considered as one resurrection, by reason of the xoivuvia, fellow ship. After the mention of the resurrection, he brings in some things suited to his own present state, and interweaves the rest [of the discussion of the resurrection] at ver. 20, 21.
12. Ou;/ or/, not that., not as though) In his highest fervour, the apostle does not let go his spiritual sobriety. — sXa/Sov, / had received [attained]) the prize. — rsT-sAs/w^a/) rsXsiog and rsrsAg/w- ,usvos differ. The former is applied to the man fully fit for run ning, ver. 15, 16 ; the latter to him who is nearest to the prize, at the very point of receiving [attaining] it.1 — xa,} %ara\a(Bu) Kat, even, is intensive ; for xaraXce^/Sayw, to apprehend (compre- hendere), is more than Xa/A/Savw, to take hold of (prehendere) : happdvziv, to take hold of, is done at the moment when the last step has been made ; xaT-aXa/^Savs/v, to apprehend, is done when the man is in full possession. There is an example of one " on the very point of receiving" [attaining] at 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 [Ps. Ixxiii. 23, 28].— y u, since [but Engl. Yers. that for which']) The perception of the power of Christ influences the Christian. — %«/ xargX«5p07ji/, I have been also apprehended) by a heavenly calling, ver. 14 ; Acts [ix. 6] xxvi. 14, 19 ; 2 Cor. v. 14. Christ, the author and finisher [consummator], when He consummated His own * race' of faith, also consummates His people, Heb. xii. 2 ; where the very appellation, df>wyou, prince (author), implies His relation to His followers. Ka/, also, is again intensive, so that the force of the first aorist [" I am apprehended"] may be ob served denoting the present state of the apostle.
13. 'Ade\<pol, brethren) He makes his confession in a familiar manner. — l^w,/) Others might easily think this of Paul. — ou Xoy/- fypai, I count not) It is proper for the saints, and conducive to their activity, to consider themselves inferior to what they really are.
hereafter attaining the I%otveurroiais9 Rom. viii. 11. This word probably implies the rising of the saints first out of the rest of the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 23 ; Rev. xx. 5. 'E^avaaTxaig is nowhere else found in N. T. — ED.
1 TgAg/o? means often not absolutely perfect, but one having attained the full limit of stature, strength, etc., which constitute the man's rtAof, opposed to ytoi or nettles, youths or children. See 1 Cor. ii. 6. So Paul here, ver. 15, claims to be Tfrtiog, fully established in the things of God, no longer a babe in Christ. Yet in ver. 12 he denies that he is as yet rtT^tiupii/os (a race-course expression), i.e. crowned with the garland of victory, his course completed, and perfection absolutely reached. See Trench Syn. — ED.