I’ve got a new post up at Seedbed on Paul’s self-description as “perfect” in Philippians 3:15. Here’s the intro:
The third chapter of Philippians is important to Wesleyans for a variety of reasons, not least because Paul includes himself within a group he calls “perfect” (v. 15). Now that statement is probably surprising enough that you are already flipping through your New Testament to fact check my claim. Let me tell you what you’ll find. Unless you have the old King James or the New American Standard Version, you are unlikely to find the word “perfect” in your English translation of Philippians 3:15. It will most likely be rendered along the lines, “Let those of us then who are (spiritually) mature…” The nearest use of perfection language is a few verses earlier in 3:12 where Paul unambiguously insists that he most certainly has not been perfected. But here’s the thing: the Greek adjective that is typically rendered “mature” (teleios) in 3:15 has the same root as the verb rendered “perfected” (teleioō) in 3:12. So, in verse 12 Paul declares that he has not been perfected, and in verse 15 he places himself within a group he describes as perfect. Have I got your attention? Let’s talk about what’s going on in this passage and why I prefer the language of perfection over maturity when translating Philippians 3:15.
Read the rest at Seedbed.
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