What does it mean to forget what lies behind?

Explanation:

Paul says that he forgets what is behind and strains forward to what is ahead. So what is behind that Paul forgets? According to the context, it is likely that Paul has in mind his past life as a Pharisee, along with his achievements as an apostle.⁴ In the verses preceding Philippians 3:13, Paul refers to both his past life as a zealous Pharisee and persecutor of the church (Philippians 3:5–8),⁵ as well as the fact that he has not fully obtained Christ (Philippians 3:12). Now, Paul does not specifically state what he has left behind, but it seems obvious that he forgets his past as a zealous Pharisee and persecutor of the church. Further, given that he has not already obtained Christ, he may also have in mind his achievements as an apostle. That is, he has achieved much as an apostle of Christ, but he willingly admits that he has not fully obtained Christ. Thus, when Paul says he forgets what is behind, he has in mind his past life as a Pharisee and his achievements as an apostle.

Counterargument: The problem here is that according to the immediate context, Paul has in mind his life as a believer, not his former life as a persecutor of the church.⁶ Beginning with Philippians 3:8, Paul counts his past life as refuse, in order that he may gain Christ, suffer for his sake, and know the power of the resurrection. He then explains that he has not yet obtained all that is involved in the Christian life (Philippians 3:12), but he presses on to make Christ his own. Finally, Paul says he forgets what lies behind and strains toward what is ahead. Clearly, forgetting what is behind is related to Philippians 3:8–12, which has to do with his life as a Christian.

Response to counterargument:

It is not at all clear that Paul’s train of thought in Philippians 3:5–12 can be cleanly segregated into Paul’s pre- and post-Christian experiences. For he is explaining that he gladly leaves behind his pre-Christian experience for his post-Christian experience, which implies that both experiences are top of Paul’s mind. Thus, when Paul says he forgets his past, he likely means that he forgets both his life as a Pharisee and whatever he has accomplished as an apostle.

Explanation:

In this section, Paul uses the imagery of a runner competing in a race to emphasize that he has not yet obtained everything the Christian life entails. Paul’s point is that he leaves all distractions behind, as he strains toward the goal of knowing Christ. Interestingly, when Paul says he forgets what lies behind, this is likely a parting shot at the Philippians who think that Torah observance should be prioritized. That Philippians 3:13 is a parting shot implies that what lies behind for Paul is his past as a Pharisee who thought he could advance through Torah observance.⁷ We can detect that Paul likely lobs a parting shot at the Philippians because in Philippians 3:2 he warns the Philippians to look out for the dogs and mutilators of the flesh, likely referring to the Judaizers. The Philippians may have been attracted to the Judaizers’ teachings, so Paul points out that for him, things like justification through Torah observance are forgotten. Thus, when he says he forgets what is behind, he says that as a good runner, he is no longer distracted by things like Torah observance for the sake of advancement, implying that the Philippians should follow suit.

Counterargument:

This view has it that Paul lobs parting shots at the Philippians. That is, in Philippians 3:13 he makes a disparaging remark about the Philippians related to their desire to observe the Torah. There are two problems with this argument. First, it is not clear from the fact that Paul warns against the Judaizers that the Philippians think they can make advancements based on Torah observance. Rather, all we can conclude is that the teachings of the Judaizers posed some threat to the Philippians, and Paul warns against their teaching. Second, we know from Paul’s letter to the churches at Galatia that if the Philippians were attracted to the teachings of the Judaizers, Paul would not offer disparaging parting shots, but would correct them directly. Paul is a serious pastor and teacher who cares for his flock, so instead of disparaging remarks, he would explicitly point out the Philippians’ false ideas and correct them.

The one weakness of this view is that it says that Paul has both his past sins and accomplishments as an apostle in mind. The problem is that, while it is obvious that Paul would want to forget his past sins, it is not clear why he would want to forget his accomplishments as an apostle. For Paul knows that these accomplishments are due to the power of God, and reflecting on them would seem to encourage Paul to continue enthusiastically in his work.

Explanation:

When Paul says that he forgets what is behind, we have to understand what he means according to the immediate context. According to the immediate context, Paul has in mind the fact that he has not yet fully known Christ.⁸ In Philippians 3:10, Paul says he wants to know Christ and in Philippians 3:12 he says he has not already obtained all this. In other words, he has not already obtained his goal of fully knowing Christ. Thus, Paul continues by saying he forgets what lies behind in the sense that he forgets his past accomplishments as an apostle, and strains forward that he might reach his goal of fully knowing Christ.⁹

Counterargument:

It’s hard to see why remembering his past achievements as an apostle would prevent Paul from reaching his goal of fully knowing Christ. In other words, why should Paul specifically forget what he had accomplished in his apostolic ministry in order to reach the goal of knowing Christ? Intuitively, recalling the successes God brought to him as an apostle would only encourage Paul to continue striving forward.

Response to counterargument:

The notion here is not that Paul never remembers anything about his past achievements as an apostle, but he does not dwell on them. For instance, Paul had many memorable experiences with Christ, but he does not reminisce over these now that he is stuck in prison, as though his past Christian life was more glorious than his current state.¹⁰ Rather, generally speaking, he continually leaves his past behind because he is intent on striving toward that final goal.

Explanation:

Paul describes the Christian life using athletic imagery. Specifically, he imagines himself as a runner in a race, who will not be distracted by what lies behind as he strives toward what is ahead.¹¹ Interestingly, he uses athletic imagery in other passages, and when he does, such imagery has to do with his apostolic service.¹² For instance, in Philippians 2:16 he calls the Philippians to hold fast to the word of life so that he would not be found to have run in vain. In other words, he compares his shepherding of the Philippians to running a race. Further, in 1 Corinthians 9:24–26 he encourages the Corinthians by explaining that athletes exercise self-control, and that he does not run aimlessly. Given that he uses athletic imagery in Philippians 3:13, and that he uses it in other places to describe his apostolic service, forgetting what is behind has to do with forgetting what he has accomplished as an apostle.

Counterargument:

There are two problems with this view. First, it is not clear from the examples given that every time Paul uses athletic imagery, he has in mind his apostolic ministry. In particular, when he encourages the Corinthians to look to the athlete who has self-control, he is using athletic imagery to encourage the congregation in Corinth to be more self-controlled. Thus, he uses athletic imagery in relation to something other than his apostolic ministry. Second, even if he uses athletic imagery in each instance in relation to his apostolic imagery, this does not mean that he uses athletic imagery in the same way in Philippians 3:13. There is no rule from Paul where he states that whenever he uses athletic imagery, he will only use it in relation to his apostolic service. Rather, we need to look to the context to understand how he uses the imagery and why. In the case of Philippians 3:13, he seems to use it not in relation to his apostolic service but to encourage the Philippians. For after explaining that he forgets what is behind and strains ahead to win the prize, he calls those who are mature to have the same mind. Thus, that he uses athletic imagery to say that he forgets what is behind, does not imply that what he forgets has to do with his apostolic ministry, because sometimes he uses athletic imagery in relation to things other than his apostolic ministry.

The weakness of this view is that it is simply not clear that Paul has apostolic success in mind at all in this section. He says he has not yet obtained Christ, and that he suffers for the gospel, but he does not say anything about his successes as an apostle. Why should we think that when he says he forgets what is behind, he has apostolic success in mind? Unfortunately, this view does not give us an answer to this question.