Philippians / Question
Paul describes pressing on toward the goal for “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”: Philippians 3:14. The statement follows his description of forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead: Philippians 3:13.
In Philippians 3:12–14, Paul says he has not yet reached the finish line of what he seeks, and he is not claiming to be fully complete. Instead, he keeps pushing forward because he believes Christ first took hold of him for a purpose. Paul describes his focus as leaving behind what lies in the past and straining toward what is ahead. This paragraph comes inside Paul’s personal account of rethinking his life and aims in light of Christ (3:7–11). He has just spoken about wanting to know Christ and share in his sufferings and resurrection hope, and he immediately clarifies that he is not presenting himself as having already arrived.
Paul presents his own life with Christ as unfinished. He explicitly says he has not “obtained” what he is aiming at and is not yet “made perfect” (verses 12–13). At the same time, he describes sustained effort: he “presses on” and uses athletic language (verses 12, 14).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Philippians 3:14, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
14I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.