Philippians 3:17-4:1

Scripture Reading:

Introduction

Philippi was a Roman colony, and it’s likely that many of the local people in that area of northern Greece saw Rome and the colonial administration in much the way I have described. What had happened was this. In 42 BC, about a hundred years before Paul came to the area, Philippi was the setting for one of the great battles in the Roman civil war that had broken out after the death of Julius Caesar. The two victorious generals, Antony and Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus), had found themselves with a lot of soldiers in northern Greece with nothing more to do. They certainly didn’t want to bring them all back to Rome, or even to Italy. It would be dangerous to have thousands of soldiers suddenly arriving in the capital. So they gave them land in and around Philippi, making it a colony of Rome.

Once the colony was established, other veterans from other battles joined them. By the time Paul went there, Philippi contained quite a number of families descended from those original Roman colonists, as well as several local people who had benefited from the Roman presence—and a good many who hadn’t, and who resented the alien, Latin-speaking elite that had taken over their Greek town.

Philippi was on a main road which ran west to the narrowest part of the Adriatic Sea, where you could sail easily across to Italy and travel on to Rome. Close contact could be maintained with the mother city. The Philippian colonists were proud of being Romans, and would do their best to order their civic life so that it matched the way things were done in Rome. The most recent innovation down that line was, of course, the establishment of the imperial cult: Caesar, the emperor, was to be worshipped as saviour and Lord.

All of this is important if we are to understand the present passage, which is in many ways the climax of the letter.

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Exegesis

Philippians 3:17 NASB95

17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

Paul’s intent is not for the Philippians to focus on him per se but rather for them to join him in humble, radical dependence on Christ.

“Join in imitating” = collective imitation. Paul isn’t asking for hero worship; he’s calling the church to shared discipleship.

Three matters are thus brought together in this second application: (1) that their behavior conform to the pattern Paul has just given them in his story (Phil 3:4–14); (2) that they corporately join together in imitating Paul in this way; and (3) that they take note of others who come along who “walk” this way, precisely because, as he will spell out in the next sentence, there are many who walk otherwise.

The compound word “fellow imitators” is not attested elsewhere in Greek literature and may be Paul’s own creation. This phrase could mean that they are to become “fellow imitators” with Paul of Christ.221 The entire letter conveys Paul’s sense of mutuality and equality with his friends in Philippi. When he calls them to follow his example, he is urging them to join with him in his own journey to know Christ. When they are fellow imitators of Paul, they will be united in their common pursuit of one thing (3:13): to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (3:10).

Paul’s emphasis in this chapter is his loss of privilege and position for the sake of Christ. Imitating Paul does not lead to defending one’s position and asserting power, but to having the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: … he made himself nothing; he humbled himself (2:5–8). Paul offers himself as an example of one who followed the way of Christ, the way of the cross. Imitating Paul is the way to imitate Christ.

Philippians 3:18 NASB95

18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,

In opposition to those who “walk” in the way Paul does, many [walk] as enemies of the cross of Christ. By repeating the verb “walk” (TNIV: live), Paul places a fork in the road. We must make a radical choice between two different ways to live: the Christ-centered life or the self-centered life. Paul’s description of the way of self-indulgence warns us against the constant danger of following dominant cultural fashions opposed to the way of the cross.

When Paul speaks of these people who are walking contrary to the way of the cross of Christ in their pursuit of their own self-interests, he speaks with tears. Literally, Paul writes, “but now I speak even weeping.” Paul reserves such an outpouring of emotion for those who have professed belief in Christ. Although he refers to these people in the third person as outsiders, they are still close to his heart. Paul’s pastoral concern for those whose mind is set on earthly things causes him intense emotional pain. Though his words are harsh, his heart is broken. He mourns over the enemies of the cross.

Who are these enemies of the cross whom Paul has told the Philippians about often, and is now telling them about again while weeping? Based upon the fact that he is crying, it seems they may be former Christians who have left the faith and are following after their passions & desires.

A more plausible identification of the enemies of the cross emphasizes Paul’s focus on the way these people live, or “walk.” The problem with these people is not a theological denial of the cross of Christ, but an ethical divergence from the way of the cross of Christ. The narrative of the cross presents a way to walk in humility as a servant, by becoming obedient unto death—even death on a cross! (Phil 2:7–8). The narrative of Christ (Phil 2:6–11) is framed by exhortations to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (Phil 2:3) and to work out your own salvation (Phil 2:12). Paul’s story of his personal renunciation of his elite position in order to participate in the sufferings of Christ (Phil 3:4–10) provides an example of the way to walk in the way of the cross. In this context, enemies of the cross are those who “seek to avoid suffering that might come their way as the result of their convictions about Christ.” Their selfish ambitions are opposed to the way of the cross.

Philippians 3:19 NASB95

19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

At the same time, he wrote against Jews who emphasized achieving perfection by obeying the laws, he also had in mind Greeks and Romans who threw off all restraints and lived very sensual lives. These people were called “antinomians” (against the law) as they were against any rules or laws. They wanted to live in complete freedom of any restraints on their physical desires.

They live only for the present.

They surrender so entirely to their appetites that their desires have become their god. For those who have no higher authority for the way they live than the dictates of their bodily appetites, their god is their stomach. They worship their appetites.

Even though serving bodily appetites leads to shameful behavior, these people take pride in their shame; they broadcast and brag about their shameful indulgence of their physical appetites: their glory is in their shame.

The reason why these people are enslaved by their sensual appetites and boast about their shameful acts is that their mind is set on earthly things. In this final characterization of the enemies of the cross, Paul uses a favorite verb. The verb to set [one’s] mind on something. In all of these uses of the verb, Paul encourages a Christ-centered, unifying attitude. But in his description of the enemies of the cross, Paul employs this verb to depict a self-centered, divisive attitude. People with this orientation of life are obsessed with getting earthly things for their own personal gratification. In contrast to pursuing the heavenward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14), they are concentrating on their earthly possessions and pleasures. These people had probably been members of the Christian community in Philippi, but now they “have turned full circle; having abandoned the way of the cross, they have their mind once again set on earthly things.”

Four descriptions of these people:

Their end is destruction – trajectory matters more than intention.

Their god is their belly – ruled by appetite (not just food, but desire, comfort, pleasure).

They glory in their shame – celebrating what should humble them.

Their minds are set on earthly things – earthbound thinking shapes earthbound living.

Who are these people? Likely not outsiders, but people who:

Claim Christ

Reject the cost of the cross

Redefine freedom as self-indulgence

“Enemies of the cross” doesn’t mean anti-Jesus; it means anti-cruciform living.

They want resurrection without death, glory without sacrifice, forgiveness without transformation.

Philippians 3:20 NASB95

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

Citizens of Philippi, a Roman colony, were automatically citizens of Rome, sharing all the rights and privileges of Roman citizens even though most of them had never been there. Paul’s readers in Philippi therefore understand quite well what it means to be citizens of the supreme city while not yet living there.

a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ In the Roman Empire, the emperor was known as the savior and lord. By applying these titles to Jesus, Paul is calling the Philippians to live under the authority and reign of the universe’s true Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. It was likely this kind of message that landed Paul and Silas in jail in Philippi (Acts 16:21).

In a classic expression of the “already/not yet” framework of his theology, Paul says in effect that “we are a colony of heaven” as we live the life of the future, our true homeland, while living presently in the Roman colony of Philippi.

Because heaven is our true homeland, we eagerly await our Savior from there, he goes on—in yet one more play on their Roman citizenship and clear attempt to encourage them in their present suffering. The primary title for the Roman emperor was “lord and savior”; Paul now puts those two words side by side: our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who will not only transform our present humiliation into glory but do this in keeping with the power that enables him to bring everything under his control (including the Roman lord and savior, Nero Caesar!). All of this to reassure the Philippians that the heavenly prize is absolutely worth pursuing (vv. Phil 3:12–14).

Now, however, instead of thinking about “attaining to the resurrection” (v. Phil 3:11), Paul thinks in terms of Christ’s return. The net result is the same. Our present earthly existence is expressed in terms of (literally) “the body of our [present] humble station” (NIV lowly bodies, same word as in Phil 2:3 and 8), which for many of us is a constant reminder of our creatureliness. These Christ will transform so that they are (again literally) "conformed [symmorphon; cf. symmorphizomenos in Phil 3:10] to the body of his glory." Therefore, just as knowing Christ now means being conformed into the likeness of his death (v. Phil 3:10), so in our final glory we will be conformed into the likeness of his resurrection.

Paul’s use of the word emphasizes the membership of Christians in the heavenly kingdom governed by Christ. Our governing power, our executive authority is in heaven. The implication of asserting our citizenship in the heavenly state is that we are a “colony of heavenly citizens” here on earth.257 This concept of belonging to a community of foreigners who pledge allegiance to the government in their home country became a metaphor for living in exile. Josephus referred to the community of Diaspora Jews in Alexandria as a commonwealth (politeuma).

His terminology carries special significance for the church in the Roman colony called Philippi. Because Augustus conferred on Philippi all the rights and privileges of being governed under the Roman form of constitutional government, Philippi was on an equal footing to cities in Italy. The official language of Philippi was Latin, the language of Rome. The fact that the majority of inscriptions found in Roman Philippi are in Latin confirms the Roman orientation of the citizens of Philippi. In contrast to the allegiance of Roman Philippians to their governing power, their politeuma, in Rome, Paul sets forth the parallel and opposing claim of Christians that their governing power, their politeuma, is in heaven.

The close connection between Roman colonial language and Paul’s terminology comes into even sharper focus in the next phrase: we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus was acclaimed to be the “savior of the world” because he restored order and peace not only in Italy but also throughout the provinces and regions under his sovereign rule. Paul’s use of the term Savior in his letter to Christians in Roman Philippi “sharply opposes Jesus Christ as Lord to the imperial savior.” By applying the imperial title Savior to Jesus Christ, “Paul explicitly (and we must assume deliberately) speaks of Jesus in language which echoes, and hence deeply subverts, language in common use among Roman imperial subjects to describe Caesar.” Paul redirects the focus of his readers from the savior in Rome, Caesar Augustus, to the Savior in heaven, Jesus Christ the Lord. In contrast to the enemies of the cross who set their minds on earthly powers (3:18–19), the Christians in Philippi are called to focus their trust and hope in the Lord and Savior above all earthly powers. The enemies of the cross followed the natural inclination of residents in Philippi to look to the emperor in Rome to exert his sovereign power to solve their problems, satisfy their appetites, rescue them from trouble, and protect them from danger. But the Christian who followed the example of Paul (3:17) looked to Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. Such a change of allegiance would inevitably cause them to participate in the sufferings of Christ (3:10). Their sufferings will cause them to eagerly await their Savior from heaven who has the power that enables him to bring everything under his control (3:20–21). Their hope for the future is not fixed on Caesar, the savior and lord of the Roman Empire, but on Jesus Christ, the heavenly Lord and Savior.

Philippians 3:21 NASB95

21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Those who believe in Christ will be raised and their bodies will be transformed (Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20–22, 51–54).

Christ’s present existence is bodily in the sense of 1 Corinthians 15, that the body is the point of continuity between the present and the future. The form of that body is the point of discontinuity—a “mystery,” Paul says—but adapted to the final life of the Spirit; hence it is a “supernatural body,” or as here, “the body of his [present] glory.” The good new is that the same future awaits those who are his, which is Paul’s present concern. Our current lot, he has argued in Phil 1:29–30 (cf. Phil 2:17), is to suffer for Christ’s sake. But we can “rejoice in the Lord” in the midst of such suffering (Phil 2:18; 3:1; 4:4) because our suffering itself is enabled by “the power of his resurrection” (Phil 3:10), which resurrection at the same time guarantees our certain future. Hence in our present “humiliation” we await the coming of the Savior, and with that coming the transformation of our humiliation into the likeness of his glory.

Moreover, the power by which Christ will bring about this transformation is “in keeping with [NIV by] the working” that enables him “also to subject all things to himself” (NIV to bring everything under his control). In some ways this is the most remarkable transformation of all, in that Paul here uses language about Christ that he elsewhere uses only of God the Father. The phrase “able to subject all things to himself” is Paul’s eschatological interpretation of Psalm 8:7, where God will “subject all things” to his Messiah, who in turn, according to 1 Corinthians 15:28, will turn over all things to God the Father so that “God might be all and in all.” Remarkably, in the present passage the subjecting of all things to himself is said to be by Christ’s own power.

The little word “also” has unfortunately been omitted from many English translations, including the NIV. Here is the final word of assurance to the Philippians. By the same power by which he will transform their present bodies that are suffering at the hand of opposition in Philippi, Christ will likewise subject “all things” to himself, including the emperor and all those who in his name are causing the Philippians to suffer. As Paul has already said in Phil 1:28, their own salvation from God will at the same time result in the destruction of the opposition.

It simply cannot be put any better than that. This passage reminds us that despite appearances often to the contrary, God is in control, that our salvation is not just for today but forever, that Christ is coming again, and that at his coming we inherit the final glory that belongs to Christ alone—and to those who are his. It means the final subjugation of all the “powers” to him as well, especially those responsible for the present affliction of God’s people. With Paul we would do well not merely to await the end but eagerly to press on toward the goal, since the final prize is but the consummation of what God has already accomplished through the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Philippians 4:1 NASB95

1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

Application

Paul does not offer any middle ground or middle way. Similar to Christ’s challenge, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13), Paul’s challenge will not allow his readers the possibility of serving two masters. Either their god is their stomach or they will consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ (Phil 3:7). Either they will pursue earthly things or they will pursue the “heavenward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

‘We are citizens of heaven,’ Paul declares in verse 20. At once many modern Christians misunderstand what he means. We naturally suppose he means ‘and so we’re waiting until we can go and live in heaven where we belong’. But that’s not what he says, and it’s certainly not what he means. If someone in Philippi said, ‘We are citizens of Rome,’ they certainly wouldn’t mean ‘so we’re looking forward to going to live there’. Being a colony works the other way round. The last thing the emperors wanted was a whole lot of colonists coming back to Rome. The capital was already overcrowded and underemployed. No: the task of the Roman citizen in a place like Philippi was to bring Roman culture and rule to northern Greece, to expand Roman influence there.

But supposing things got difficult for the Roman colonists in Philippi. Supposing there was a local rebellion, or an attack by the ‘barbarian’ tribes to the north. How would they cope? Their best hope would be that the emperor himself, who after all was called ‘saviour’, ‘rescuer’, would come from Rome to Philippi to change their present somewhat defenceless situation, defeat their enemies, and establish them as firmly and gloriously as Rome itself. The emperor, of course, was the ruler of the whole world, so he had the power to make all this happen under his authority.

That is the picture Paul has in mind in verses 20 and 21. The church is at present a colony of heaven, with the responsibility (as we say in the Lord’s Prayer) for bringing the life and rule of heaven to bear on earth. We are not, of course, very good at doing this; we often find ourselves weak and helpless, and our physical bodies themselves are growing old and tired, decaying and ready to die. But our hope is that the true saviour, the true Lord, King Jesus himself will come from heaven and change all that. He is going to transform the entire world so that it is full of his glory, full of the life and power of heaven. And, as part of that, he is going to transform our bodies so that they are like his glorious body, the body which was itself transformed after his cruel death so that it became wonderfully alive again with a life that death and decay could never touch again.

Knowing this will enable Christians to ‘stand firm in the Lord’ (4:1); and now we can see more clearly what that means. It doesn’t just mean remaining constant in faith. It means giving allegiance to Jesus, rather than to Caesar, as the true Lord. Paul has described the church, and its Lord, in such a way that the Philippians could hardly miss the allusion to Rome and Caesar. This is the greatest challenge of the letter: that the Christians in Philippi, whether or not they were themselves Roman citizens (some probably were, many probably weren’t), would think out what it means to give their primary allegiance not to Rome but to heaven, not to Caesar but to Jesus—and to trust that Jesus would in due time bring the life and rule of heaven to bear on the whole world, themselves included.

This is the sense in which they must copy Paul (verse 17). He has described how he cast aside his Jewish privileges in order to gain King Jesus (verses 4–11). They couldn’t copy him exactly; few if any of them were Jewish. They must think out, and so must we, what this allegiance to Jesus will mean in terms of the other claims to allegiance that press upon us.

As they, and we, engage in this, we must also heed the warning of verses 18–19. All around the church, then and now, are people whose behaviour is conditioned by the world of the senses. It’s possible that Paul is hinting that even some Christians end up behaving like this, but the main thrust of the passage is to warn the church against pagan behaviour. The argument is quite like that of 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, particularly 6:14. The fact that God is going to give resurrection life to our bodies means that we shouldn’t regard them at the moment as the most important thing. We shouldn’t be determined by their various appetites, as though our stomachs were our gods. That way lies destruction; the present body, after all, will die, and if we worship it we are entering a covenant with death itself. The Messiah’s cross (verse 18) stands in front of that path, to turn us back and point us to life.

Citizenship (politeuma) is a loaded word in Philippi:

Philippi was a Roman colony

Citizens lived in Macedonia but belonged to Rome

Their values, laws, and loyalty came from somewhere else

Paul’s point:

You live on earth

But your identity, allegiance, and values come from heaven

Christian living doesn’t start with rules—it starts with belonging.

“Roman citizens in Philippi didn’t ask, ‘What do Macedonians do?’ They asked, ‘What does Rome expect of us?’

And Paul says, that’s how Christians are supposed to think.”

Which makes Paul’s warning sharper:

Some people are living like earth is home

Others live like heaven sets the rules

Conclusion