Philippians 3:19

‘Whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.'

The people in mind, who were seemingly visiting preachers (for Paul indicates no exceptions when he praises the Philippian church as a whole - Philippians 1:3), have their belly as their god, glory in what is shameful, and have their minds totally set on earthly things. They were the total opposite of the One Who emptied Himself, chose the way of sufferings and the cross, and Whose whole career and life were focused on heavenly things, all to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5). And for such people their destiny is not to be raised and exalted with Christ, but is eternal destruction (apoleia - perdition). They are the opposite of all that Paul has been teaching throughout the letter.

Note the contrasts:

· ‘Their end is eternal destruction' - this contrasts with those whose sole aim and stress is on reaching out to heavenly things which will result in eternal life and exaltation with Christ (Philippians 3:10, especially in the light of Philippians 2:9), and whose citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20). The Psalmist, when baffled at the way that the wicked prospered, while the righteous suffered, had his problem solved when he ‘considered their end' (Psalms 73:17). It is the end of those who walk in the broad way, which is ‘destruction' (Matthew 7:14). This is a reminder that being ‘religious' is not sufficient. These people claimed to be Christians, and boasted about their knowledge and their ‘spirituality, and yet they were headed for destruction, because they had failed to truly respond to Christ crucified and risen.

· ‘Their god is their belly' - the most obvious meaning of this is that they enjoyed overindulgence in food and drink, and all that went with it, aiming for a materially satisfactory lifestyle. This idea of seeking earthly wealth is one of Paul's constant criticisms of false teachers (Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 11:20; 2 Timothy 3:4; 1 Corinthians 4:8). It may go along with the idea that they did not hesitate to go to idolatrous feasts, and encourage others to go, always a danger for poor Christians in those early days when free food and drink was available at idolatrous temples, especially on feast days. Paul had to warn against it constantly (e.g. 1 Corinthians 8; compare Revelation 2:14; Revelation 2:20). Others have seen it as indicating their refusal to eat ‘unclean' things (compare Colossians 2:16; Hebrews 9:10; Romans 14:17). But Paul did not see that in itself as being a cause for condemnation (Romans 14:13), only the teaching that it was necessary to salvation.

· ‘And the glory is in their shame' - Paul had earlier said, ‘God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me' (Galatians 6:14). And he had prayed that in nothing should he be ashamed (Philippians 1:20). But these teachers gloried in things that were shameful. Compare Ephesians 5:12; 2 Timothy 3:4; 2Ti 3:6; 1 Corinthians 5:6. In terms of Ephesians 5:12 the idea may be that they gloried in the things that most people out of shame would seek to keep secret. In other words they were shameless. This would tie in with the ideas described in Romans 6:1, ‘shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?', (compare ‘let us do evil that good may come' - Romans 3:7). The idea there was their claim that by their evil behaviour they brought out the compassion and goodness of God in that He accepted them anyhow, possibly because they ‘believed in Jesus', a view that Paul condemned as totally un-Christian where it did not have a deep effect on their lives. His argument was that to be a true Christian you recognised that you had died with Christ to sin, and if you had done that, how then could you blatantly continue in it? It would be to ignore the significance of the cross. Those who see ‘their gods is their belly' as referring to abstinence from unclean foods, see the reference here as having in mind their glorying in the flesh in that they had been circumcised (Galatians 6:13), something which to the Greeks was seen as shameful.

· ‘Who mind earthly things' - they have their minds set on, and are involved in and participate in, earthly things (and not on being involved in and having the mind of Christ - Philippians 2:5). Their whole focus is on earth, in contrast to those whose minds are set on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:2). They are not ‘stretching towards the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 3:13). They are totally earthly minded (even though they may well have claimed supernatural experiences). Those who see unclean foods and circumcision as in mind, see this also as referring to earthly rituals rather than heavenly experience (see especially Hebrews 7-10). But in view of the context it must surely indicate the opposite of Paul's own view of the need to reach out to what is heavenly, especially as Philippians 3:20 stresses that our citizenship in is Heaven. This would seem to favour our initial interpretations in each case.

It is possible that we are to see here an amplification and contrast with Philippians 3:2.

· ‘Beware of dogs.' ‘Their end is destruction'.

· ‘Beware of evil-workers.' Their god is their belly. ‘

· ‘Beware of the mutilators.' ‘And the glory is in their shame.'

· ‘Who worship God in the Spirit (etc)' ‘Who mind earthly things.'

If this is so it confirms that the same people are in mind.