Philippians 3:19

Whose end is destruction,— See 2 Corinthians 11:15. It has been thought that the Apostle has an eye here to what he had observed of these men before, ch. Philippians 1:28 and so he may be understood as if he had said, "These men reckon upon your destruction, but they will certainly meet with their own." The next clause implies, that however they pretended to act for the service and honour of God, they were seeking solely their own profit, and prostituting all things for the promoting of a temporary interest. Thus they made a god of themselves, or of their own belly. See Romans 16:18. 1 Timothy 6:5.Titus 1:11. St. Paul's aim and behaviour were directly opposite; who did all things for the edification of the churches, without seeking his own temporal advantage, as he often declares in his epistles, and that with a tacit reflection upon these men for their behaviour. By shame and earthly things the Apostle refers to their glorying in the indulgence of those earthly and sensual passions and pursuits which are a shame to the rational mind.