Prov 22:28 “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
Pro 23:10 “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:”
Eph 4:11-16 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
When the Apostle Paul says that we are to walk by the same rule that has already been attained unto, what does he mean? The Greek word for "Attained" is Phthano, and means “to come before, precede, anticipate” as well as “to come to, or arrive at”. The illustration Paul gives is a runner, pressing toward the finish line. And this is to draw for us a picture of one who is going through the Christian life, and being encouraged in it by looking to the end of all things, the prize - Christ, and His benefits.
Great illustration, as it should be, after all it is an inspired illustration. But notice Paul interjects a couple of points between the pressing and the Resurrection, which is the finish line. The points mean to be godly instruction to those who are running. Where we have made it in our race, maintain the same rules.
Imagine yourself 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 1 year ago. In your personal sanctification the LORD has delivered you from all kinds of sins. By grace some of them were gone in days, and you simply no longer took interest in them. Others have been purged out over years by grace and knowledge. And some we still seek to shackle ourselves unto, using grace as an excuse to be “in bondage”. The same rule applies to Truth. Some of us were once Flaming-Arminian-Charismatic-“God told me so”-Idolatrous-Baptists. Since then we’ve become Flaming-Arminian-Charismatic-“God told me so”-Idolatrous-Baptist–Presbyterians or -Reformed. But the point is we would like to believe that the LORD has brought us to greater knowledge in His Truth.
So now imagine if we were to stand here, look to the past, and intentionally go back to some error we once held unwittingly, or go back to those sins that we once abandoned with so little effort out of zeal for our Savior! What rebellion! What hypocrisy! What blasphemy! It would be as unnatural as a runner just stopping, and going backwards, or worse - just making up a new path. Does this sound like a diligent Christian walk?
The LORD would have us to walk according to where He has already brought us. Paul would encourage us to walk according to the faithful attainments God has delivered unto us.
But Paul would not have us to believe that this is simply a private race, as opposed to what other leaders in the Visible Church are teaching. “My religion is private”, “Just me and God”. I am very familiar with this line of thinking growing up in Roman Catholicism. Nor would he have us to believe that it is okay to have factions and splits in the Body. How can a handicapped runner run? (I don’t see para-church wheelchairs in the text)Paul says, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.” The Christian walk was not meant to be done in a bubble; for we are “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”. The Apostle to the Hebrews gives the same sermon as a means to stir us up to running the race set before us. Heb 12:1.
Now imagine a body running a race and one leg wants to go this way, and the other that way. The runner will not get far at all. Paul says to walk by the same rule, mind the same thing.
This CANNOT be impossible! For Paul would not say to do something that you could not do. In fact he says in another place that we will walk in unity of the faith, looking like a mature man (see Eph 4:11-16). Could you imagine the Phillipians arguing with Paul? “Paul, you just don’t understand. It aint gonna happen. You’ve seen those Corinthians.” Or “Paul, don’t you think this is a little too high? I mean I could see if you were talking about Heaven, but here? Now?... Maybe he is talking about Heaven.”
Paul was not talking about Heaven. For the Resurrection is the finish line. Have we attained unto that? No, yet we are to walk now, and mark now.
In a future essay I will get more into the idea of “Faithful Attainments”, but for now I intend to leave you with some serious practical questions.
- Who are our “Examples” that we are to mark?
- Do we only look to mark those who live presently or just in our neighborhood?
- Who sought to define and collect and defend these Biblical attainments?
- Who sought to remove them?
- Who are “we”? Who do we see ourselves the posterity of Ecclesiastically, or did we just come into existence on our own?
- Is our current practice keeping with Paul’s commands? In other words is our present Church membership/constitution promoting walking in that which we have attained unto, or are we promoting to not mind the same things?
I’m sure there are many more great questions out there. Feel free to put them in the comments section. I just offer a few elementary ones.
Shalom,
-shawn
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