What Does Philippians 3:12 Mean?
Not that I have already taken hold, or have already been made complete. But I pursue, if somehow I may seize that for which I was also seized by Jesus the Anointed One.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.THE KEY
The purpose you are reaching for is already the reason Christ Jesus has reached for you.
THE MEANING
You are not yet at the goal, but you are already within Christ Jesus’ grasp, moving toward the purpose of that grasp. Your unfinishedness and your being claimed are both true at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must already be complete for Christ Jesus to have taken hold of you.
THE ROOT
καταλάβω
katalabō
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take or receive; in καταλαμβάνω, the compound carries the force of laying hold, overtaking, or grasping.
“seize” in this verse is katalabō. The same verb describes both Christ Jesus taking hold of you and your reaching to take hold of the purpose. What looks like a one-way pursuit in English is a movement that begins with an prior grasp.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take; receive.
λαμβάνω
This core verb holds taking and receiving together, opening a sense of pursuit that begins with what has already been received.
paralambanō: Receive; take along.
παραλαμβάνω
This related form carries the same taking-and-receiving root into the idea of something being taken into one’s company.
τετελείωμαι
teteleiōmai
GROWS FROM
τελε-
tele-
Bring to completion; bring to an intended end or goal.
“made complete” in this verse is teteleiōmai. Here, ‘perfect’ carries the sense of being brought to completion or to the goal. The verse holds that goal in view while plainly saying it has not yet been reached.
ALSO GROWS
telos: End; goal.
τέλος
The goal is the destination already shaping the pursuit.
teleios: Complete; mature.
τέλειος
This related word shows how completion can mean reaching maturity or the intended end.
διώκω
diōkō
GROWS FROM
διωκ-
diōk-
Pursue; chase after.
“pursue” in this verse is diōkō. This is pursuit with the force of a chase, not a vague wish to improve. Earlier in this chapter, the same verb names the speaker’s ‘persecuting’ pursuit; here that force is directed toward the purpose that has already taken hold of him.
ALSO GROWS
diōgmos: Persecution; pursuit.
διωγμός
The noun preserves the forceful chase inside the verse’s word for pursuit.
diōktēs: Pursuer; persecutor.
διώκτης
The related noun names the one who pursues, showing how much force the verb carries.
THE PATTERN
The path you pursue grows from a prior claim and calling.
But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and who shaped you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have bought you back; I have called you by your name; you are mine.You did not pick me out, but I picked you out and set you, that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my nature, he may give you.For we are his making, created in the Anointed One, Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that in them we might walk.THE THREAD
Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, yet only one takes hold of the prize? Run in this way, so that you may seize it.The word translated ‘obtain’ is the same Greek verb rendered ‘apprehend’ here. In both verses, pursuit reaches to take hold of its goal; Philippians adds that this goal is already bound to the one who first took hold of you.
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