Philippians 3:12-14 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after… We go into a sculptor's studio, and there stands a block of marble on which the sculptor is working; the marble is all white and pure, yet the image is imperfect; the hand is beginning to beckon, the foot to move, thought is gathering on the brow, the lips seem as if they would soon speak, yet the statue is still imperfect; nothing faulty in the material, but it is not yet wrought into the fulness of the sculptor's ideal. So it was with the apostle; the vicious element was purged, but his deep soul had not yet been wrought into the fulness of the Divine ideal. He went out after larger measures, intenser experiences of love, power, light, fellowship, and blessedness, beyond all his past or present enjoyments. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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