APRIL 22 – PHILIPPIANS 3:17-21
HOPE IN GOD ALONE
Today, we are reminded that our hope is in God alone. Many in this world are led by their appetites and desires for things, materials, and possessions. They focus on the earthy things and the things that do not matter. All of this is especially convicting for me as someone who struggles with self-control and discipline, especially when it comes to food. In this passage, Paul again called on his readers to follow his own example and not that of the Judaizers.
17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Key Takeaways:
- Paul says: “Follow my example of living, not the example of those who walk after the world.”
- Righteousness cannot be gained by our works; it is found only by faith in Christ. Therefore, forsake all things, just to know him; and press toward the goal of spiritual maturity, keeping in view the goal of your eternal home in heaven.
- Our Hope is in God. Look forward to that day with Him
Verse Exposition:
Verse 17: Paul’s example was Christ. He then lived out the Christ model as he ran the race. Having set forth his life ambition to be more Christlike, Paul did not hesitate to tell the Philippians to follow his example. He wanted them to imitate him. Surely he did not mean that they should imitate every single area of his life, for he had just stated that he was not sinlessly perfect. But in the matter of relentlessly pursuing after Christlikeness, he did set himself up as an example. Those Philippians who followed him would join with others who were already doing so. Some already followed that example, so they, too, serve as models for the Philippians. They had a choice. They could model their lives after those advocating falsehood and fail to win the prize or they could model their lives after Christ.
Verses 18–19: The apostle with great emotional anguish described the reality of life. Many did not follow the example of Christ or Paul. These verses give the reasons for the exhortations in verse 17: many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Believers should be able to determine truth from error (cf. 1 John 4:6). Paul was so concerned about the Philippians’ spiritual welfare that he warned them often and wept as he did so.
As enemies of God these false teachers were destined for destruction. Those Paul warned against were perhaps profligates in emerging Gnosticism who trusted in their own attainments and not in the sufficiency of Christ alone. All who do so are not children of God, so they await destruction. This word (apōleia) does not mean annihilation but rather ruination by separation from the presence of God in eternal judgment. Their end was destruction. Destruction does not necessarily mean loss of existence since its opposite is salvation (1:28). The direction they were going was enough to warn the church.
The enemies’ way or philosophy of life has a different focus, a different goal, a different source of pride, and a different result. Paul describes these somewhat ironically, giving double meaning to his words. At the same time, he wrote against Jews who emphasized achieving perfection by obeying the laws, he also had in mind Greeks and Romans who threw off all restraints and lived very sensual lives. Their emphasis was on the physical and the material. These people were called “antinomians” (against the law) as they were against any rules or laws. They wanted to live in complete freedom of any restraints on their physical desires.
Three further descriptions of these false teachers follow. First, their god is their stomach. They had in mind only their own physical desires and unrestrained gluttony (cf. Rom. 16:18). From a Greek perspective such a focus is purely physical. Thus, in practice, their physical desires have become their god. From a Jewish perspective, the stomach represents food allowed or not allowed by Jewish food laws. Their god has become self-protection from ritual pollution, thus the preservation of their self-perceived perfection.
Second, their glory is in their shame. Instead of giving glory to God these teachers heaped praise on themselves. Ironically they prided themselves in the things they should have been ashamed of. The appetite and shameful glory characteristics point to the way they had lived before that time. These two belong together because they are linked in the Greek text by one relative pronoun. Those who identify the opponents as libertines point out that Paul decried excessive food and sexual pleasures. Since this is a Jewish context, the statement must refer to dietary laws and circumcision of which they were so proud. They had become so preoccupied with kosher foods that they spent more time contemplating them than thinking about God. Similarly, they were preoccupied with their circumcision, boasting of it wherever they went. Although Paul generally did not speak of circumcision as a shame, here the term applied because of the focus on the genitals, which should have been a private matter. When made public, it was distasteful. Clearly, these matters engendered pride in the teachers, and Paul criticized them severely
Third, their mind is on earthly things. It is certainly not wrong for God’s people to care about their earthly affairs. But those Paul warned against here were depending on earthly things to gain merit with God. The apostle frequently alerted the people of God against such a lifestyle (cf. Gal. 4:3, 9–11; Col. 2:21–22).
Verse 20–21: The people of Philippi were living there as colonists while their citizenship was in Rome.[1] Similarly Christians, while living on earth, have their citizenship elsewhere—in heaven. This contrasts with those in verse 19 whose minds are exclusively on earthly things.
The believer looks with keen anticipation for his Savior’s return from heaven. “Eagerly await” (await in the ESV) translates a word (apekdechometha) that suggests a tiptoe anticipation and longing. This word is also used in Romans 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Galatians 5:5; Hebrews 9:28. They awaited the Savior from that citizenship. He would come with power sufficient to subdue everything and with ability to transform their bodies to be like his. They would naturally associate subduing power with a Roman emperor, but transforming power was unique to Christ. Once again, Paul spoke of the resurrection as the climax of his Christian experience. By implication, the false teachers would not share in the resurrection of the just because their expectations were earthly rather than heavenly.
At the Rapture of the church, Christ will transform (metaschēmatisei, “change the outward form of”) our lowly bodies so that they will be like (symmorphon, “identical in essential character”; cf. the participle symmorphizomenos in Phil. 3:10) His glorious body. Then every child of God will be made like the Son of God (1 John 3:2), that is, all Christians will receive glorified bodies like His. No more will they have the limitations they now experience in their “lowly” bodies, which are humbled by disease and sin. Their resurrected bodies will be like Christ’s, and their sanctification will be completed. Redemption culminated in a change of the body itself. The spirit was already in a resurrection with Christ; the body awaited that change. This statement reiterates the hope expressed in v. 10. The power of the resurrection would be complete when Jesus exerted his power toward the bodies of believers. Paul characterized the body now as one of humiliation (tapeinōseōs). In so doing, he addressed the limitations Christians have on earth. The body is not suited to heaven unless a transformation takes place. In that sense, it symbolizes a Christian’s state of humiliation. Someday, however, it will be a body of glory, fully suited to the needs of heaven and displaying the glory of Christ himself. This was a significant hope, fully pastoral in motivation. It should have caused the believers to press on until that great day.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The metaphor had rich meaning to the Philippians. Immediately their thoughts would have turned to an analogy with their earthly citizenship. They were proud of their Roman citizenship, but the analogy would have conveyed more. Philippi was an outpost colony, and, interestingly, Paul was at the home base in Rome. Regularly they awaited news from the capital to know how to conduct their business. When Paul said that they belonged to a citizenship, he spoke directly to them. Though they belonged to a city, the political entity spanned several geographical areas. Similarly, the church was an outpost of an entity which had its own capital, heaven. Although “citizenship” may call to mind a place, Paul used it of a people