Note 4 at Phil. 3:13: By just about anyone's judgment, Paul was one of the most successful Christians that ever lived. Here he gives us one of his secrets of spiritual success. It is singleness of vision. Paul had one and only one goal in life. His heart was not divided.

The strength of the laser lies in the concentration of light onto one point. Likewise, singleness of purpose and vision is a necessity to victorious Christian living (see note 39 at Mt. 6:22, p. 136). James said that if we try to master many things we will fail (Jas. 3:1). We have to set priorities and focus on those things. Paul had only one goal which he described in these verses.

Note 5 at Phil. 3:13: Some people have misunderstood this verse and taught that we are to forget everything in the past. That is not what Paul is saying. The scriptures teach us that memory can be a very powerful force for good in our lives (see note 5 at 1 Cor. 15:2, p. 954; see note 1 at Eph. 2:11, p. 1105). In context, Paul is speaking about forgetting all the things that he used to trust in prior to his salvation experience (vv. 4-8). Paul forgot his own attainments and focused only on what Christ had done for him.

The word "forgetting" is EPILANTHANOMAI in the Greek, and means "to forget, to give over to oblivion." The Greek verb for "reaching forth unto" is EPEKTEINOMAI, and means "to stretch out to, to stretch one's self forward to" (Thayer), as a runner that is running in the Greek games for the prize.