In Philippians 3 the apostle Paul turns from counting former gains as loss for the sake of Christ and the righteousness that comes through faith to the practical outworking of that truth. He urges the brethren to join in following his example and to carefully note those who walk according to the same pattern. The word “note” means to scope out and fix the eyes upon such lives. At the same time believers are to mark those who cause divisions and scandalize contrary to the doctrine they have learned and to separate from them.
Many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction—complete ruin and a wasted life. Their god is their belly; they serve only what they can get out of the saints. Their glory is their shame, expressed in craftiness and deceitful handling of the Word of God. With smooth words and flattering speech they deceive the simple-hearted. Such teachers secretly introduce destructive heresies that deny the Lord who bought them, twist the Scriptures, and merchandise the people of God through covetousness. The fondness of money is a root of all things that lack character; those who determine to be rich fall into temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires that drown them in ruin. Godliness with contentment is great gain; having food and clothing, believers are to be content, for they brought nothing into the world and can carry nothing out.
Paul contrasts these earthly-minded lives with the true position of the church. Our citizenship is in the heavens, from which we eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sojourners and pilgrims on the earth, fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We do not set our minds on the things that are seen, which are temporary, but on the things that are not seen, which are eternal. When Christ appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. He will transform our lowly body, the soulish body, into a spiritual body conformed to His glorious body. In that resurrection there is neither marriage nor the need for food; the life-source is no longer the soul but the spirit.
Therefore Paul exhorts the beloved to stand fast in the Lord, hold the traditions taught by the apostles, live out the freedom that is in Christ rather than return to law, and serve one another in love without imposing personal standards. The form of this world is passing away; believers are not to love the world or the things of the world. The primary debt remaining is to love one another of the same kind—fellow saints. Every day brings the return of Christ one day closer; readiness consists in living so that when He comes we are not ashamed.
