f our humiliation shall be fashioned like unto the body of
Christ's glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to
subdue all things to Himself.'

THE RULE OF THE ROAD

'Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained,
let us walk by the same rule.'--PHIL. iii. 16.

Paul has just been laying down a great principle--viz. that if the main
direction of a life be right, God will reveal to a man the points in
which he is wrong. But that principle is untrue and dangerous, unless
carefully guarded. It may lead to a lazy tolerance of evil, and to
drawing such inferences as, 'Well! it does not much matter about
strenuous effort, if we are right at bottom it will all come right
by-and-by,' and so it may become a pillow for indolence and a clog on
effort. This possible abuse of a great truth seems to strike the
Apostle, and so he enters here, with this 'Nevertheless,' a _caveat_
against that twist of his meaning. It is as if he said, 'Now mind! while
all that is perfectly true, it is true on conditions; and if they be not
attended to, it is not true.' God will reveal to a man the things in
which he is wrong if, and only if, he steadfastly continues in the
course which he knows and sees to be right. Present attainments, then,
are in some sense a standard of duty, and if we honestly and
conscientiously observe that standard we shall get light as we journey.
In this exhortation of the Apostle's there are many exhortations wrapped
up; and in trying to draw them out I venture to adhere to the form of
exhortation for the sake of impressiveness and point.

I. First, then, I would say the Apostle means, 'Live up to your faith
and your convictions.'

It may be a question whether 'that to which we have already attained'
means the amount of knowledge which we have won or the amount of
practical righteousness which we have made our own. But I think that,
instead of sharply dividing between these two, we shall follow more in
the course of the Apostle's thought if we unite them together, and
remember that the Bible does not make the distinct separation which we
sometimes incline to make between knowledge on the one side and practice
on the other, but regards the man as a living unity. And thus, both
aspects of our attainments come into consideration here.

So, then, there are two main thoughts--first, live out your creed, and
second, live up to your convictions.

Live out your creed. Men are meant