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THE THIRD STEP. THE PRIZE ITSELF
The figure of a race, a conflict with a crown or prize at the end is used by the Apostle in more places than one. If this "prize" is something for which we
have been apprehended by Christ, then if for no other reason, than to please Him, we should get to know what it is and how it may be obtained. While it is right for every believer to sing:
"Not for weight of glory, not for crown or palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior's psalm
But for love that claimeth, lives for
whom He died,"
It is also right for every believer to believe what God has said regarding "the prize" that is attached to our "High Calling," as it is right that we
should understand the High Calling itself. When one has perceived the riches of grace that characterize the calling of the Mystery, there is a temptation which is very strong, to put out the
hand to save the ark of God, and to deny the possibility of "reward" in the Prison Epistles at all, lest by so doing the character of unmerited grace should be impaired. While
sympathizing with this regard for grace, we must nevertheless resist it, for we have a higher regard for "truth" of which grace is a part, and truth demands that we shall allow a rightful
place in the dispensation of the Mystery to the undiluted meaning of "crown," "prize" and "reward."
Let us turn to the epistle to the Colossians, an epistle which
stresses the fact of the believer's "completeness" in Christ, and observe what it says concerning this aspect of revealed truth.
First, in chapter 2 the Apostle gives a warning
against that attitude of mind, that "beguiles of the reward."
"Let no man beguile you of your reward." The word that demands attention here is katabrabeuo. Kata means "against," and brabeuo means to be a judge or umpire, and so to assign the prize in a public game. Brabeuo occurs in Colossians 3:15 where the peace of God is said to "act the umpire (rule) in your hearts," a precious thought. Brabeion is a prize. It is found in 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:14, "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." We are, therefore, not without guidance as to the subject of this section. It has to do with the prize. Now Colossians, whilst running very parallel with Ephesians, has much in its central section that bears upon Philippians. Philippians is the epistle of the "prize" and the "perfecting," and if we look at Colossians 1 we shall find under the idea of being "presented" the two aspects of truth set forth by Ephesians and Philippians. We shall distinguish between that which can never be lost, and that which may be lost, and return to Colossians 2 with clearer views:
The first presentation.
"In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Col. 1:22).
The second presentation.
"Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col. 1:28).
The first presentation rests solely upon the finished work of Christ; the second involves the idea which is found in the word "perfect," of pressing on to the
end. In the first no effort of our own could ever present us "holy;" in the second we stand in need of "warning."
Satan does not waste his energies in attempting to
deprive us of our acceptance in the Beloved. "Your life is hid with Christ in God." Scripture nowhere says: "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take away thy life"
but it does say: "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev. 3:11). Satan was permitted to touch everything belonging to Job except his life.
The
same is true of all the redeemed. There is a prize to be won, a crown to be gained, but no man is crowned, except he strive lawfully. If, therefore, Satan can turn the saint away from the
fullness of Christ, and get him occupied with other means and ways, be they ordinances, days, feasts, meats, drinks, false humility, neglect of the body, unscriptural mediators, or any other thing
save "holding the Head," then the prize is lost, the saint dishonoured, and above all the Saviour robbed, for what is a crown to us, but an added crown to Him?
"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart , fearing God: and whatsoever ye
do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons" (Col. 3:22-25).
"The reward of the inheritance." In this phrase is the key to the Apostle's object in writing the epistle. The Colossian believers, being
members of the Body of Christ, were already potentially "seated together in heavenly places in Christ;" already "accepted in the Beloved;" already sure of their presentation,
"holy and unblameable and unreproveable" in the sight of God. Already the Apostle had said, "giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12).
Words cannot make clearer the assured position of the believer nor the completeness of this acceptance. Nevertheless, before the chapter is finished we have found Paul "warning" and "teaching" that he may "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus," and also at the close of the epistle we find Epaphras praying for the selfsame thing (Col. 4:12). As it is evident that neither Paul nor Epaphras have any doubt that what has already been written of the saints as to standing in Colossians 1:12, 13 and 22 remains unalterably true; it becomes necessary to distinguish between the common "inheritance of the saints in light," for which all believers have been made meet, and "the reward" attaching to that inheritance, which was associated with individual faithfulness. That is the "prize attached to the high calling" which, as in Philippians 3, is associated with "perfecting" (Col. 1:28, 4:12).
We must distinguish between that "holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable" position which is ours because of the offering of "the body of His flesh through death," and the possibility of being blamed and reproved for the things done in service. If we "try the things that differ," we shall see that "hope" is on a basis of pure unalloyed grace, which excludes all possibility of either gain or loss, running or serving; and that the "prize" is on a basis of reward, given only to those who strive lawfully. Knowing these distinctions we shall be saved a multitude of vexations, and moreover not be found false witnesses of God, for without doubt, He teaches us that membership of the One Body and participation in its one hope is entirely outside the range of attainment on our part. And with equal certainty He assures us that the prize of the high calling, the reward of the inheritance, and the crown of righteousness, fall within the category of attainment. True, nothing but grace will avail, but it is grace used.
The reason for the Apostle's assurance that our life is hid with Christ in God, is that we might know that life is not in question. He does not say in Colossians 2:18, let no man beguile
you of your life, or membership, or position: These are never in question. But he does echo the words of another dispensation and say, "take heed, that no man
take your crown."
The word translated "wrong" in Colossians 3:25 is translated "hurt" in Revelation, where it speaks of being "hurt of the second
death." Reward or forfeiture belong to both contexts. (See MILLENNIAL STUDIES.)
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 the Apostle enlarges upon this figure of the race and the crown,
supplementing his own inspired figures by the "examples" provided by Israel in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:1-13). Grace is emphasized in the epistles of Paul written before Acts 28 as
an examination of Galations and Romans will demonstrate. No single chapter repudiates the flesh and its efforts more strongly than does 1 Corinthians, Chaper 1, yet the Apostle sees no
incongruity in stressing in the same epistle with equal emphasis the running of a race, the fact that only one receives the prize, and the necessity for discipline and temperance on the part of all
who enter the lists, with the final warning, that he himself could possibly become "disqualified" (adokimos 1 Cor. 9:27, not "castaway), even as with many of Israel even though redeemed out of Egypt the Lord was not "well pleased" (endokeo 1 Cor. 10:"5).
In the last epistle Paul wrote, he speaks not only of the association of "crown" and "running the race' in connection with himself, but applies the same principles to "all that love His appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8); at the same time he distinguishes very clearly between the unalterable position of those who "died with" Christ, as compared with the condition attached to "reigning with him" (2 Tim. 2:11-13). Life with Christ is one thing, reigning with Him is another.
We trust the passages which have been brought before our notice make it clear that the doctrine of Prize, Crown and Reward is by no means absent from the epistles of the Mystery. We can, therefore, return to the passage in Philippians 3, which speaks of the "prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," assured that we are examining a passage of Scripture that applies with undiminished force to ourselves.
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are
before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13, 14).
"Forgetting . . . I press." What things did the Apostle wish to "forget?" What things if remembered would hinder his running and spoil his
chances for the Prize? It cannot refer to the fact that Paul was once a Pharisee and an enemy of the Gospel, for this is remembered with deep appreciation of grace in 1 Timothy 1:11-16, and
urged upon the remembrance of Timothy himself in 2 Timothy 1:3; 3:10-14. In Hebrews 12, in connection with "running the race that is set before us" the Apostle urged his readers to
"lay aside every weight," which turns us back to Hebrews 6 where he says, "leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." The Hebrews were
hindering their ability to run the race that was set before them, and to go on unto perfection, by clinging to the doctrines and practices of a dispensation that had passed,.
So, even although
the Philippians were called to salvation and the preaching recorded in Acts 16, and referred to in Philippians 4:15, they must nevertheless beware of bringing over from the Pentecostal dispensation
which had now fallen into abeyance, doctrines and practices which were once right and proper, but now obsolete and hindrances. They must "forget the things which are behind."
For the Apostle himself, the things that were "behind" would embrace all that he had counted loss for Christ's sake, and for each one of us, there will be a similar and personal
assessment that we alone can make. From the prison where the Apostle was held on the Palatine Hill at Rome (Phil. 1:13) he would hear the shouting and the cheering of the multitudes as they
encouraged their favorite charioteers in the circus maximus. Paul, though a prisoner, was also a charioteer, he too had a "mark," he, too, "stretched himself forward"
as the racer did in the tests.
Clement of Rome, who is probably the same person as is mentioned in Philippians 4:3, associates the "prize" brabeion, with Paul's Apostolic career. "St. Paul (he says) gained the brabeion of endurance, having worn chains seven times for Christ (probably an allusion to the seven rounds of the race-course before the final run up of the mark)." From this Greek word for "prize" brabeion,
some think the English "bravo" is ultimately derived. Coming to the prize itself. Are we to understand the apostle to teach:
(1) The prize, that is to say, the high calling of God?
(2) The prize, that is to say, the upward call?
(3) The prize which is attached to the high calling of God?
If the Apostle is allowed to speak for himself, then the prize brabeion is equivalent with a crown, both words being used in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and both words being used in connection with a race of a conflict. Katabrabeuo is "to beguile of reward," A.V., "rob you of your reward" R.V. (Col. 2:18), and ho brabeus was the judge who assigned the prizes at the games, an umpire or an arbitrator. It is exceedingly difficult to find support from any passage of Paul's epistles, to suppose that the prize was itself the high calling. Just as "the reward of the inheritance" in Colossians 3:24, means the reward attached to an inheritance already assured by grace (Col. 1:12), so the prize of the high calling of God, means the prize which is attached to the high calling already received and entered by grace.
There is, however, an objection to be considered here. The word translated "high" is ano,
an adverb, and as adverbs qualify verbs, "calling" must be a verb, and if so, the passage means "the prize of the summons on high" and refers, say some, to a special
exemption from death granted to those who attain unto the out-resurrection. While it is true that ano is an adverb, it is not true that in Greek adverbs qualify verbs only, as can be demonstrated by the use of this very word in Paul's writings. "Jerusalem which is above" (Gal. 4:26), uses ano to qualify the noun Jerusalem; "seek those things which are above" uses the phrase ta-ano "the above things," so Philippains 3:14 employs ano to qualify the noun "calling." Klesis is not a verb and cannot be translated other than "a calling or vocation." It is used 11 times in the N.T. and 10 of the occurrences are found in Paul's epistles. Ephesians 1:18; 4:1,4 and 2 Timothy 1:9 will indicate the way the word is used by the Apostle.
It was Sir Robert Anderson who said, that those who translated Philippians 3:14 "the upward call," meaning a future "summons on high," rarely complete the quotation. Paul does not say "the prize of the high calling of God," what he says is "the prize of the high calling of God which is IN CHRIST JESUS." The out-resurrection segregates the believer who has obtained the prize, but is not itself the prize for which the Apostle was running. When at the last he could say "finished," he then speaks not in generic terms of a "prize" but in specific terms "a crown," which he also associates with "reigning together" in the second chapter of the same epistle (2 Tim. 2 and 4).
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The Prize
