Rapture or Reward? Philippians 3:13-14

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

This passage has been one of my favorites for a very long time. It is also very familiar to a lot of Christians. But it is very difficult to interpret. Most believers see these verses referring to Paul's desire to either be resurrected (see v. 11) or his longing to get to heaven (see v. 14). But I believe that there are two other, better interpretive choices.

The first is that Paul is expressing the hope that he will live to participate in the Rapture, that is the "blessed hope" where some believers will not face death, but be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (see I Thessalonians 4:13-18). This is a very good possibility in this passage.

The word "resurrection" in verse eleven is not the usual word that refers to the resurrection. It is literally the "out-resurrection" from the dead. Obviously, this word is referring to something different and unique. The phrase "upward call of God" in verse fourteen is also something that indicates that Paul is referring to something other than the normal route to heaven.

This is why some scholars and theologians have concluded that the "out-resurrection" and the "upward call" are referring to the Rapture. And I believe this is a better choice than the conventional wisdom about this passage. But having said that, I believe that there is even a better understanding.

In the ancient world the term "upward call" was associated with the Olympic games. The upward call occurred when the winner of an Olympic event was called up by the master of the Olympic games to receive his "prize" (see v. 14) for winning that particular event. The winner's name would be announced, then his father's name and finally the name of his country. He would then come up to the master of the games to receive a wreath that was placed on his head as the victor.

I believe that Paul is using this terminology in regard to the Christian hope that when he arrives in heaven, Christ will call his name and give him the reward for successfully completing his earthly race (see I Corinthians 9:24-25).

This fits best with Paul's statement that he has not yet become "perfect", i.e., reached complete maturity in Christ (v. 12). But he strongly expresses the desire to keep striving for the spiritual maturity that Christ has planned for him and for all of us (v. 12).

This would mean that the "out-resurrection" from the dead is a reference to Paul spiritually rising above those who are spiritually dead all around him. This understanding of the "out-resurrection" at first sounds like an interpretive stretch, but all the preceding phrases in verse ten clearly refer to spiritual aspirations. For instance, I don't think that Paul was desiring to be literally crucified like Christ, but he was expressing the hope that he could be spiritually "conformed" to the attitudes and demeanor of our Lord at His death.

So I believe that in Philippians 3:13-14, Paul is stating his strong desire to keep growing to complete maturity as a Christian, so that when he sees Christ, our Lord will call him forward and reward him.

This was Paul's goal and hope, should it not be ours?