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.
Paul wrote this letter from prison to a church he deeply loved in Philippi, a Roman colony in what is now northern Greece. Just before this verse, Paul lists his impressive religious credentials — strict upbringing, elite training, zeal, law-keeping — then says he counts all of it as worthless compared to knowing Christ. Here he steps back from any suggestion that he's arrived or has it figured out. He hasn't obtained everything yet. He hasn't been made perfect. But he keeps moving forward. The phrase 'that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me' is striking: Paul is saying that before he ever chose Christ, Christ chose him — on the road to Damascus, in a blinding flash of light, when Paul was still actively persecuting Christians. His entire pursuit of God is now chasing the One who already caught him first.
Jesus, thank you that you grabbed hold of me before I knew to reach for you. On the days when my grip feels weak, remind me that yours never is. I want to keep moving toward you — not out of fear of falling short, but because you are worth every step. Amen.
Paul was not a modest man. He'd argued before kings, planted churches across the Roman Empire, and written what would become a significant portion of the New Testament. If anyone had grounds to feel like he'd mastered the spiritual life, it was him. And yet here, in one of his most personal letters, he says it plainly: not yet. Still pressing. Still going. There's something almost startling about that kind of honesty from someone so accomplished — and something deeply relieving. But the real surprise is buried at the end of the verse. Paul doesn't just say he's chasing God. He says he's chasing the One who *already caught him.* The initiative wasn't his. The pursuit started before he turned around. If you've ever felt like your faith is held together mostly by your own effort — your discipline, your consistency, your willpower to keep showing up on the days when it all feels thin — this verse quietly pulls the rug out from under that anxiety. You are not running after something indifferent to whether you catch it. You are being drawn toward Someone who grabbed hold of you first. Press on. Not to earn anything. Because you've already been found.
What does it mean to you that Christ 'took hold' of Paul before Paul ever chose him — and how does that change the way you understand your own faith story?
Where in your spiritual life do you feel genuinely alive and moving forward — and where have you quietly gone still?
Paul openly admits he hasn't arrived yet, even after everything he's experienced. Why is that kind of honesty rare among Christians, and what would change if it were more common?
How does knowing that Christ pursued *you* first affect the way you think about people in your life who seem far from faith?
What would 'pressing on' look like for you in a very specific, practical sense this week — not as pressure or obligation, but as genuine forward movement?
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
Psalms 138:8
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
1 Timothy 6:11
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2 Peter 1:5
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Hosea 6:3
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:8
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,
Philippians 3:13
Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
1 Peter 3:11
Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.
AMP
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
ESV
Not that I have already obtained [it] or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
NASB
Pressing on Toward the Goal Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
NIV
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
NKJV
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
NLT
I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.
MSG