Can I Forget What Lies Behind?

“One thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13b) 

If you’re a human being, there is a chance that you’re dogged by bad memories of past traumas.  Either things done to you or things that you’ve done. If you’re a Christian, you cling to the promise that if you come to Jesus, your sins are forgiven; and you also are aware of your need to forgive others their wrongs against you. Jesus even—perhaps surprisingly—makes forgiveness of others a prerequisite for forgiveness with God (Mt. 6:14-15; though this statement has to be contextualized with the parable of the forgiving steward in Mt. 18:23-35, where the steward should have forgiven because he had been forgiven). In any event, our Lord has kept short accounts of our sins, and requires us to keep short accounts with others, regardless of how painful those sins might be. 

A cursory reading of the Apostle Paul’s life experience as recorded in the New Testament shows that he has both types of past traumas: He did a lot that would be hard to forgive, such as harshly persecuting Christians and trying to destroy the Christian faith; he also, after becoming a Christian, had a lot done to him that might be hard for him to forgive (see, for instance, the list in 2 Cor. 11:23-28, or the events of Ac. 14:19). If anyone had a reason to despair of God’s grace over himself, it’d be Paul; but on the other hand, if anyone had reason to be bitter toward others, it’d be Paul. 

But our passage above shows us how Paul was able to deal with those past traumas. Simply, he lets the past be the past, and sets his hope on future grace. Reading this passage the other day I was struck that Paul would say that forgetting what lies behind is something that he does. Forgetting does not happen actively, but passively. We don’t purpose to forget; it just happens. 

But the greek gives us a little further light into Paul’s point. The word for “forget” is epilanthano, which is a compound of lanthano, which means to escape notice, and the prefix epi, which means “over” or “above” (think about how epi-dermis means “the skin above.”) So the idea here is that Paul takes hold of what is in the past, and puts it where it belongs: In the past. In essence, he neglects the past. Whether talking about what people have done to him or what he’s done to people, it doesn’t matter. The past is the past. Paul lets it live there, and doesn’t drag it into the present unless it will serve the gospel.

And further, he “strains forward to what lies ahead.” Again, in greek, it is epikteinomenos, which means to “reach forward.” But the “epi” prefix seems to suggest the reaching happens from above, so that, as in being above the memories, so the reaching forward happens from above the present. Indeed, the presence of the future, the Kingdom of God, dominates the present for Paul. 

So how did Paul deal with his past sins and past sins against him? By letting the past be the past, and by focusing his attention on Christ’s future coming. If Jesus bore my past sins at the cross, then I don’t need to bring guilt upon myself for those sins again (and if I fall into sin again, he promises that I can simply bring those sins to him and he’ll forgive me, 1 Jn. 1:9). But if Jesus called on God’s grace for the forgiveness of those who crucified him, then I know that walking with him and living like him requires a sameness of aversion to condemnation. And since, if I believe in Jesus, I must “walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 Jn. 2:6), I have a responsibility to show grace as He did and does.

This might seem like a cross-centered framework for life, and in one sense, it is. “I’ve been crucified to the world, and the world to me,” says Paul (Gal. 6:14). But it is worked out from beyond the tomb under the presence of new life in the resurrection. The reason why Paul can forget what lies behind is because the cross happened, but that was not the end of the story. Paul can let the past be the past because Friday gave way to Sunday, and those in Christ live in the shadow of Sunday. Now, God is doing a new thing (Is. 43:19), so that all who are in Christ are themselves identified with what is new (2 Cor. 5:17). So the neglect of the past is possible because I’m alive in the present with the risen Christ living in and with me. Thus the verse before our text has Paul’s confidence that Christ has made him his own (Phil. 3:12). If I belong to Jesus and he belongs to me, then my past sins are no longer mine, nor is whatever it is that others took from me when they hurt me. 

I guess it comes down to one question: Do you believe that Jesus is alive and you’re alive in Him? You might believe it, but Jesus needs to be, like a radio volume knob, turned up louder than your doubts and/or hurts. That happens over time as your faith in him grows. For now, your job is to recognize the need to let the past go, bring your hurt to the Lord (who cares for you, 1 Pet. 5:7), and believe that He will lead you into all that He has for you. You might feel like such an endeavor is impossible. “I can’t, Scott.” That’s okay - neither can I. But Jesus can. “With God all things are possible if you believe” (Mk. 9:23).