“… StriViNG FOr tHe prize”: tHe tHeOLOGicAL SiGNiFicANce OF AtHLetic LANGUAGe iN pHiLippiANS 3:12-16

apostle

1. tHe iMMeDiAte cONteXt OF pHiL 3:12-16 philippians 3:12-16 belongs to a subunit which covers most or all of chapter 3. the precise delimitation is disputed. Many consider 3:1 2 (or 3:1a 3 ) to be the conclusion of the previous subunit based on their understanding of τὸ λοιπόν as "in conclusion" and of χαίρετε as "farewell." Many of these scholars see 3:2-4:1 (or 4:9) as a fragment of an originally separate letter 4 . We go along with those scholars who see 3:1 as making the transition to a new section on the basis of interpreting τὸ λοιπόν as introducing a final section and of χαίρετε as meaning "rejoice." 5 the delimitation in 4:1 is motivated by the fact that 4:2-3 contains specific exhortations. Moreover 4:1 can be understood as forming an inclusion with 3:1 due to the presence of ἀδελφοί μου in 3:1 and 4:1 and to the fact that in both verses paul speaks about the strengthening of the philippians. in light of all this we are more inclined to see 3:1-4:1 as an integral part of the original letter 6 .
A 3:1-11: paul vs. opponents ("dogs"): paul as an example: his goal to gain christ B 3:12-16: paul's striving for the goal (the prize): emphasis on the "not yet" A' 3:17-4:1: paul vs. opponents ("enemies of the cross") paul's hope: the transformation of our bodies paul's appeal to the addressees While some polemical aspects are undeniable in 3:1-4:1, it would not be correct to reduce its content to polemics against the opponents. the polemical sections are the occasion of something else that paul intends to say. the section begins in 3:1-2 with the vocative ἀδελφοί μου and with paul addressing the philippian community with the present imperative active βλέπετε which is repeated thrice in that verse. paul also includes the addressees in the emphatic ἡμεῖς in 3:3 when he proudly states: ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή, οἱ πνεύματι θεοῦ λατρεύοντες καὶ καυχώμενοι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες.
But beginning in 3:4, the focus is exclusively on paul. We see this in the use of the first person singular pronouns and in the first person singular verb forms which are present in 3:4-11. No other verb forms or pronouns are used in this section. in fact the use of the first person singular continues in 3:12-14. But in 3:13 paul addresses the philippians again with the vocative ἀδελφοί. in 3:15-16 the verb forms change again to include the addressees (see the hortative form of the first person plural subjunctive φρονῶμεν in 3:15b, the infinitive στοιχεῖν which is usually understood in the sense of a hortatory subjunctive and the second person plural form φρονεῖτε in 3:15c).
Finally, in 3:17-4:1 paul addresses the philippians emphatically at the beginning and at the end of the section. the whole section is mostly marked by verb forms in the second person plural and first person plural pronouns. the subsection begins with the appeal συμμιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, ἀδελφοί, … in 3:17 and concludes with the appeal οὕτως στήκετε ἐν κυρίῳ, ἀγαπητοί in 4:1. this last verse of our section is in fact marked as special by the fact that paul not only addresses the philippians as ἀδελφοί as in 3:13 and 17, but as ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοὶ καὶ ἐπιπόθητοι, perhaps the most emphatic of all the addresses in paul's letters 8 . then he adds the apposition χαρὰ καὶ στέφανός μου and at the end he repeats the vocative ἀγαπητοί. these pleonastic expressions of his love for the philippians motivate paul's appeal στήκετε ἐν κυρίῳ. this command to stand firm in the Lord in correlation with the command συμμιμηταί μου γίνεσθε in 3:17 is what paul actually wants to say in 3:1-4:1, everything else is in preparation and in service of this command. in the face of the opponents whom paul characterizes in very negative terms in 3:2 and 8 See U.B. Müller, Philipper, p. 185: "Der dringliche, ja beschwörende charakter des Schlußappells wird an der Häufung der Anreden sichtbar". 3:18-19 the apostle presents himself as an example (3:4-11), as someone to be imitated (3:16), so that the philippians will stand firm in the Lord.
in 3:4-11 paul gives a synthesis of his personal faith in christ: ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω 9 καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ, μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ νόμου ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ, τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, 10 τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ [τὴν] κοινωνίαν [τῶν] παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, συμμορφιζόμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ, 11 εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν (phil 3:8-11). After describing his prominent place as a circumcised member of the people of israel (3:4-6), paul speaks about the loss of everything he had before and the gain of christ (3:7-11). the gain paul saw in christ is more precisely described as knowing christ, as having, in christ, a righteousness that comes through faith, as knowing "the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death" (3:10). After giving this example 9 of his christ-centered faith, paul does not immediately add his command to imitate him. rather he first sees the need to protect what he had just said in 3:7-11 from being misunderstood when he says: "Not that i have already obtained this or have already reached the goal (phil 3:12 NrSV)." the subunit that begins here, namely 3:12-16, is the focus of the next section of our investigation.
the movement toward the goal that characterizes 3:12-14 is underlined by the fact that the object of the striving, the goal of the movement is not expressed before we reach 3:14. the verb forms ἔλαβον, διώκω and καταλάβω do not have objects in the Greek text (and in the KJV). the modern translations supply "all this" (NiV, tOB) or "this" (NrSV) and "it" (NJB) as objects. the absence of direct objects heightens the tension which is only resolved in the second use of διώκω in 3:14.
the prominent role of διώκω might remind the audience of the letter that in 3:6a paul had just used this verb when referring to himself as a persecutor of the church (κατὰ ζῆλος διώκων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν). With the threefold use of the verb διώκω in 3:6.12.14 we are introduced to paul's passionate striving for a particular goal. But the point is that the goal that paul is pursuing has changed. it is no longer the destruction of members of the church, but it is the call of God in christ Jesus. the image of the persecutor gives way to the athletic image of the runner in the stadium. the purpose is no longer to destroy the christ believers, but to reach the final goal of heavenly perfection. in 3:14 the prize of the runner is expressed in the words τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. With the majority of interpreters we understand the genitive τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως to be epexegetic explaining what the prize consists of 14 . ἄνω probably indicates the world of God, the heavenly sphere where this call will be accomplished. As such it is a call to perfection 15 in heaven 16 . in 3:12-14 the emphasis is on the need to strive for the goal and on the prize. However, when paul describes the prize as a calling (κλήσις), he undermines any temptation of meritorious thinking, as κλήσις introduces the idea of grace 17 .
in 3:15-16 paul gradually shifts the focus to the philippians. He begins by saying: ὅσοι οὖν τέλειοι, τοῦτο φρονῶμεν.·Here the question is in which sense paul uses the word τέλειος because of a potential tension with the use of τετελείωμαι in 3:12 where paul denies the idea of having reached the goal. Does paul, when using ὅσοι οὖν τέλειοι, actually refer to people who in fact have reached the goal 13 G. Friedrich, Philipper, p. 164: "Weil christus ihn auf die rennbahn gestellt hat, und er ihm den Kampfpreis vorhält, darum läuft der Apostel mit vollem einsatz seiner person nicht ins Ungewisse, sondern hat stets das ziel vor Augen. er will den Siegespreis erringen …, nämlich die himmlische Berufung, die von Gott kommt und die dem Glaubenden als reiner Gnadenakt in Jesus christus zuteil wird." 14 cf. J. Gnilka,Philipperbrief,p. 200. 15 Here we follow J. Gnilka who speaks of a "ruf zur Vollendung" (J. Gnilka,Philipperbrief,p. 200). 16 See also 3:20: ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει. 17 cf. G. Friedrich, Philipper, p. 163: "Die Gerechtigkeit aus Glauben schließt nicht aus, sondern erfordert, daß man mit ganzer Hingabe das vorgehaltene ziel im Auge behält, um das zu erlangen, was christus geben will. Die rechtfertigung ist wohl ein gegenwärtiges Geschehen, aber ihre endrealisierung steht durchaus noch aus, wie paulus es wiederholt in futurischen Sätzen andeutet". or people who erroneously think or claim to have reached the goal? 18 the shift to the second person plural φρονεῖτε in 3:15c suggests that in 3:15b the first person plural φρονῶμεν is a rhetorical device by which paul is mainly thinking of the addressees, but includes himself to make it sound less confronting. if that is the case, then it is possible to understand ὅσοι οὖν τέλειοι to mean: "whoever [of us] therefore thinks to have reached the goal [but in fact has not]." With τοῦτο φρονῶμεν paul wants all those who consider themselves to have reached the goal (whether among the philippians or the opponents) to consider what he had just said in 3:12-14 (we understand τοῦτο as anaphoric 19 ), namely the fact that even paul realizes and acknowledges that he himself has not yet reached the goal (3:12b) 20 .

AtHLetic iMAGeS iN pHiL 3:12-16
So after having analyzed phil 3:12-16, we are in a better position to make an attempt to understand its deeper meaning. Because of the elliptic nature of the text, such an attempt will always remain even more uncertain than the constitutive uncertainty of any interpretation of texts. in 3:12 the section opens with Οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον. As we already mentioned, the verb does not have an explicit object. Many options have been discussed. the main question is whether one looks for the object in the preceding or in the following text. those who look for the object in what follows, find it in τὸ βραβεῖον in 3:14 and therefore assume that with ἔλαβον the athletic imagery begins. But the question is how the hearers of this letter, or even the first time readers, could have known what paul was going to say in the following verses. therefore one might prefer to supply the unexpressed direct object of ἔλαβον from the immediately preceding text: τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ [τὴν] κοινωνίαν [τῶν] παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, συμμορφιζόμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ, 11 εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν (3:10-11). paul's new goal which made him regard everything else as loss (3:7) was to gain christ (ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω) and to participate in his suffering and resurrection (cf. 3:10). After telling his addressees about this goal in 3:7-11, in 3:12-16 paul obviously wants to emphasize that he has not yet attained this goal, but is still pursuing it.
While in the context it is most likely that the hearers (or readers) will understand 3:12-13 in this way, there remains an uncertainty which stems from the fact that the verbs in 3:12 do not have any expressed object, not even a pronoun. this raises the curiosity of the members of the audience who hope that the riddle will be solved in the continuation of the text and who will not be disappointed when they reach 3:14.
the verbs λαμβάνω, διώκω and καταλαμβάνω in 3:12-13 do not connote athletics in and of themselves nor in light of the preceding context. 21 Maybe this even has to be said for the use of ἐπεκτείνομαι at the end of 3:13 22 . the meaning "stretch out", "reach for" fits within the network of verbs used before. An indisputable reference to athletics only appears in 3:14, when paul uses the noun τὸ βραβεῖον, generally accepted as an agonistic terminus technicus 23 . the only other place where this noun occurs in the Nt is in 1 cor 9:24 in an even more explicitly athletic context. in phil 3:14 τὸ βραβεῖον is used in a prepositional phrase qualifying the verb διώκω which had already been used earlier without an explicitly athletic connotation. it seems likely that as a consequence of the use of τὸ βραβεῖον also the noun σκοπός at the beginning of 3:14 takes on an athletic connotation and points to the marker at the end of the race track which indicates the finish line, the goal toward which the runners are oriented 24 . in exegetical literature we encounter attempts to even understand ἡ ἄνω κλήσις as an agonistic term referring to the herald's calling the winning athletes up to the podium where they would receive the crown 25 . this interpretation is based on several uncertainties not the least the fact that we do not know for sure where the crowning of the winners actually happened. the noun ἡ κλήσις has strong theological connotations in other pauline contexts and is likely to best be understood along those lines, even if in phil 3:14 ἡ κλήσις exceptionally refers to the heavenly sphere and not to a calling for an earthly task.
We suggest that after the athletic context has been established in 3:14, it becomes necessary to note that this might make the listener (and even more so the reader) reconsider the interpretation of the immediately preceding form ἐπεκτεινόμενος. this verb then might refer to running fast and to the backward and forward movement of the hands 26 . it has been discussed whether the verb is to be understood as a reference to the moment of reaching the goal, or as more recent authors have tried to suggest to the first phase of the race. What paul has said since 3:12 does not suggest that he is close to reaching the goal. On the other hand the reference to "what lies behind" and "what lies ahead" in 3:13 discourages the idea of paul being close to either the starting or the finishing position. However, this also depends on what paul might be referring to when using these metaphors. is he thinking of "what lies behind" as his past before the Damascus experience or the early years after the Damascus experience? What are the things that paul wants to actively, consciously overlook or forget? this verb might in a second movement after hearing 3:14 take on a meaning which comes from the athletic context where looking back and thinking back is disadvantageous for the competing for the prize.
As we saw above, 3:12-14 is a text full of movement. At the beginning in 3:12-13 the goal of this movement remains somewhat unclear, even though the audience will spontaneously supply "to gain christ" (3:8) and "to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings" as the goal. As the listeners or readers of 3:12-14 move through the text, they begin to realize that the goal is the heavenly calling of God in christ Jesus and that since 3:12a the verbs might have had an athletic connotation. cONcLUSiON Scholars do not agree as to the presence or extent of athletic imagery in phil 3:12-14 nor is there any consensus as to what its theological significance might be. Our investigation in this short study has brought to the fore that paul uses the athletic imagery of a runner striving for the prize in a text where he emphasizes that he himself, despite his single-minded option for christ (3:7-8), has not reached the goal of his life as a christ follower. in this context athletic imagery offers several advantages to paul. it allows him to focus on the efforts of the athlete to reach the goal and the prize and to remind the addressees that since the goal is worthwhile the efforts to reach it are equally valuable. in addition it also allows him to emphasize that the goal has not yet been reached, but can be reached if the necessary efforts are undertaken. At the same time, in 3:14 paul adapts the athletic imagery by counterbalancing the effort -reward scheme that is inherent in the athletic world with the scheme of giving -receiving (grace) in explaining the price as a heavenly calling. paul does not use the athletic images in an attempt to spiritualize human efforts in the scheme of salvation, but the athletic images help him to concretize the very much needed efforts in striving for the goal of heavenly perfection. in paul's theology the christ event and the implied salvation are usually seen to refer to the cross and resurrection of christ. With the athletic imagery paul is able to introduce the idea of being fixed on a goal to be reached in the future and a prize to be attained in the time to come.
in 3:12-16 paul strongly reminds his readers of the "not yet" (οὐκ ἤδη) of salvation in christ despite the important past salvation events connected to the life of christ and his own life. the goal is not yet reached for anyone, not even for paul who presents himself as an example to be imitated. "paul's goal is never realized in the present, but always lies in the future" 27 . By means of the use of athletic imagery paul is able to supplement the interest in the past of the earthly Jesus by an emphasis on the future-orientedness of the message he is preaching and living.
S ł o w a k l u c z o w e: Nowy testament, egzegeza biblijna, List do Filipian, paweł, Listy pawłowe, język atletyczny. "… StriViNG FOr tHe prize": tHe tHeOLOGicAL SiGNiFicANce OF AtHLetic LANGUAGe iN pHiLippiANS 3:12-16 Summary this study focuses on potential athletic language in phil 3:12-16. the main focus is the question what the assumption of the presence of athletic language in this text contributes to understanding it and especially its theological meaning better. the study consists of three parts. in part 1, the author analyses the preceding and the subsequent context of phil 3:12-16 joining the defenders of a concentric structure: 3:1-11 (A), 3:12-16 (B), 3:17-4:1 (A'). the two framing sections (A and A') focus on the opposition between paul and his opponents, but the main point is paul's command to the philippian addressees to "stand firm in the Lord". part 2 contains a brief exegetical analysis of 3:12-16. Our analysis focuses on the most important words (gaining/attaining; movement; thinking) and the goal of heavenly perfection with which they are connected. in the third part we analyse the potential athletic images in 3:12-16 which finds its "anchor point" in the noun τὸ βραβεῖον in 3:14. Based on the acceptance of this noun as an agonistic terminus technicus, other verbs and nouns which are not in and of themselves referring to athletics are interpreted as having an athletic meaning in our context. the study concludes with the caution that paul counterbalances the "effort-reward scheme" of athletic language with the "giving-receiving scheme" of his call language. in this way, paul introduces an emphasis on the future-orientedness of the message which is characteristic of his preaching and living.
K e y w o r d s: New testament, biblical exegesis, philippians, paul, letters of the apostle paul, athletic language.