Philippianschapter 3
21 verses · Paul · AD 60 to 62 · Paul's letters
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, Philippians Overview.
Paul turns sharply in this chapter to warn the church about teachers who pressed the law of Moses on believers from the nations. To answer them he tells his own story, and he tells it as a man counting up a ledger. Few passages in his letters say as plainly what he gave up and why. Listen for the words gain and loss, and for the picture of a runner. Listen too for what the chapter says about the body. Read it as Paul's account of where a believer's confidence belongs.
Context
- Who
- A Roman colony proud of its citizenship, told where its real citizenship lies.
- What
- Paul's warning against false teachers, his account of counting his credentials as loss for Christ, his picture of pressing on toward the goal, and his reminder that believers are citizens of heaven.
- Where
- Written from custody, most often placed at Rome, to Philippi, a Roman colony in the province of Macedonia on the Roman road across northern Greece.
- When
- Most likely about AD 60 to 62 during Paul's custody at Rome, with others placing it at Ephesus in the middle 50s or at Caesarea about AD 57 to 59.
- Why
- To guard the church against confidence in the flesh and against a life set on earthly things, and to point it to the righteousness that comes from God through faith.
Historical context
The credentials Paul lists are a Jewish pedigree of the highest order: circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, blameless as to righteousness under the law. Every item would have counted for something in the circles he came from.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
His word for what he now considers them is deliberately coarse, refuse, what gets thrown out or worse. Ancient readers would have felt the vulgarity. He is not saying his heritage was mildly overrated.
The line "our citizenship is in heaven" was aimed at people who knew exactly what citizenship was worth. Philippi's colonists held Roman rights in a provincial world, exempt from certain taxes and protected in law, and they never forgot it. Paul tells them their real registry is elsewhere and their Saviour is coming from there, the word used for an emperor's ceremonial arrival at a colony.
The athletic image of straining forward and pressing toward the goal for the prize fits a culture of games and public contests, where the prize was awarded from a raised platform at the end of the race.
Significance
For believers being pressed to add credentials, the argument was personal rather than technical. The man with the best possible pedigree had counted it all as loss for the sake of knowing Christ.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And his refusal to claim arrival, not that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect, gave a congregation permission to still be running. He forgets what lies behind and presses on, and tells them to hold true to what they have attained.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Everything I Gained, Counted as Refuse
rejoice in the Lord: The joy of the letter returns as a command, rejoice in the Lord, the appeal that doubles at 4:4. Writing the same things again is a safeguard for you, since the warning that follows needs a church already braced in joy.
Philippians 3:1
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord - That is, in the Lord Jesus; see Php 3:3; compare the Act 1:24 note, and 1Th 5:16 note. The idea here is, that it is the duty of Christians to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. This duty implies the following things: (1) They should rejoice that they have such a Saviour. People everywhere have felt the need of a Saviour, and to us it should be a subject of unfeigned joy that one has been provided for us.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Philippians 3:1
“It is the character and temper of sincere Christians to rejoice in Christ Jesus. The more we take of the comfort of our religion the more closely we shall cleave to it: the more we rejoice in Christ the more willing we shall be to do and suffer for him, and the less danger we shalt be in of being drawn away from him. The joy of the Lord is our strength, Neh. viii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
those mutilators of the flesh!: Three warnings fall in quick succession, those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh. The last translates katatome, Paul's pun turning peritome, circumcision, into mutilation. The target is the mission demanding circumcision of Gentile believers.
Philippians 3:2
“Beware of dogs - Unclean, unholy, rapacious men. The title which the Jews usually gave the gentiles, he returns upon themselves. The concision - Circumcision being now ceased, the apostle will not call them the circumcision, but coins a term on purpose, taken from a Greek word used by the LXX, Lev. xxi, 5, for such a cutting as God had forbidden.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Philippians 3:2
“3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. It seems the church of the Philippians, though a faithful and flourishing church, was disturbed by the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to keep up the law of Moses, and mix the observances of it with the doctrine of Christ and his institutions.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
we who are the circumcision: Paul takes back the word his opponents mocked, it is we who are the circumcision. Three signs mark them, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. The claim echoes the circumcised heart promised in Deuteronomy.
Philippians 3:3
“For we are the circumcision - We who are Christians. We have and hold the true doctrine of circumcision. We have that which was intended to be secured by this rite - for we are led to renounce the flesh, and to worship God in the spirit. The apostle in this verse teaches that the ordinance of circumcision was not designed to be a mere outward ceremony, but was intended to be emblematic of the renunciation of the flesh with its corrupt propensities, and to lead to the pure and spiritual worship of God.”
2 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:3
“Are the only true circumcision - The people now in covenant with God. Who worship God in spirit - Not barely in the letter, but with the spiritual worship of inward holiness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:3
"We are the (real) circumcision" (Ro 2:25-29; Col 2:11). worship God in the Spirit--The oldest manuscripts read, "worship by the Spirit of God"; our religious service is rendered by the Spirit (Joh 4:23, 24). Legal worship was outward, and consisted in outward acts, restricted to certain times and places.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Philippians 3:4-6
confidence in the flesh: Paul lists seven credentials, from circumcised on the eighth day to faultless as to righteousness in the law. These are real credentials really held, which is why counting them loss in verse 7 costs something genuine.
Philippians 3:4
“A Hebrew of the Hebrews, an Israelite on both sides, by father and mother, and from one generation to another; none of his ancestors had matched with Gentiles. He could boast of his relations to the church and the covenant, for he was circumcised the eighth day; he had the token of God's covenant in his flesh, and was circumcised the very day which God had appointed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
circumcised on the eighth day: Paul lists first what he received by birth. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that circumcision on the eighth day marks one born into Israel, and that Benjamin was the tribe of Rachel's son. A Hebrew of Hebrews names a man whose parents were both Hebrews.
Philippians 3:5
“The Greek is literally, "Being in circumcision an eighth day person," that is, not one circumcised in later life as a proselyte, but on the eighth day after birth, as the law directed in the case of Jew-born infants. of the tribe of Benjamin--son of Rachel, not of the maid-servant [BENGEL]. Hebrew of the Hebrews--neither one or other parent being Gentile.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
as to righteousness in the law, faultless: The list ends with zeal and law-keeping. Clarke reads the persecution of the church as the proof of Paul's zeal, known to all his countrymen. He reads faultless as the measure of the law as the Jews of his day kept it.
Philippians 3:6
“Concerning zeal - As to my zeal for Pharisaism, I gave the fullest proof of it by persecuting the Church of Christ; and this is known to all my countrymen. Touching the righteousness - And as to that plan of justification, which justification the Jews say is to be obtained by an observance of the law, I have done every thing so conscientiously from my youth up, that in this respect I am blameless; and may, with more confidence than most of them; expect that justification which the law appears to promise.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
gain to me: Paul writes whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. Loss, zemia, is a trader's word for a loss on the ledger, and the verb, hegemai, is deliberate accounting.
Philippians 3:7
“But all these things, which I then accounted gain, which were once my confidence, my glory, and joy, those, ever since I have believed, I have accounted loss, nothing worth in comparison of Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:7
“But what things were gain to me - The advantages of birth, of education, and of external conformity to the law. “I thought these to be gain - that is, to be of vast advantage in the matter of salvation. I valued myself on these things, and supposed that I was rich in all that pertained to moral character and to religion.” Perhaps, also, he refers to these things as laying the foundation of a hope of future advancement in honor and in wealth in this world.”
Philippians 3:7
"I should have reckoned myself an unspeakable loser of, to adhere to them, I had lost my interest in Jesus Christ." He counted them loss; not only insufficient to enrich him, but what would certainly impoverish and ruin him, if he trusted to them, in opposition to Christ.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ: The accounting of verse 7 widens to all things, for the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Rubbish translates skubala, the coarsest word Paul uses, refuse fit to be thrown to the dogs, set against the dogs of verse 2.
Philippians 3:8
And the Apostle teaches us how to dung it, saying: "I count all things but dung, that I may gain Christ," and he, through evil report and good report, attained to pleasing Christ. For he had read that Abraham, when confessing himself to be but dust and ashes, in his deep humility found favour with God. He had read how Job, sitting among the ashes, regained all that he had lost. He had heard in the utterance of David, how God "raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Concerning Repentance, Book 2patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:8
“I count all things but loss - Not only my Jewish privileges, but all others of every kind; with every thing that men count valuable or gainful, or on which they usually depend for salvation. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ - That superior light, information, and blessedness which come through the Gospel of Jesus Christ; justification through his blood, sanctification by his Spirit, and eternal glory through his merits and intercession. These are the blessings held out to us by the Gospel, of which, and the law, Jesus Christ is the sum and substance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Philippians 3:8
“The Greek word signifies any, the vilest refuse of things, the dross of metals, the dregs of liquors, the excrements of animals, the most worthless scraps of meat, the basest offals, fit only for dogs. That I may gain Christ - He that loses all things, not excepting himself, gains Christ, and is gained by Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:8
“THE very high value that the Apostle Paul set upon the Savior is most palpable when he speaks of winning Him. This shows that the Savior held the same place in Paul's esteem as the crown did in the esteem of the runner at the Olympic games. To gain that crown, the competitor strained every nerve and sinew, feeling as though he were content to drop down dead at the goal if he might but win it.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3209: “The Priceless Prize” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
not having my own righteousness: To be found in Him is the goal of the exchange. The righteousness Paul seeks is the righteousness from God on the basis of faith, set against his own righteousness from the law.
Philippians 3:9
“These are also the things "which he counts but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" (but by no means for the rejection of God the Creator); "whilst he has not his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through Him," i.e. Christ, "the righteousness which is of God." Then, say you, according to this distinction the law did not proceed from the God of Christ.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book Vpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:9
“And be found in him - That is, united to him by a living faith. The idea is, that when the investigations of the great day should take place in regard to the ground of salvation, it might be found that he was united to the Redeemer and depended solely on his merits for salvation; compare the notes at Joh 6:56. Not having mine own righteousness - That is, not relying on that for salvation.”
Philippians 3:9
“But that inward righteousness which is through faith - Which can flow from no other fountain. The righteousness which is from God - From his almighty Spirit, not by my own strength, but by faith alone. Here also the apostle is far from speaking of justification only.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:10-11
the power of His resurrection: Paul names the power of His resurrection first, then the fellowship of His sufferings and being conformed to Him in His death. Suffering and death come before resurrection life, the order of the hymn in chapter 2.
Philippians 3:10
“That I may know him - To be the true and promised Messiah, and experience all that salvation which he has bought by his blood. The power of his resurrection - In having this body of my humiliation raised from death, and made like unto his glorious body. This seems to be the sole meaning of the apostle; for it is in virtue of Christ’s resurrection that we are to be raised incorruptible and immortal. And the fellowship of his sufferings - Christ died, not only as a victim for sin, but as a martyr to the truth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:10
“The knowledge of Christ, mentioned in the eighth verse, is here more largely explained. That I may know him - As my complete saviour. And the power of his resurrection - Raising me from the death of sin, into all the life of love.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:10
“True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeuspatristic
Philippians 3:10
“Faith is called knowledge, Isa. liii. Knowing him here is believing in him: it is an experimental knowledge of the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, or feeling the transforming efficacy and virtue of them. Observe, The apostle was as ambitious of being sanctified as he was of being justified.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Philippians 3:10
“THE object of the apostle’s life—that for which he sacrificed everything: country, kindred, honor, comfort, liberty, and life itself, was, that he might know Christ. Observe that this is not Paul’s prayer as an unconverted man, that he may know Christ, and so be saved; for it follows upon the previous supplication that he might win Christ and be found in him. This is the desire of one who has been saved, who enjoys the full conviction that his sins are pardoned, and that he is in Christ.”
attain to the resurrection from the dead: The goal of knowing Christ is the resurrection. Matthew Henry notes that the faithful are with Christ at death, yet their happiness is complete only when body and soul are raised together.
Philippians 3:11
“If by any means - Implying, that he meant to make use of the most strenuous exertions to obtain the object. I might attain unto - I may come to, or may secure this object. The resurrection of the dead - Paul believed that all the dead would be raised Act 24:15; Act 26:6-8; and in this respect he would certainly attain to the resurrection of the dead, in common with all mankind.”
2 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:11
“The happiness of heaven is here called the resurrection of the dead, because, though the souls of the faithful, when they depart, are immediately with Christ, yet their happiness will not be complete till the general resurrection of the dead at the last day, when soul and body shall be glorified together. Anastasis sometimes signifies the future state.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Philippians 3:11
“And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart." If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what is there astonishing if, in the resurrection, they receive that life which is granted by the Spirit?”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
Forgetting What Is Behind, Pressing Toward the Prize
I have already obtained all this: Press on, dioko, is a runner's pursuit word, and take hold, katalabo, means seize or grasp. Christ took hold of Paul first, on the Damascus road, so Paul's pursuit chases that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Philippians 3:12
“OBSERVE the Apostle's condition when he wrote these words. I do not think that either you or I will be found to be in a better one. If any are, or think they are, I would suggest a question. I, for my part, would be satisfied to be just as Paul was. He was in a position of conscious safety. He was a saved man. He knew that he was saved, for he rejoiced in Christ Jesus and had no confidence in the flesh.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2315: “Paul Apprehended and Apprehending” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:12
“Observe, The best men in the world will readily own their imperfection in the present state. We have not yet attained, are not already perfect; there is still much wanting in all our duties, and graces, and comforts. If Paul had not attained to perfection (who had reached to so high a pitch of holiness), much less have we.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Philippians 3:12
“Not as though I had already attained - Ουχ ὁτι ηδη ελαβον· For I have not yet received the prize; I am not glorified, for I have not finished my course; and I have a conflict still to maintain, and the issue will prove whether I should be crowned. From the beginning of the 11th to the end of the 17th verse there is one continued allusion to the contests at the Olympic games; exercises with which, and their laws, the Philippians were well acquainted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Philippians 3:13-14
Forgetting what is behind: Paul draws on the games a Roman colony like Philippi prized. The word for straining, epekteinomenos, pictures the runner's body stretched toward what is ahead. The goal, skopos, is the fixed point a runner's eye holds.
Philippians 3:13
“He who counts himself perfect, must deceive himself by calling sin infirmity (1Jo 1:8); at the same time, each must aim at perfection, to be a Christian at all (Mt 5:48). forgetting those things . . . behind--Looking back is sure to end in going back (Lu 9:62): So Lot's wife (Lu 17:32). If in stemming a current we cease pulling the oar against it, we are carried back.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
4 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:13
“There is a sinful forgetting of past sins and past mercies, which ought to be remembered for the exercise of constant repentance and thankfulness to God. But Paul forgot the things which were behind so as not to be content with present measures of grace: he was still for having more and more.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Philippians 3:13
“Put the past out of mind. Set your mind to the future. What he has reckoned perfect today he ascertains to have been false tomorrow as he reaches for ever better and higher goals. By this gradual advance, never being static but always in progress, he is able to teach us that what we supposed in our human way to be perfect still remains in some ways imperfect. The only perfection is the true righteousness of God.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against the Pelagians 1.15patristic
Philippians 3:13
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended - That is, to have obtained that for which I have been called into the service of the Redeemer. There is something which I strive after which I have not yet gained. This statement is a confirmation of the opinion that in the previous verse, where he says that he was not “already perfect,” he includes a moral perfection, and not merely the obtainment of the prize or reward; for no one could suppose that he meant to be understood as saying that he had obtained the crown of glory.”
Philippians 3:13
“SO far as his acceptance with God is concerned, a Christian is complete in Christ as soon as he believes. Those who have trusted themselves in the hands of the Lord Jesus are saved—and they may enjoy holy confidence upon the matter, for they have a Divine warrant for so doing. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." To this salvation the Apostle had attained.”
I press on toward the goal: The picture is a runner in the stadium. Clarke explains the goal as the line marked from the start to the end of the course, on which the runner kept his eye. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the heavenly calling as the call of every Christian to salvation.
Philippians 3:14
“Re 2:10, "crown of life." 1Pe 5:4, "a crown of glory that fadeth not away." "The high," or "heavenly calling," is not restricted, as ALFORD thinks, to Paul's own calling as an apostle by the summons of God from heaven; but the common calling of all Christians to salvation in Christ, which coming from heaven invites us to heaven, whither accordingly our minds ought to be uplifted.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Philippians 3:14
“Forgetting the things that are behind - Even that part of the race which is already run. And reaching forth unto - Literally, stretched out over the things that are before - Pursuing with the whole bent and vigour of my soul, perfect holiness and eternal glory. In Christ Jesus - The author and finisher of every good thing.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:15-16
All of us who are mature: Mature translates teleioi, a turn on the perfection Paul denied himself in verse 12. He calls all who are mature to embrace this point of view, the mind of 2:5 again.
Philippians 3:15
"As many of us then, as are perfect," that is, full grown (no longer "babes") in the Christian life (Php 3:3, "worshipping God in the Spirit, and having no confidence in the flesh"), 1Co 2:6, fully established in things of God. Here, by "perfect," he means one fully fit for running [BENGEL]; knowing and complying with the laws of the course (2Ti 2:5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Philippians 3:15
“Let us therefore, as many as be perfect - see the notes at Php 3:12. Or, rather, those who would be perfect; or who are aiming at perfection. It can hardly be supposed that the apostle would address them as already perfect, when he had just said of himself that lie had not attained to that state. But those whom he addressed might be supposed to be aiming at perfection, and he exhorts them, therefore, to have the same spirit that he himself had, and to make the same efforts which he himself put forth.”
live up to what we have already attained: Growth starts from the ground already gained. Clarke reads the verse as holding the part of the race already run and keeping to the same line. The call is to walk by the truth already received while God makes the rest plain, as verse 15 promised.
Philippians 3:16
“Whereto we have already attained - Let us not lose that part of the race which we have already run, let us walk by the same rule - let us keep the white line continually in view, let us mind the same thing, always considering the glorious prize which is held out by God through Christ Jesus to animate and encourage us.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Philippians 3:16
“Being mindful of your love and of your zeal in Christ, which ye have manifested towards us, we thought it fitting to write to you, who display such a godly and spiritual love to the brethren, to put you in remembrance of your Christian course, "that ye all speak the same thing, being of one mind, thinking the same thing, and walking by the same rule of faith," [Philippians 3:16] as Paul admonished you.”
Ignatius of Antioch · written before 108 · Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Philippianspatristic
Their God Is the Belly; Our Citizenship Is Heaven
in following my example: Paul offers himself as a pattern, Join one another in following my example, sunmimetai, fellow imitators alongside one another. The command rests on Paul's life as the chapter has laid it out, an imitation of Christ's descent and pursuit.
Philippians 3:17
“Brethren, be followers together of me - That is, live as I do. A minister of the gospel, a parent, or a Christian of any age or condition, ought so to live that he can refer to his own example, and exhort others to imitate the course of life which he had led. Paul could do this without ostentation or impropriety.”
Philippians 3:18-19
enemies of the cross of Christ: Paul names the opposite pattern even with tears, those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their minds are set on earthly things uses phroneo, the letter's word for the mind, now aimed downward.
Philippians 3:18
“For many walk, etc - The Judaizing teachers continue to preach, who wish to incorporate circumcision, and other ordinances of the law, with the Gospel. They are the enemies of the cross of Christ - They rather attribute justification to the Levitical sacrifices, than to the sacrificial death of Christ; and thus they are enemies to that cross, and will not suffer persecution for its sake. They please the world, and are in no danger of reproach.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Philippians 3:18
“Enemies of the cross of Christ - Such are all cowardly, all shamefaced, all delicate Christians.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
their god is their belly: Paul describes the enemies of the cross by what they serve and where they end. Barnes reads their god as their own appetites, served in the place of God. He reads their end as the ruin of all who hold a profession without true faith.
Philippians 3:19
“Whose end is destruction - That is, as they have no true religion, they must perish in the same manner as all sinners. A mere profession will not save them. Unless they are converted, and become the true friends of the cross, they cannot enter heaven. Whose God is their belly - Who worship their own appetites; or who live not to adore and honor God, but for self-indulgence and sensual gratifications; see Rom 16:18. And whose glory is in their shame - That is, they glory in things of which they ought to be ashamed.”
our citizenship is in heaven: Citizenship translates politeuma, a word Philippi understood as a Roman colony, its citizens registered in a capital far away. Paul turns the image, our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we eagerly await a Savior.
Philippians 3:20
“Roman citizenship was then highly prized; how much more should the heavenly citizenship (Ac 22:28; compare Lu 10:20)? is--Greek, "has its existence." in heaven--Greek, "in the heavens." look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ--"We wait for (so the same Greek is translated, Ro 8:19) the Lord Jesus as a (that is, in the capacity of a) Saviour" (Heb 9:28).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:20
“Our conversation - The Greek word is of a very extenslve meaning: our citizenship, our thoughts, our affections, are already in heaven.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:20
“Our conversation is in heaven - Ἡμως - το πολιτευμα· Our city, or citizenship, or civil rights. The word properly signifies the administration, government, or form of a republic or state; and is thus used by Demosthenes, page 107, 25, and 262, 27. Edit. Reiske. It signifies also a republic, a city, or the inhabitants of any city or place; or a society of persons living in the same place, and under the same rules and laws. See more in Schleusner.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Philippians 3:20
“THERE can be no comparison between a soaring seraph and a crawling worm. Christian men ought so to live that it were idle to speak of a comparison between them and the men of the world. It should not be a comparison but a contrast. No scale of degrees should be possible. The Believer should be a direct and manifest contradiction to the unregenerate. The life of a saint should be altogether above and out of the same list as the life of a sinner.”
will transform our lowly bodies: The hope of verse 20 is bodily. Christ will transform our lowly bodies, literally the body of our humiliation, to be like His glorious body.
Philippians 3:21
“It was as full of this splendid example that Paul said: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." But if you maintain that a transfiguration and a conversion amounts to the annihilation of any substance, then it follows that "Saul, when changed into another man," passed away from his own bodily substance; and that Satan himself, when "transformed into an angel of light," loses his own proper character.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On the Resurrection of the Fleshpatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Philippians 3:21
“It will then be purer than the unspotted firmament, brighter than the lustre of the stars and, which exceeds all parallel, which comprehends all perfection, like unto his glorious body - Like that wonderfully glorious body which he wears in his heavenly kingdom, and on his triumphant throne.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Philippians 3:21
“Who shall change our vile body - compare the notes at 1 Cor. 15: The original words, which are rendered here as “vile body,” properly mean “the body of humiliation;” that is, our humble body. It refers to the body as it is in its present state, as subject to infirmities, disease, and death. It is different far from what it was when man was created, and from what it will be in the future world.”
Philippians 3:21
“At Christ's resurrection was a glorious instance of the divine power, and therefore he is declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead ( Rom. i. 4 ), so will our resurrection be: and his resurrection is a standing evidence, as well as pattern, of ours.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A warning and a personal testimony: the warning at 3:1 to 3, Paul's gain counted as loss at 3:4 to 11, the runner's pursuit at 3:12 to 16, and two patterns of life with the hope of heaven at 3:17 to 21, as guide classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The ledger of gain and loss | Verses 5 and 6 list seven grounds for confidence, four Paul was born with and three he chose, and verses 7 and 8 move all of them into the column of loss. The gain he seeks in their place is Christ Himself. Wesley reads the word for rubbish as the vilest refuse of things, the dregs fit only for dogs.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755, on Philippians 3:8. | Philippians 3:5, Philippians 3:6, Philippians 3:7, Philippians 3:8 |
| The runner | Verses 12 to 14 are told in the words of a race: pressing on, straining toward what is ahead, the goal and the prize. Clarke reads the goal as the line marked from the start of the stadium course to its end, on which the runner kept his eye. The words take hold of stand twice in verse 12, since Paul presses on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on Philippians 3:14. | Philippians 3:12, Philippians 3:13, Philippians 3:14 |
The structure
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter opens with a call to rejoice and a sudden warning in verses 1 to 3. Verses 4 to 11 give Paul's own account, his credentials in verses 4 to 6 and his loss of them for Christ in verses 7 to 11. Verses 12 to 16 turn the account into a race still being run. Verses 17 to 21 set two patterns of life side by side, those who walk as Paul does and the enemies of the cross, and end on the citizenship of heaven.
Where it stands in the letter
The chapter carries forward the letter's earlier words. The gain of verses 7 and 8 is the word Paul used of death at 1:21. The mind of verse 15 continues the call of 2:5. The citizenship of verse 20 takes up the citizen's verb of 1:27, and the lowly body transformed at verse 21 answers the humbling and exaltation of Christ at 2:8 to 9.
The debate
The dogs of verse 2 and the enemies of the cross of verse 18 are read three ways. The traditional reading takes both as one party, teachers pressing circumcision, with the belly of verse 19 read as food rules. Others note the change of tone and read verse 18 as people whose conduct denied the cross. A third reading takes verse 17 as the hinge, so that Paul contrasts two ways of walking without naming a second party. The break at verses 1 and 2 also raises the question whether the letter is one piece, and the whole manuscript tradition carries it as one.
Where the New Testament touches it
The righteousness from God by faith of verse 9 is the teaching of Romans 3:21 to 26 and Galatians 2:16 in brief. The transformed body of verse 21 is the hope Paul sets out in 1 Corinthians 15:42 to 54.
Where to go deeper
The teaching of verse 9 has its own page at /featured/justification-by-faith, and the growth of verses 12 to 16 at /featured/sanctification.
Keep studying
Studies7
Words12
Subjects3
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
a proposal of twentieth-century German scholarship, src/components/book/dossier-content/philippians.ts, the question whether Philippians is one letter; the reading of the whole manuscript tradition and of most English-language commentary, src/components/book/dossier-content/philippians.ts, the question whether Philippians is one letter and the site's Philippians guide, src/components/book/dossier-content/philippians.ts, the question who are the dogs of 3:2 and the enemies of the cross of 3:18.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Philippians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Philippians.