not overthrow the grace that had saved him.

The believer must leave both his trophies and his chains behind.

Past accomplishments can become objects of pride. A church may live upon what it was fifty years ago. A minister may depend upon yesterday’s usefulness. A believer may continually revisit former experiences as though present hope could be sustained by memories alone.

Past failures can become instruments of bondage. Conscience recalls sins that God has forgiven. The adversary points backward and says, “This is what you were.” The gospel points to Christ and declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Forgetting does not mean denying the sin. It means refusing to place the forgiven sin above the blood of Christ.

“Reaching Forth Unto Those Things Which Are Before”

Paul employs the image of a runner stretching toward the finish. Every part of the body is directed forward. The runner cannot win the race while constantly looking backward.

What stood before Paul was not earthly success. Imprisonment, suffering, and martyrdom were near. Yet beyond them stood resurrection, perfect conformity to Christ, entrance into His presence, and the public vindication of divine grace.

The Christian hope is forward-looking. The believer does not expect fallen history to become his final home. He waits for the Savior from heaven, who will change the vile body and fashion it like His glorious body.

The things before us are therefore greater than the things behind us. Behind us lies sin, death, disappointment, weakness, and loss. Before us lies resurrection. Behind us are broken relationships and unfinished labors. Before us is the assembly of the redeemed in the presence of Christ. Behind us are prayers offered through tears. Before us is the answer contained in everlasting glory.

“I Press Toward the Mark”

The word “press” expresses earnest pursuit. Paul is not passive in his experience merely because salvation is sovereign. Divine grace does not turn believers into lifeless objects. The God who gives life also produces spiritual hunger, prayer, obedience, perseverance, and longing for Christ.

Yet Paul’s pressing must never be separated from Christ’s apprehending. Paul had first been arrested by grace on the road to Damascus. Christ took hold of him before Paul began reaching toward Christ.

Grace precedes effort, produces effort, sustains effort, and receives all the glory for its outcome.

The “mark” is the goal toward which the runner moves. Paul’s goal is not earthly morality detached from Christ. It is not a gradual accumulation of merit. Nor is it the construction of a superior religious identity. The goal is Christ Himself in the fullness of resurrection glory.

Paul’s righteousness is already complete in Christ. Nothing can be added to the obedience of the Son of God. The believer’s standing before God does not become progressively more justified. Christ is his righteousness—perfectly, finally, and eternally.

Nevertheless, the believer has not yet experienced the fullness of what has been secured for him. He still groans in a mortal body. He still encounters temptation and sorrow. He still waits for the day when faith will become sight. His pressing is not an attempt to perfect Christ’s righteousness, but a longing to possess fully what grace has already made certain.

“For the Prize”

The prize is not salvation awarded as payment for superior human performance. Scripture does speak of rewards, but the central prize in this passage is inseparable from the consummation of the believer’s calling in Christ.

The prize is the full enjoyment of Christ: seeing Him, being with Him, and being made like Him in resurrection glory.

Every earthly prize fades. Crowns decay, applause is forgotten, buildings collapse, institutions disappear, and the names of once-famous men vanish. But Christ does not fade. The inheritance reserved in heaven cannot be corrupted, stained, or diminished.

Paul can therefore lose everything and still possess the prize. He can lose freedom, health, reputation, property, friends, and life itself. None of these losses can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

“The High Calling of God in Christ Jesus”

The calling originates with God, comes through Christ, and draws the believer toward heavenly glory. It is “high” because its source and destination are above this dying world.

God did not call His people because He foresaw worthiness in them. He called them according to His own purpose and grace. The call that brings a sinner from death to life will finally bring him from mortality to immortality.

The calling is “in Christ Jesus.” There is no election, righteousness, perseverance, resurrection, or glory apart from Him. Christ is not merely the one who shows the way toward the prize. He is the way, the righteousness, and the prize.

The believer presses forward because God’s call cannot fail. His perseverance does not rest upon the strength of his grip upon Christ, but upon the strength of Christ’s grip upon him. Paul presses toward the mark because he has been apprehended by One who never releases those whom He loves.

The Christian’s Forward Hope

Philippians 3:13–14 is not the language of self-salvation. It is the language of grace-created longing. Paul does not run to persuade God to love him. He runs because the love of God in Christ has captured him.

The passage calls us away from two dangers. The first is pride in former achievements. The second is despair over former failures. Both keep the eyes fixed upon self. Faith looks away from self and reaches toward Christ.

Do not rest upon yesterday’s religious experiences. Do not live beneath the condemnation of sins Christ has carried away. Do not imagine that your weakness can cancel God’s purpose. Do not mistake present suffering for final defeat.

The race is difficult, but the calling is sure. The believer may stumble, but Christ does not abandon him. He may grow weary, but the everlasting arms remain beneath him. He may enter death, but even death is only the doorway through which the redeemed pass into the presence of their Lord.

Press toward the mark—not to become one of Christ’s people, but because grace has called you in Him. Forget what would imprison you behind. Reach toward what God has placed before you. The final prize is not human praise, earthly success, or confidence in personal improvement.

The prize is Christ: known without a veil, enjoyed without interruption, and possessed in the glory of the resurrection.