OET interlinear PHP 3:14

3:14a

I press on: This is the same Greek word as Paul used in 3:12c. See note there. In terms of the race metaphor here, the phrase press on means to keep on running. Paul was comparing himself to a determined runner, going toward his goal and not looking back. What he meant was that he continued trying, to work hard to become more like Christ.

goal: The Greek word that the BSB translates as goal means the “aim, end, object” of something. In the race metaphor, it refers to the finish line which each runner is trying to be the first to cross. But here Paul was probably referring to the thing he had been talking about in 3:10–13. His aim or goal was to become completely like Christ. This would include knowing him completely.

prize: A prize is a reward for winning a race or doing something well. The next note discusses what this prize was.

3:14b

of God’s heavenly calling: It is not clear how this clause connects back to “the prize” mentioned in 3:14a. There are two main possibilitiesThere is a third possibility. The following is a comment by Dick Elkins:“Can it be that the prize was going to heaven? God must call someone to heaven before he can receive the prize. But if going to heaven was the prize, then it would seem that Paul was implying that salvation is the result not of faith alone but of faith plus extreme persistence. In the Word Biblical Commentary Hawthorne remarks:‘In keeping with the vivid imagery drawn from the Greek games that pervades this section there is still another explanation that seems the most reasonable explanation of all. It sees in the Greek expression tēs anō klēseōs “the upward call” an allusion to the fact that the Olympian games, which included foot races, were organized and presided over by…highly respected officers, called Hellenokidai. After each event they had a herald announce the name of the victor, his father’s name and his country, and the athlete would come and receive a palm branch at their hands. This is the call to which Paul was here alluding. Such an explanation as this has the virtue of not identifying “the upward call” with the prize, and allows the force of the context to determine what Paul had in mind when he spoke of that prize. For him it was to be found “in Christ,” that is, Christ was his prize. To know Christ fully and completely was the prize for which he had been striving ever since his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road.’Hawthorne paraphrases: “…the prize that God…will give me when he calls me up and announces my name, the prize that is contained in Christ Jesus.”You could translate this meaning as follows:I keep on going toward the goal to get that prize that God will give me when he calls me to heaven, which is this: he will cause me to become like Christ Jesus.:

1. It identifies the prize. The prize was that God called Paul heavenwards to make him completely like Christ. For example:

   the prize, which is God’s call…to the life above (GNT) (CEV, NET, GNT)

2. The prize that God called Paul heavenwards to receive. Paul did not identify the prize itself. (NIV, NLT, NCV, GW, REB)

The first interpretation fits the context better here. So it is recommended that you follow it (1).

heavenly: The Greek word here literally means “upwards.”

in Christ Jesus: God can call or invite people to be with him in heaven because of what Christ has done for them. So you could translate 3:14b as:

God calls me to heaven to be with him because of what Christ Jesus has done for me.