Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 3:15

"Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you:" — Philippians 3:15 (ASV)

Perfect.—The word is apparently used with a touch of irony (as perhaps the word “spiritual” in Galatians 6:1), in reference to those who hold themselves “to have already attained, to be already perfect.” It is, indeed, mostly used of such maturity in faith and grace as may be, and ought to be, attained in this life (Matthew 5:48; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 4:12; Hebrews 5:14).

But, strictly speaking, this life, as St. Paul urges in 1 Corinthians 13:10–11, is only childhood, preparing for the full maturity, or “perfection,” of the life to come; and his own disclaimer of perfection suggests that this higher meaning should be kept in view in this passage.

The prospect of being “perfect” in indefectible faith or grace is the Christian’s hope. However, the claim to be already “perfect” is always recurring in various forms—all natural but unwarrantable anticipations of heaven on earth.

St. Paul, by a striking paradox, instructs those who hold themselves perfect to prove that they are so by a consciousness of imperfection. If they do not have it, he says, they still have something to learn: God will reveal even this to them.

The conviction of the Holy Ghost inseparably unites the “conviction of sin” and the “conviction of righteousness.” The “judgment” of absolute decision between them is not yet.