Philippians 3:17 - Meaning and Application

He ends the chapter with warnings and encouragements. First, he warns them not to follow seducers and false teachers (Philippians 3:18-19). “Many live,” he says, “and I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.” There are many who bear Christ’s name, but their way of life shows they are against Christ and the purpose of his cross. Their actions are stronger proof than their words. “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:20).

Paul warns about such people often, because we are slow to take warning in. “I have told you often,” he says, and “to write the same things is safe” (Philippians 3:1). He also warns them with deep feeling. “I now tell you weeping.” Paul was a preacher who could weep when the occasion called for it, much like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. An old warning can be spoken again with fresh feeling. If we say it with real concern and live under its power ourselves, we do not repeat it in vain.

He then describes the enemies of the cross of Christ. “Their god is their belly.” They care only about bodily pleasure and appetites. It is a shame for anyone, and especially for Christians, to give up God’s favor, peace of conscience, and eternal happiness for such a poor idol. Gluttons and drunkards make a god of their stomach, and their whole concern is to satisfy it. Paul says the same of such people in Romans 16:18, they serve their own bellies, not the Lord Jesus Christ.

“They glory in their shame.” They do not merely sin, they boast about it. They take pride in what should make them ashamed. Sin is the sinner’s shame, and it becomes worse when a person brags about it. They value themselves for the very things that stain them.

“They mind earthly things.” Christ came by his cross to free us from the world’s rule over us and from our rule over the world. So people who fix their thoughts on earthly things stand against the cross of Christ and its purpose. They enjoy earthly things, chase after them, and find their comfort in them instead of in heavenly things. Paul gives this picture so Christians will not copy them or be led by them. He also tells us where their path ends: “Their end is destruction.” Their way may look pleasant for a time, but it leads to death and ruin. “The end of those things is death” (Romans 6:21). It is dangerous to follow them, even if they seem to be going in the easy direction. If we choose their way, we have reason to fear their end. He may also be hinting at the final destruction of the Jewish nation.

Second, Paul points to himself and his fellow workers as a better example: “Brothers, join in following me, and notice those who walk according to the pattern you have in us” (Philippians 3:17). He tells them to look closely at such people and take them as their model. He explains this by saying, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Good Christians, even while they live on earth, belong to heaven. Their true home and rights are there. This world is not their final country. Their greatest blessings and concerns are in the New Jerusalem. Because they belong there, they keep up their fellowship with that world now.

A Christian’s life is in heaven, where his Head is, where his home is, and where he hopes to be soon. He sets his heart on things above, and where the heart goes, the life follows. Paul had urged them to follow him and other ministers of Christ. They might say, “You are poor, hated, and persecuted. You make no great showing in the world. Why should anyone follow you?” His answer is, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” We are linked to that world and have a strong claim to it, so we are not as low and worthless as people may think. It is good to have fellowship with those who have fellowship with Christ, and to walk with those whose lives are set on heaven.

This matters, first, because we are waiting for the Savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). He is not here now. He has gone up and entered God’s presence for us. We expect him to come again from there and gather all the citizens of the New Jerusalem to himself. It also matters because, at his return, we expect to be made happy and glorified there. There is a glory kept for the bodies of the saints, and they will receive it at the resurrection. Our present bodies are “bodies of humiliation,” low and weak bodies. They come from the earth, are supported by earthly things, and are subject to disease and death. They are also often the means and occasion of much sin, which is why Paul calls it “the body of this death” (Romans 7:24). Or Paul may mean that our bodies are lowly because they will one day lie in the grave, turned to dust. Then they will be raised into glory.

This will be a true change, and it will be a great one. The model is the glorious body of Christ. When he was transfigured on the mountain, “his face shone like the sun” and “his clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). He went to heaven with a body so that, in our nature, he might take possession of the inheritance. He is the firstborn from the dead and the firstborn among many brothers. We will be made like the image of his Son, so that Christ may be “the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

The power that will do this is the same power by which Christ is able to “subdue all things to himself” (Philippians 3:21). Paul speaks of the strength of God as mighty power, great power, and working power (Ephesians 1:19). This should comfort us. Christ can bring all things under his rule, and in time he will do so. The resurrection will happen by this same power. “I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). Let this strengthen our faith in the resurrection. We do not have only the Scriptures, which tell us it will happen, but also the power of God, which is able to bring it about (Matthew 22:29).

Christ’s resurrection was a glorious display of God’s power. For that reason, he is shown to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4). In the same way, our resurrection will be a display of that same power. His resurrection is both a clear proof and a pattern of ours.

Then all the enemies of the Redeemer’s kingdom will be fully defeated. Not only the one who had the power of death, the devil (Heb 2:14), but the last enemy itself will be destroyed, that is, death (1 Co1 15:26). Death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Co1 15:54).