i'm not sure..
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
(Philippians 3:12-16)
here it is with more context; it seems like he is saying he does not consider his renewal to be complete, he writes this, and that all who are mature should also think this way - that they can always be drawn closer to Christ, always be made more perfect, that they can continue always to grow in knowledge of God.
the fact that he says 'as man as are mature' implies there are those who are not mature, and the fact that he says 'to the degree we have already attained' indicates there is more to attain. saying that 'to this degree' let us be of the same mind, implies there are yet greater degrees of oneness of mind to press on towards -- and if that is the case is it not continual renewal of the mind? and by saying 'if you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you' he implies that there are those counted among the believers, the born again, the renewed of mind and spirit, who have also further renewal in their future. he says this with confidence -- God is faithful! -- but the confidence is in God, not in the present completion of the saints.
even in Hebrews where it says Christ has once and for all perfected, it says this of 'those who are being sanctified' -- there is a profound mix here of completed and ongoing action, pointing out the eternal timeless nature of our LORD and the glorious hope to which He calls us and the time-like process of our experience of Him; He creates time and is unbound by it, outside of it, and His works are from everlasting to everlasting, but He created us and placed us inside of time, within which we came to know Him and presently wait for Him.
so in His eternal mind we are complete and perfected, but in our earthly lives we experience time, and in it a process of growing in knowledge of Him and being sanctified, seeing His light grow brighter and brighter as the coming of dawn when 'the Daystar shall arise in our hearts'
i understand that His word to me is eternal and complete. but i also understand that i await Him now, and that i should not consider myself to have laid hold, but in humility before Him 'take the lowest seat' -- so i am wary of agreeing that the renewal of my mind is 'finished' tho in the eternal sense, as one who sees all of time simultaneously, it is, because what He begins He is sure to complete; His finished work is ongoing in me on earth even as in heaven it is declared and it is immutable. and i am saying this of my mind and my spirit -- not of my works. as long as the sun rises and sets and He leaves me on earth, i consider that He leaves me for a purpose: if and when the work He prepared for me was done, He would & will take me home.
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