In Philippians 3:12, the Apostle Paul gives us a snapshot of the formula behind all spiritual growth as a Christian, and he even expresses it with some clever word-play:
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
In this short verse, Paul effectively distills all spiritual growth into essentially two parts: Responsibility and Identity.
The principle of ‘responsibility’ cuts through in the first part of the verse: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own…” This is a confession on what he has to do; i.e., his responsibility.
But it’s connected to and rooted in the principle of ‘identity,’ which cuts through in the very next phrase: “…because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” This is a confession of who he is, or rather, whose he is; i.e., his identity.
When Paul says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect…” he is basically explaining, “I have not arrived!” I’m a work in progress! I’m still learning! I’m still getting better! I’m getting sanctified! I’m growing!” (Amen, we’re all in that state!)
However, Paul follows his acknowledgement for growth with a profound statement: “but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” In other words, he is essentially saying this: “I have not arrived… but my arrival is not based on my arriving.”
He explains, “My relationship with God is not ultimately based on how tightly I am holding on to Him, but about how tightly He is holding on to me.” He’s telling us, “I do have responsibility… but it’s not responsibility to maintain my identity. Because the greater work of identity is complete, the smaller work of responsibility is simply a response.”
Here is the ‘formula’ or ‘sequence’ for all spiritual growth according to Paul: Responsibility is born out of an identity, not the other way around. Spiritual growth means, if we are in Christ, then the truest thing about us is not how much we progress; not how much we grow; not how much we are sanctified.
We are not what we do for Christ. We are what Christ has done for us.
But in response to our identity of what has been done for us, we ‘do’ for Christ.
All true, healthy spiritual growth starts by believing in faith the assurance we have in Christ that he has made us His own, and we cannot lose that identity based on what we do or don’t do… and yet, here’s the beauty of it: that assurance is precisely the ‘X factor’ behind all of our progress, growth, and sanctification all along. Because Christ has made us his own… we can press on.
This is why Jesus once said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The heaviest of burden—attaining a rock-solid identity—has already been accomplished through His righteousness, not our resume. And that’s what makes the burden of our responsibility much, much lighter. In the gospel, responsibility means living from the identity we have received, not living for what we’d otherwise hope to achieve.
Deep assurance of identity motivates responsibility—not with fear and judgment of what could be lost, but by the peace and confidence that it won’t. After all, peace and confidence are always more effective long-term motivators than fear and judgement anyways.
The gospel puts identity before responsibility, which is the fuel for carrying out that responsibility all along.
Do you struggle to grow because you feel like your growth is more about how tightly you are holding onto God, not rooted in the assurance that He is holding tightly to you?
This blog is an excerpt from the following audio, entitled, “Resume or Responsibility – Philippians 3”
