d of bringing gain, would have cut him off before he
had reached the standard of saintship needed to secure that prize! For
his words are explicit. 'Not as though I had already attained.'

"Here was one who was not a whit behind the chiefest Apostles; who
excelled them all in labors and sufferings for his Lord, and in the
visions and revelations accorded to him; whose prolonged ministry,
moreover, was accredited by mighty signs and wonders, by the power of
the spirit of God. And yet, being now 'such an one as Paul the aged,'
he was in doubt whether he should have part in that resurrection which
he had taught all his Corinthian converts to hope for and expect.

"Such is the exposition of the Apostle's teaching in many a standard
commentary. And yet the passage which is thus perverted reaches its
climax in the words, 'Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we are
looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew
the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His
glory.'

"'Our citizenship is in heaven.' Here is the clew to the teaching of
the whole passage. The truth to which his words refer is more clearly
stated in Ephesians ii:6, 'God has quickened us together with Christ,
and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ.' More clearly still is it given in Colossians
iii:1-3, 'If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things
that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set
your mind on the things that are above, not on the things on the earth.
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.'

"Ephesians and Colossians, be it remembered, were written at the same
period of his ministry as Philippians, and in the light of these
Scriptures we can read this chapter aright. To win Christ (v. 8), or
to apprehend, or lay hold of, that for which he had been laid hold of,
or apprehended (v. 12)--or in other words, to realize practically in
his life on earth what was true of him doctrinally as to his standing
before God in heaven--this is what he was reaching toward, and what he
says he had not already attained.

"The high calling of verse 14 is interpreted by some to mean Christ's
calling up His own to meet Him in the air (a blessing assured to all
'who are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord'), but this is
not in keeping with the plain words: God's high calling in Christ
Jesus, _i. e._, w