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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus." "Not that I have already obtained." What means "already obtained"? He speaks of the prize, but if he who had endured such sufferings, he who was persecuted, he "who had in him the dying of the Lord Jesus," was not yet confident about that resurrection, what can we say? What meaneth, "if I may apprehend"? …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Having said "that I may attain," he confirms this by saying: I spoke so uncertainly because I have not yet attained the prize, I have not yet been perfected. He says: I am still in the struggle, still pressing forward, whether I might somehow attain the end and the reward. Then, showing that this is his duty, he adds: for this very reason "Christ laid hold of me," that is, when I was among the lost and rejected, Christ pursued me and overtook me as I was fleeing, and turned me back to Himself. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
Then when he says, not that I have already obtained this, he shows how his desire is deferred: first, he shows what he thinks of himself; secondly, he asks them to think the same thing of themselves (3:15). The first is divided into two parts: first, he shows how far short he is of the perfection intended; secondly, he explains this (3:13). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he shows that he has not arrived at perfection; secondly, that he is tending toward it (3:12b). …
Bonaventure
There is perfection with respect to merit and with respect to state. To profess oneself perfect with respect to merit is a matter of presumption, not of perfection, since Paul says in Philippians 3: Not that I am already perfect. But to profess oneself perfect with respect to state is not a matter of presumption, because this places the praise not upon the person in herself, who can be culpable through her own merits, but upon the common life and the manner of living approved by the counsel of Christ's own mouth.
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