Philippians 3:15–17

Philippians 3:15 — "Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way"

The word translated "perfect" (Greek: teleios) is crucial and easily misread. Paul does not mean morally flawless in an absolute sense — he has just confessed in verse 12 that he himself has not yet "obtained" or been "made perfect" (teteleiōmai). Rather, teleios here describes those who are spiritually mature — grown, formed, oriented rightly toward the goal (telos) of Christ. This is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 2:6 for those who receive wisdom, and in Hebrews 5:14 for those trained by practice to discern good and evil. Paul uses irony characteristic of his rhetoric: "those who are truly mature will think as I have described — namely, that they are not yet fully there." Maturity paradoxically includes the recognition of one's own incompleteness.

The phrase "think this way" (touto phrōnōmen) echoes the great phronēsis ("mindedness") language that runs through the entire letter: "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (2:5), "Let us be of the same mind" (4:2). The "way of thinking" Paul calls the Philippians to is not an abstract doctrinal formula but the entire orientation of Christocentric humility and forward-straining described through the chapter.

The second half of verse 15 is among the most pastorally delicate sentences in Paul's letters: "If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you." Paul does not browbeat dissenters; he entrusts correction to God. This is not relativism — Paul is confident that truth will prevail — but it reflects a pastoral confidence in the Holy Spirit's work within the community. Chrysostom notes that Paul here shows extraordinary gentleness: rather than excommunicating or shaming those who disagree, he commits the errant to divine instruction (Homilies on Philippians, Hom. 12).

Philippians 3:16 — "To the extent we have already attained, let's walk by the same rule. Let's be of the same mind."

"To the extent we have already attained" (plēn eis ho ephthasamen) is a frank acknowledgment of the uneven terrain of spiritual progress: believers are at different stages. Paul does not demand uniform spiritual achievement, but he does demand a common rule and mind for whatever ground has been gained. The word stoichein ("walk") evokes a military image — to march in line, to keep step — suggesting ordered, disciplined forward movement within a community, not a solo spiritual sprint.

"The same rule" (tō autō stoichein kanoni) employs the Greek kanōn, the very word that would be used for the "canon" of Scripture and the "canons" of Church councils. Paul is invoking something normative and binding: the shared form of life already received in the Gospel. This is the hinge of the verse — progress happens, and must happen, within a shared rule of life.

Philippians 3:17 — "Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way"

The compound verb symmimētai ("imitators together") is unique in the New Testament — Paul coins or employs a word that means co-imitators, not merely private imitators. This is a communal call. The Christian community is to imitate Paul together, forming a school of witness. The command to "note" (skopeite) those who walk rightly echoes the command in verse 2 to "beware" (blepete) of those who walk badly — the same verb of watchful attention, now turned toward edifying example rather than dangerous error.

Paul's claim to be an imitable example is not arrogance; it is anchored in 1 Corinthians 11:1 — "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." The apostle is not the final object of imitation but a transparent window onto Christ. The typological resonance is rich: as Moses held up the pattern (typos) of the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:5), so Paul holds up his own life as a typos — a pattern, a mold — for the community to be shaped by (see v. 17b: "even as you have us for an example/typos"). The plural "us" is significant: Paul includes his co-workers, perhaps Timothy and Epaphroditus (named in ch. 2), as part of the living exemplary tradition.

Catholic tradition reads these verses as a locus classicus for the theology of spiritual maturity as an ecclesial, not merely individual, phenomenon. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "the Christian vocation is essentially communal" (CCC §1878) and that we are called to holiness together, the saints forming a "communion" in which exemplary lives transmit grace and wisdom across generations (CCC §§946–948).

The concept of teleios — mature perfection as a goal continuously approached — resonates deeply with the Catholic understanding of the via perfectionis ("way of perfection"), developed by St. Teresa of Ávila and articulated in the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium (§40): "All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity." This universal call to holiness is not a private achievement but a corporate journey, exactly as Paul envisions.

The notion of a shared kanōn — a common rule of life — grounds the entire tradition of religious community rules: the Rule of St. Benedict, the Rule of St. Augustine, the Constitutions of the Jesuits all answer Paul's implicit invitation to make communal discipline the vehicle of sanctification.

Paul's call to imitate living exemplars is foundational for the Catholic veneration of saints. St. Thomas Aquinas, commenting on the role of human exemplars, notes that we need concrete, visible models because we move toward God through the mediation of embodied witnesses (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 82, a. 3). The Church's canonization process is, in part, a formal declaration that a particular life constitutes a trustworthy typos — a pattern of imitating Christ worth holding before the whole Church.

Contemporary Catholic life is saturated with individualism — the spiritual life reduced to personal devotion, private conscience, solo interior experience. These three verses are a pointed corrective. Paul insists that growing toward God is something we do together, by a common rule, at pace with one another, watching those who are further along the road.

Practically, this means choosing your exemplars deliberately. Who in your parish, your family, or the wider Church do you "note" as walking rightly? Name them. Watch them. Ask them how they pray, how they forgive, how they suffer. The saints are the Church's official answer to Paul's command, but every Catholic community also has its local saints — ordinary people of extraordinary fidelity.

It also means submitting to a shared rule of life: regular Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, the sacraments — not as a private checklist but as the kanōn of a community walking together. The spiritual director, the confessor, the parish community are not optional accessories to "personal faith" but the very structure through which God, as Paul says, "will also reveal" our blind spots to us.