Philippians 3:17-18 Brothers, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensample. 1. The object of the apostle in the statement of his own consecration in the earlier part of the chapter was that he might the more emphatically express his desire to others that they would imitate his example (vers. 15-16), and enjoy with him the reward (vers. 20-21). He did not wish to stand on an elevation solitary and unapproached. 2. The exhortation is enforced by a distressing contrast — men who desired to be considered the followers of Christ, but over whom the obligations of religion had no power and who were proceeding fast through deep degradation to perdition. Observe — I. THE GUILT ATTRIBUTED TO THE CHARACTERS DESCRIBED. They were members and perhaps teachers; not open blasphemers but pretended votaries. They were — 1. Sensualists. (1) "Whose God is their belly" denotes the gross and brutish indulgences to which they resorted for pleasure (Romans 16:17-18). To pamper the appetites of the body is a tendency the power and prevalence of which cannot be sufficiently mourned (Mark 7:21-23; Galatians 5:19-21), and even where there is the restraint which arises from civil institutions, care of reputation, and other motives, there is but a modification in the development of the evil, and not the removal of the evil itself. The purpose of the gospel is to overcome the propensities of original nature and turn men away from what is degrading to what is sanctifying. But there was and is an attempt to pervert the principle of the gospel, and, by the most infamous of all sophisms, to show that we are permitted to "sin that grace may abound." Awful and abominable is that heresy which would thus attempt to poison the waters of purity at their very fountain. (2) The strength of the sensuality thus deprecated is expressed with remarkable force. "Whose God is their belly"; and under the sovereign influence of that debasing passion they "glory in their shame." They make a virtue of their subjection, a boast of their idolatry. They who regard the gratification of their appetites as the end of their existence are worshippers of their loathsome passions. They have as much denied the God of heaven as if they had acknowledged the deities of Olympus. 2. Worldlings. It may seem strange that this disposition should be placed in connection with the others as of the same kind and degree of criminality, but the phrase used expresses absorption in the concerns of the present world to the exclusion of another. And this neglect of futurity arises from the same depravity as the other. Worldliness, condemned as "idolatry," is only another development of depravity; for Christianity is designed to impress our race with the high solemnities of a world to come (Matthew 6:19-21; Colossians 2:2; 1 John 2:15), and when you are told of men who "mind earthly things" you are told of men who commit a sweeping act of blasphemy against the whole. II. THE CONCLUSIONS DEDUCED AS TO THESE CHARACTERS ON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES. It is affirmed — 1. They are malignant adversaries of the mediatorial character and work of the Son of God. (1) When men are enemies of the Cross, they are hostile to every purpose for which Christ came into the world. (2) In this manner a charge is advanced of special emphasis and solemnity. There is not ascribed a mere ordinary failure to comply with some of the precepts of religion, but a direct and daring enmity against that without which religion would be nothing (Romans 6:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Titus 2:14; Colossians 3:11). They are enemies because — (a) They refute the grand design for which alone it was ever regarded. (b) They are the means of degrading it in the world, and exposing it to public reproach. It is not the Jew, the heathen, the savage persecutor, or the blaspheming infidel, but the man who assumes the cross as his badge. 2. Their career terminates in the woes of avenging retribution. The Cross affords the only hope of salvation. The votaries of passions and habits so hostile to the purifying principles and purposes of redeeming love are therefore necessarily placed under the awful anathema of heaven (2 Peter 2:10 to end). III. THE IMPULSE WHICH THE CONTEMPLATION OF SUCH CHARACTERS INSPIRES. "Tell you even weeping." Their case dwelt much on his mind, and occupied much of his ministry. To the same anxiety he refers especially in Acts 20:18, 19, 29-31. This proceeded — 1. From a dread lest the disciples of the gospel should contract their guilt. There was a loud call for vigilance lest the infection should spread. 2. From a deep concern for the peril of those by whom the guilt had been contracted already. Paul was not only anxious for the Church, but for his fellow immortals actually in a state of condemnation (Psalm 119:136; Jeremiah 9:1; Luke 19:41-42). It is not possible surely to contemplate the present debasement and final ruin of the sinner without sincere and heart-rending sorrow. (J. Parsons.) Parallel Verses KJV: Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. |
    |