Philippians 3:15-19 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing you be otherwise minded… I. THE GENERAL EXHORTATION INCLUDES THEM ALL WITH HIMSELF. 1. The fundamental principle of all "perfect," i.e., well-instructed and mature Christians, must be to count the goal of religion the attainment of Christ, and the blessedness of religion the practical end of life. Those are perfect who have already finished their course as far as it leads through carnal ordinances, and from them to Christ the end of the law. They have this preparatory or first perfection, in that they have put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11), became spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:6), and are so far made perfect in grace. This is one of several designations, such as "adult," "strong," etc., which mark those who have entered in the course, and has no more reference to moral perfection than "saints" has to sanctity. 2. This preliminary perfection is quite consistent with much lingering imperfection. It was quite possible that some of them might give up old dependence on the law while retaining some of the beggarly elements. But the apostle expresses his hope that in every minor particular, as in the fundamental principle, they would be brought to think rightly. But the condition is that they continued "thus minded" as to the great essential. Those who "will to do His will shall know of the doctrine," was the Saviour's promise, and St. Paul here gives us only another version of the same promise. Those whose hearts are clear as to the ruling principle and aim of life shall, if they seek the guidance of the Divine Spirit, the source of the greater as well as of the lesser revelations, shall never be suffered to go astray. 3. The life must perseveringly conform to the great principle if this promise is to be fulfilled (ver. 16). Those who have the right aim in their Christian life must walk by it still, whatever the measure of their progress be. The plough must be held to the end of the furrow; to look back is to be unfit for the kingdom of God. II. ST. PAUL EXHORTS THEM TO COPY HIS EXAMPLE, and that of all true Christians of whom he made himself the representative. 1. "Be ye imitators together." The emphasis of their union in this imitation is in danger of being lost unless we consider the deep purpose of it. Very much of the blessedness and strength of religion is the result of close compact fellowship. The Philippians must unite and stir each other up to emulation in this matter, in case of any defection; warning each other, and generally making this imitation the subject of common effort. The apostle knows how effectual a stimulant is the holy example of the saints. 2. This emulous and united imitation of the apostle is enforced by a vivid and pathetic description of the practical Judaizers who were otherwise minded. They are to be "marked" in the particulars which miserably distinguished them from the apostolic standard. Their life and walk were to be studied and compared with a better model. Before St. Paul had depicted the evil of their doctrine; now he points to their practice. They are enemies of the Cross in their spirit, desires, aims, conduct, and whole compass of their being. They were not referred to as a distinct class; they are diffused through the churches as an unholy leaven. 3. Nothing so stirred the apostle's soul as men's opposition to the Cross. He estimated all things by their relation to the atonement. 4. It is their end that first fills his thought, because he had just been paying tribute to the "end of the Lord" in the resurrection of the saints. That end was destruction (1 Corinthians 1:19; Philippians 1:18; Romans 1:22-23). 5. Many of the Gentile moralists had used these very words to condemn Epicureanism. "The worship of the belly" had become a current phrase (1 Romans 16:18; 1 Corinthians 15:22). While he wept over their unspeakable folly and coming end, he mourned over their degradation — "whose glory," etc. 6. The real secret of the dissolute living of these enemies of the Cross lies in the words "who mind earthly things." Mind means intellect and heart. The contrast is presented in Colossians 3:2. (W. B. Pope, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. |
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