ACC ~ Philippians 3 v17 - 21

OVERVIEW:

The Philippians are instructed to imitate Paul even in his absence (CHRYSOSTOM). Those against whom he warns among the Philippians are already leading the Galatians into a new bondage (AMBROSIASTER). He predicts their destruction (MARIUS VICTORINUS). Christians have a future resurrection (HILARY OF POITIERS), which detaches them even now from the world (BASIL OF CAESAREA), in which they view themselves as pilgrims (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). The cross is the means of a transfiguration (MARIUS VICTORINUS), which does not destroy our bodies (TERTULLIAN) but frees them from corrupt desires (CASSIODORUS) and makes them spiritual (MARIUS VICTORINUS). God sets limits in the use of our bodies in the world (CHRYSOSTOM). The risen Lord subjects all things to himself, conferring upon our creation a new nature (AMBROSIASTER, HILARY OF POITIERS).

3:17 | Join in Imitating Me

YOU KNOW MY MANNER OF LIFE. CHRYSOSTOM: Remember above when he said “beware of dogs” and drew them away from those people? Now he directs them to what they ought to imitate. “If anyone,” he says, “wishes to imitate me and tread the same path, let him hold fast to the faithful. And even if I am not present, yet you know my manner of walking—that is, my way of acting, speaking and living.” For he taught them not through words only but also through deeds. In a chorus or a military camp you expect the others to imitate the director or the general. They should walk in the same good order. Otherwise the line can be broken by conflict. HOMILY ON PHILIPPIANS 13.3.17.

3:18a | An Exhortation with Tears

THEIR FEARFUL END. MARIUS VICTORINUS: An exhortation is stronger when it is accompanied by what is fearful in its alternative. … Paul expresses heartfelt affection when he describes the evils suffered by those who live otherwise, saying, “I say it with tears. ” EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.19.

NOW WITH TEARS. AMBROSIASTER: Those who bring him to tears are the very ones who had already overthrown the Galatians. By treacherous proceedings they were destroying the churches in the name of Christ. … He speaks of these people with grief and tears. They were impeding the salvation of the faithful by raising questions about the eating of or abstinence from food. It is as though salvation were in food or as if “God were a belly,” one whom they believed to take delight in worldly foods according to the law while they gloried in the circumcision of their private parts. This is what it is to “think earthly thoughts.” One who “thinks spiritual thoughts” glories in faith, hope and charity. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.19.

3:18b | Living as Enemies of the Cross

ENEMIES OF THE CROSS SEE ONLY FLESH OR ONLY SPIRIT CRUCIFIED. MARIUS VICTORINUS: There are two types of misunderstanding of Christ, or rather one class of two descriptions, who are enemies of Christ. For some in their carnal thoughts deride the cross of Christ, thinking of Christ merely as a man raised onto a cross. … These pay attention to nothing but the flesh. To them “their god is a belly” and their “glory is in filthiness.” These are the ones who “think earthly thoughts” and whose end is death. On the other hand, there are those who think of Christ only as a spirit. They do not think of him as incarnate or crucified. They too are enemies to the cross of Christ, having death as their end. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.19.

3:19 | Minds Set on Earthly Things

PUT BOUNDARIES ON THE BELLY. CHRYSOSTOM: Your belly is given to you so that you may nourish it, not so that it may burst. Your body is given you that you may rule it, not so that you may have it as a mistress. It is given that it may serve you for the nourishment of the other members, not so that you may serve it. Do not exceed these bounds. The sea in flood does not so much harm to the boundaries as our belly does to our bodies and our souls. The flood overwhelms only part of the land. The god of the belly overwhelms the whole body. Set self-constraint as a bound to it as God sets the sand to the sea. HOMILY ON PHILIPPIANS 14.3.18-21.

THEY GLORY IN THEIR SHAME. CHRYSOSTOM: Those who “glory in their shame” some think is a reference to circumcision. I disagree. To “glory in their shame” means to take pride in what they ought to conceal. For it is bad enough to do shameful things. But if the doer is ashamed, it is only half so terrible. When, however, someone preens himself on his own shame, that is the extreme of shamelessness. HOMILY ON PHILIPPIANS 14.3.18-21.

WHOSE GOD IS IN THEIR BELLY. CHRYSOSTOM: Let us build houses: where? On earth. Let us procure fields: on earth again. Let us get power: on earth again. Let us get glory: on earth again. Let us be rich: always on earth. These are the ones “whose god is their belly.” HOMILY ON PHILIPPIANS 14.3.18-21.

3:20a | Our Commonwealth in Heaven

WHETHER ANNIHILATION IS THE END. HILARY OF POITIERS: If it should be the case that both the blessed and the impious have an end and that end is understood as annihilation, the end makes religion and impiety equal. The common end of both would consist simply in not being. And where is our “hope in heaven” if our end simply makes us nonexistent? If hope is said to be owed to the saints and an end to the impious, even then the end cannot be simply annihilation. For how could it be a punishment of impiety to have no awareness whatever of the punishments that avenge it? Would not one who is annihilated not know the cause of his suffering? Better to distinguish a continuing place reserved for the blessed and another prepared for the wicked. ON THE TRINITY 11.28.

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN. BASIL OF CAESAREA: We drag our body like a shadow along the ground, but we guard our soul as one that shares in the citizenship of heaven. ON BAPTISM 1.21.

3:20b | Awaiting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

LIVING AS EXPATRIATES. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: We know that this is well said, for we ought to live as strangers and expatriates in the world … not using the creation to satisfy our passions but high-mindedly and with thanksgiving. STROMATA 3.14.95.

3:21a | Our Body to Be Like Christ’s Glorious Body

LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY. MARIUS VICTORINUS: When we rise and are changed and are made spiritual in soul, body and spirit (for all these three make up one man and are one spirit), the body in which we have been humbled will be raised. It will be of the same and an equal form to the body of Christ’s own glory. So too we shall be spirits as he himself is a spirit. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.21.

HOW CHRIST CHANGES OUR LOWLY BODY. MARIUS VICTORINUS: In this place of worship dwells the mystery of the resurrection. For what was fulfilled in Christ in the flesh was this: that he should save souls and also cause immortality to be given to the flesh through resurrection. This he accomplished by the power of his cross. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.21.

THE SAME BODY WILL RISE. TERTULLIAN: If Christ coming from heaven will “transform the body of our humiliation into conformity with the body of his glory,” then this body of ours, which is humbled by sufferings and cast down into the earth by the very law of death, is the very body that will rise. For how will it be transformed if there is nothing? GAINST MARCION 5.20.7.

SIN NO LONGER DESIRED. CASSIODORUS: What he obviously means is that those who no longer desire sins are immortal, since they enjoy divine delights. That is the rule ordained for the blessed, of whom it is said, “They shall be as angels.” SUMMARY OF PHILIPPIANS 5.3.21.

3:21b | All Things Subject to the Lord

FROM NATURE TO NATURE. HILARY OF POITIERS: “The power that enables him to subject all things to himself” consists in the transition from one nature to another nature. Insofar as it ceases to be its previous nature, it becomes subject to its new nature. It does not stop existing but advances in existing. It ceases to be the old nature and becomes the new nature. It is subdued by transformation as it passes into the fashion of the new kind that it has assumed. ON THE TRINITY 11.35.

THE POWER OF THE LORD MANIFEST. AMBROSIASTER: Through the resurrection of the dead and their transformation into glory the power of the Lord will be manifestly apparent, subduing all the principalities and powers so that he may be manifestly the God and Lord of all. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 3.21.