The verb rendered I run straight is the same verb translated I keep striving in verse 12. The word translated goal, found only here in the New Testament, is basically the mark on which one fixes his attention. In shooting, this is the target; in racing, it is the goal. If one finds if difficult to introduce the metaphor of “running straight toward the goal,” one may change this into a simile, for example, “So, as it were, I run straight toward the place where the race ends.”

The prepositional phrase “unto the prize” (American Standard Version) is best taken in the sense of “so that I may win the prize” (Bruce) or in order to win the prize. The prize in classical Greek refers to an award in games or contests. In the New Testament the word occurs only here and in 1 Cor 9.24; it is used to denote the reward for an achievement.

What Paul proceeds to say is literally “of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.” This “upward calling of God” is to be understood as “God doing the calling.” The sense of the other genitive construction, “the prize of the upward calling,” is conditioned by the meaning of “the upward calling.” Some translations (including King James Version American Standard Version Moffatt La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée) take the adverb “upward” to mean “high” or “heavenly,” describing the quality of the calling (Heb 3.1). It is also possible that the reference is to God’s call to faith as a summons “upwards.” It appears, therefore, that the renderings of New English Bible and Good News Translation make better sense, that is, God’s call … to the life above (cf. 1 Thes 2.12). The phrase “the prize of the upward calling” is best taken as a genitive of apposition, meaning “the prize consists of” or the prize, which is…. One can be more explicit about the content of the prize by rendering “which is the life above to which God calls me…” (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “This prize is new life, to which God has called me through Christ Jesus”). Life above is equivalent to “eternal life.” Through Christ Jesus makes it clear that “in Christ Jesus” is to be understood in an instrumental sense. God is the caller, and Christ is his agent.

In order to indicate clearly the nature of “the prize,” it may be necessary to make the final relative clause in this verse into a completely new sentence, for example, “The prize is God calling me through Christ Jesus.”

A literal translation of the life above might suggest merely “life in heaven.” But since it is more likely that a quality of life is intended, it may be better to use such a phrase as “eternal life,” “new life,” or “real life.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .