Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Philippians 3:19
Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
19. end ] A word of awful and hopeless import. Cp. Rom 6:21 ; 2Co 11:15; Heb 6:8; 1Pe 4:17.
destruction ] R.V., perdition. See on Php 1:28.
their belly ] Lit. and better, the belly. Cp. Rom 16:18 for the same word in the same connexion. See too 1Co 6:13. The word obviously indicates here the sensual appetites generally, not only gluttony in food. Venter in Latin has the same reference. See Lightfoot.
The Antinomian boasted, very possibly, of an exalted spiritual liberty and special intimacy with God.
whose glory is in their shame.] It is implied that they claimed a “glory”; probably in such “liberty” as we have just indicated. They set up for the true Christian philosophers, and advanced dogmatists. (Cp. Romans 16 quoted above.) But in fact their vaunted system was exactly their deepest disgrace.
who mind earthly things.)] For a closely kindred phrase, in the negative, see Col 3:2; and observe the context, Php 3:5 &c. And for the meaning of “mind” here see notes on Php 1:7, Php 2:2, above.
The Antinomian claimed to live in an upper region, to be so conversant with celestial principles as to be rid of terrestrial restraints of letter, and precept, and custom. As a fact, his fine-spun theory was a transparent robe over the corporeal lusts which were his real interests.
The Greek construction of this clause is abrupt, but clear.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Whose end is destruction – That is, as they have no true religion, they must perish in the same manner as all sinners. A mere profession will not save them. Unless they are converted, and become the true friends of the cross, they cannot enter heaven.
Whose God is their belly – Who worship their own appetites; or who live not to adore and honor God, but for self-indulgence and sensual gratifications; see Rom 16:18.
And whose glory is in their shame – That is, they glory in things of which they ought to be ashamed. They indulge in modes of living which ought to cover them with confusion.
Who mind earthly things – That is, whose hearts are set on earthly things, or who live to obtain them. Their attention is directed to honor, gain, or pleasure, and their chief anxiety is that they may secure these objects. This is mentioned as one of the characteristics of enmity to the cross of Christ; and if this be so, how many are there in the church now who are the real enemies of the cross! How many professing Christians are there who regard little else than worldly things! How many who live only to acquire wealth. to gain honor, or to enjoy the pleasures of the world! How many are there who have no interest in a prayer meeting, in a Sunday school, in religious conversation, and in the advancement of true religion on the earth! These are the real enemies of the cross. It is not so much those who deny the doctrines of the cross, as it is those who oppose its influence on their hearts; not so much those who live to scoff and deride religion, as it is those who mind earthly things, that injure this holy cause in the world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Php 3:19
Whose end is destruction
I.
Their sin. Earthly mindedness. It seems hard to say that we should not at all mind earthly things. These are necessary to sweeten our pilgrimage, and support us during our service. We have our earthly house that must be maintained (2Co 5:1). Therefore God does allow us in some sort to mind earthly things, but–
1. Not only. Some mind them who have no tincture of religion (Psa 10:4; Rom 8:5; Luk 10:42; Luk 12:21).
2. Not chiefly. The gross worldling is discovered by his only minding, the secret worldling by his chiefly minding. The rule is that spiritual things must be sought in the first place (Mat 6:33), and we must trust God for other things in the way of honest endeavours. The minding of earthly things is when religion is subordinate to the world, when the lean kine devour the fat (Luk 8:14). This matter will be known by three things.
(1) What is your chief end and scope? It must be God and heaven (2Co 4:18; Php 3:14). The end cuts out the work and forms the thoughts.
(2) What is your chief business? If it be about earthly things you are earthly minded. Surely our great business is to obtain salvation by Christ (chap. 2:12). It is dangerous to miscarry in so weighty a work.
(3) What is the great joy and trouble of your hearts? Is it to have and want the world? (Luk 12:19). The saints fetch their solace from spiritual things (Psa 4:6-7; Psa 119:14; Psa 94:19; Psa 30:7); but if disappointment in the world be the cause of our trouble, and happiness in the world feedeth our icy, surely we mind these things most.
3. Alas! a child of God is often too worldly. In particular acts he may carry himself too much like an earthly minded man, but no prevalent covetousness, voluptuousness, or ambition possesses his heart instead of God. He is growing out of these distempers and settling his soul to his constant bent, work, and joy.
II. The aggravations of this sin.
1. Whose God is their belly.
(1) They prize the belly. Provision for the flesh is the sum of worldly happiness. But the world yields no more than bodily food and clothing, which the poorest may attain without so much ado. Are they nearer to true comfort and further from the grave? (Psa 17:14). You say that some rich men will not afford themselves conveniences, but fare hard. Answer–
(a) Covetousness is usually the purveyor of the flesh (Rom 8:5). Those who seem to deal hardly with it, please it–by hoarding if not by spending.
(b) They are twice fools, for they transgress the laws both of nature end of grace (Ecc 5:18-19).
(c) They lay it up for them who spend it on the belly; and as one goes to hell for getting, so does the other for spending, till it revolve into hands that will use it better (Ecc 2:26; Pro 13:22; Job 27:17). Estates are ruined by sins of omission as well as commission.
(2) This belly is made a god. Our god is that which we value most, and for whose sake we do things (Col 3:5; Eph 5:5).
(3) How justly are they deprived of eternal salvation.
(a) They put a vile scorn on God and Christ (2Ti 3:4; 1Jn 2:15).
(b) They that serve a base god cannot but have a base spirit. Every mans temper is as his god is (Psa 115:8),
(c) They are not only unfit for God, but opposite to Him (Jam 4:4).
2. Their glory is in their shame.
(1) That which a man prizes most he will glory in, be it wealth, honour, parts, or the Lord (Jer 9:23-24). Man will glory in something. True Christians renounce all carnal gloryings (2Co 1:12; Gal 6:14; 1Co 15:10).
(2) The true object of glorying is God and Christ (Jer 9:23-24; Jer 4:2; 1Co 1:30-31).
(3) Not only benefits but sufferings for Christ should be more to us than all the world (Heb 11:26; Act 5:41; 2Co 12:9-10).
(4) A mortified estate is a greater cause for glory than an exalted, because it is a far greater mercy (Gal 6:14; Jam 1:9-10).
(5) The carnal rejoice in earthly things as pleasing to the flesh; and so do the godly, as far as the flesh remaineth in them; but this is our weakness and disgrace.
(6) This is to bid defiance to religion and to glory in your shame when you bless yourselves more for having an estate in the world than an interest in the promises. This is as if it were a sign of prudence to glory in the finding of a pin.
III. Their punishment–Their end, etc.
1. It is good to look to the end of things (Deu 32:29; Lam 1:9; Jer 17:11; Heb 13:7).
2. Worldly pleasures will end in everlasting destruction (1Ti 6:9-10; Rom 6:21; Rom 6:23; Gal 6:8; Rom 8:6; Rom 8:13; 2Co 11:15).
3. The punishment is the more dreadful to give us the more help, and the more powerful argument against those pleasing lusts. It is sweet to please the flesh, but it will cost us dear.
IV. Uses.
1. Do we mind earthly things or heavenly?
(1) Do not fix them as your scope (1Ti 6:9).
(2) Let not this be your great work (Mat 6:24).
(3) Let not earthly things be your great delight (1Co 7:29-30; Php 4:12; Psa 62:10).
(4) When your estate is yet to be made or gotten, let your desires be modest (Isa 5:8; Ecc 5:10; Heb 13:5).
(5) Moderate your cares about these things (Mat 6:25-32; Php 4:5-6; 1Pe 5:7).
(6) Be willing to resign them to Christ when the enjoyment of them is inconsistent with your fidelity to Him (Luk 14:33).
5. To dissuade us from earthly mindedness consider–
(1) You must shortly die and come to your account, and according to the account you give and the preparation you have made you must live in endless joy or misery.
(2) The danger of abundance (Mat 19:24; Ecc 5:11-12; Luk 12:48).
(3) See by faith those sure, great, and glorious things which are infinitely more worthy your love and labour (Col 3:2; Heb 11:25).
(4) Think often of your great necessities (Luk 10:42). (T. Manton, D. D.)
Earthliness
I. Its manifestations.
1. Sensuality.
2. Pride.
3. Covetousness.
II. Its shame. It degrades–
1. The understanding.
2. The moral nature.
3. The immortal spirit.
III. Its end.
1. Ruin.
2. Misery. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Materialism
There is–
1. A philosophic materialism which reduces the soul to a series of phenomena to be accounted for by superiority of physical organization in man, and makes God an expression for the sum of natures workings.
2. A practical materialism which does not trouble itself to deny the existence of the soul or the claims of God, but is nevertheless buried in matter, and swallowed up of earthliness. There were baptized Christians in Philippi who were enemies of the Cross, because while wearing the Christian name they were given up to sensuality. This, in various forms, is a crying evil in all prosperous times. The text is applicable to the worldling now.
I. Who are they who mind earthly things?
1. Those whose sole care is the increase of wealth. Business occupies their whole attentions. Material interests absorb their whole soul. Such was the man described by our Lord (Luk 7:18, etc.). These divorce what God has joined together–diligence in business and fervency of spirit.
2. Those whose sole enjoyment is the pleasures of this life (Luk 16:19). Whose god is their belly describes one type of sensual enjoyment. But a man wholly given up to even innocent enjoyment is, in truth, a mere sensualist. He neglects and despises the pleasures of–
(1) devotion;
(2) godly companionship;
(3) heavenly anticipation (Php 3:20).
II. What is the end of those who mind earthly things? Destruction. They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption (Luk 16:24-25). (Family Churchman.)
Illustrations of the apostles sentiment
Even heathen thought in its higher types could brand sensualists as , men who worshipped belly gods. The striking words which Euripides puts into the mouth of the Cyclops, the type of this class, have often been cited in this connection: I sacrifice to no one but myself; not to the gods, but to this my belly, the greatest of the gods; for to eat and drink each day is the god for wise men. We have, further, the greatest of the German poets representing Mephistopheles as contemptuously, yet insinuatingly saying to the fool rejoicing in his possessions, Du hast dafur was Schluud und Bauch begehrt. And we have the words of scathing denunciation of John Ruskin, The creation over which God appointed us kings, and in which we have chosen to live as swine. With such instances of the contempt with which men can justly regard the lower, baser levels of life, we can the better comprehend the indignant yet sorrowing scorn with which the apostle contemplates the objects of his denunciation. In view, too, of such grossness of nature as is here depicted, we can listen to the call which Chrysostom has addressed to every true cross bearer–the call to higher things–Thou hast received a belly that thou mayest feed, not distend it; that thou mayest have the mastery over it, not have it as mistress over thee; that it may minister to thee for the nourishment of the other parts, not that thou mayest minister to it; not that thou mayest exceed limits. The sea, when it passes its bounds, doth not work so many evils as the belly doth to our body, together with our soul. They are men who, in the contemptuous words of the Roman satirist, in their all-engrossing care for their belly and their amusements, ask no other favours of their emperor than bread and circus games. They are those who, as Cornelius a Lapide puts it, are like the moles, ever concerned with the earth, ever blindly digging in the earth, and ever breathing of the earth, whereas Christians feed on heavenly food and breathe the air of heaven. Or once more, we can recognize these men in the picture in the interpreters chamber of Bunyans allegory, The man that could look no way but downwards, with the muck rake in his hand, while there stood over his head one with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered him that crown for his muck rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the floor. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
The curse of carnality
Carnal men are daily partakers of the serpents curse: they go on their belly, and eat dust. (Archbishop Leighton.)
Whose god is their belly
The Sicilians erected an altar and a statue in the temple of Ceres to Adephagia, the goddess of gluttony, thus literally illustrating these words. Similar examples of the personification and worship of lusts abound in modern heathenism. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
Glory and shame
Of Anacreon, the famous lyric poet (520 B.C.), whose genius was devoted to the praise of sensual pleasures, the people of Athens raised a statue in the citadel, in which he was represented as an old drunken man singing. He had lived to eighty-five, and was choked at last by a grape stone. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
Belly worship reproved
A gentleman in England, who had a chapel attached to his house, was visited by a person from London, to whom he showed the chapel. What a glorious kitchen this would make! said the visitor. When I make a god of my belly, replied the gentleman, I will make a kitchen of my chapel. (Biblical Museum.)
The love of this world is a great hindrance to the gospel
Dr. Justus Jonus told Dr. Martin Luther of a noble and powerful Misnian who above all things occupied himself in amassing gold and silver, and was so buried in darkness that he gave no heed to the five books of Moses, and had even said to Duke John Frederick, who was discoursing with him upon the gospel, Sir, the gospel pays no interest. Have you no grains? interposed Luther; and then told this fable:–A lion, making a great feast, invited all the beasts, and with them some swine. When all manner of dainties were set before the guests, the swine asked, Have you no grains? Even so, continued the Doctor, even so, in these days, is it with our epicureans; we preachers set before them, in our churches, the most dainty and costly dishes, as everlasting salvation, the remission of sins, and Gods grace; but they, like swine, turn up their snouts, and ask for guilders: offer a cow nutmeg, and she will reject it for old hay. This reminds me of the answer of certain parishioners to their minister, Ambrose R. He had been earnestly exhorting them to come and listen to the Word of God. Well, said they, if you will tap a good barrel of beer for us well come with all our hearts and hear you. The gospel at Wittenberg is like unto the rain which, falling upon a river, produces little effect; but descending upon a dry, thirsty soil, renders it fertile. (Luthers Table Talk.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Whose end is destruction] This is the issue of their doctrine and of their conduct. They are here described by three characters:
1. Their god is their belly-they live not in any reference to eternity; their religion is for time; they make a gain of godliness; and live only to eat, drink, and be merry.
2. Their glory is in their shame-they lay it down as a proof of their address, that they can fare sumptuously every day, in consequence of preaching a doctrine which flatters the passions of their hearers.
3. They mind earthly things-their whole study and attention are taken up with earthly matters; they are given to the flesh and its lusts; they have no spirituality, nor do they believe that there is or can be any intercourse between God and the souls of men. But their lasciviousness and uncleanness seem to be principally intended. See Kypke.
Despicable as these men were, the apostle’s heart was deeply pained on their account:
1. Because they held and taught a false creed;
2. Because they perverted many by that teaching; and,
3. Because they themselves were perishing through it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whose end is destruction; their condition will at last be miserable, as he had limited above, Phi 1:28, of their being under the dismal token of perdition; their end will be according to their works, 2Co 11:15. However they may live delicately at present, in gratifying their sensual appetites, be free from persecution, admired and respected by many, and please themselves in their present course, yet their fruit and wages at the last cast will be dreadful, Rom 6:21,23; Ga 6:8; Rev 18:8; 19:20,21.
Whose God is their belly; the great business of these is, their sensuality, their good eating and drinking; they mind the pleasing of their carnal appetite, as if it were their God, 2Pe 2:13,18; 3:3; instead of our Lord Jesus Christ, really they serve their own belly, Rom 16:18, love their pleasures indeed more than God, 2Ti 3:4.
And whose glory is in their shame; yea, they boast of those things whereof they ought to be ashamed, thinking it reputation they have got many to imitate thein, Joh 5:44; 12:43 they are puffed up with that which should rather make them to blush, 1Co 5:2, as being attended at last with confusion.
Who mind earthly things; however under the colour of Christianity, they at present are taken up in the pursuit of their sensual and earthly enjoyments. The Greek word comprehends the actions and operations of the mind, will, and affections, importing they did inordinately mind, favour, and relish sublunary accommodations, Rom 8:5, the profits, ease, bounty, pleasure, and glory of this world, preferring them in their hearts to the things of Christ.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. destructioneverlasting atChrist’s coming. Php 1:28,”perdition”; the opposite word is “Saviour” (Php3:20).
endfixed doom.
whose god is their belly(Ro 16:18); hereafter to bedestroyed by God (1Co 6:13). Incontrast to our “body” (Php3:21), which our God, the Lord Jesus, shall “fashionlike unto His glorious body.” Their belly is now pampered, ourbody now wasted; then the respective states of both shall bereversed.
glory is in their shameAs”glory” is often used in the Old Testament for God(Ps 106:20), so here itanswers to “whose God,” in the parallel clause; and “shame”is the Old Testament term contemptuously given to an idol (Jud6:32, Margin). Ho 4:7seems to be referred to by Paul (compare Ro1:32). There seems no allusion to circumcision, as no longerglorious, but a shame to them (Php3:2). The reference of the immediate context is to sensuality,and carnality in general.
mind earthly things(Ro 8:5). In contrast to Phi 3:20;Col 3:2.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whose end [is] destruction,…. Everlasting destruction, the destruction of both body and soul in hell, Mt 10:28; and this is the end, the reward and issue of bad principles and practices; the broad roads of sin and error lead to destruction, Mt 7:13; however pleasing such ways may be to men, the end of them is eternal death; destruction and misery are in all the ways of profaneness and heresy; not only immoralities, but heresies, such as strike at the efficacy of Christ’s cross, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, are damnable ones, and bring upon men swift destruction, 2Pe 2:1; and how should it otherwise be, for there is no salvation but by the cross of Christ? and if men are enemies to that, and the efficacy of it, and the way of salvation by it, there is no more, nor any other sacrifice for sin, Heb 10:26, but a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, Heb 10:27; and this will be the case of all barren and unfruitful professors, who are like the earth, that brings forth briers and thorns, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned, Heb 6:8; for what will the hope of such an one, founded on his profession, though he may have got credit and reputation among men, avail, when God takes away his soul?
whose god [is their] belly; the belly was the god of the Cyclops, they sacrificed to none but to themselves, and to the greatest of the gods, their own belly a; as money is the covetous man’s god, whom he loves, adores, and puts his confidence in, so the belly is the god of the sensualist, the epicure, and voluptuous person; he has more regard for the service of that, than for the service of God? and of this complexion were these professors; they were lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, 2Ti 3:4; all their pretensions to religion, to Christ, and his Gospel, were only to serve themselves, their own bellies, and not the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do good to the souls of men: or their belly may be said to be their god, because they placed religion in the observance of meats and drinks, either allowed or forbidden in the law of Moses, which profited not those that were occupied therein, Heb 9:10; for the kingdom of God, the Gospel dispensation, internal religion, and the exercise of it, lies not in these things, but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Ro 14:17:
and whose glory [is] in their shame; in their evil practices committed in secret, of which it was a shame to speak; in their hidden things of dishonesty, crafty walking, and deceitful handling of the word of God, which were vile and scandalous, 2Co 4:2; in corrupting the Gospel, and the churches of Christ, with their false doctrine; in observing and urging the ceremonies of the law, which were dead, and ought to be buried; and particularly circumcision in the flesh, in that part of the body which causes shame, and in this was their glory, Ga 6:13. The idol Baal Peor, and which is no other than the Priapus of the Heathens, is called by this name, Ho 9:10; so the prophets of Baal are in the Septuagint on 1Ki 18:19 called the prophets, , “of that shame”; it may be the apostle may have a regard to the secret debaucheries of these persons; or because they made their belly their god, he calls it their shame in which they gloried, and which was the name given to the idols of the Gentiles:
who mind earthly things. The Arabic version renders it, “who entertain earthly opinions”; and some by, “earthly things” understand the ceremonies of the law, called the elements and rudiments of the world, which these false teachers were fond of, and were very diligent to inculcate and urge the observance of; though rather worldly things, such as honour, glory, and popular applause, and wealth, and riches, are meant; for they sought their own things, and not the things of Christ; through covetousness, with feigned words, they made merchandise of men, and amassed to themselves great sums of money; and yet were greedy dogs, could never have enough, everyone looking for his gain from his quarter, Isa 56:11: and now persons of such characters as these were by no means to be followed, but such who are hereafter described.
a Euripides.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whose god is the belly ( ). The comic poet Eupolis uses the rare word for one who makes a god of his belly and Seneca speaks of one who abdomini servit. Sensuality in food, drink, sex then as now mastered some men. These men posed as Christians and gloried in their shame.
Who mind earthly things ( ). Anacoluthon. The nominative does not refer to at the beginning, but with the accusative in between. See Mr 12:40.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Belly. Rom 16:18. So the Cyclops in Euripides : “My flocks which I sacrifice to no one but myself, and not to the gods, and to this my belly the greatest of the gods : for to eat and drink each day, and to give one’s self no trouble, this is the God for wise men” (” Cyclops, ” 334 – 338). Glory. That which they esteem glory.
Earthly things [ ] . See on 2Co 5:1. Compare Col 3:2.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Whose end is destruction” (hon to telos apoleia) of whom the end, (pay off) (is) destruction,” 2Pe 2:1-2; The end of such false prophets and deceivers is perdition, hell; religious rebels against Divine truth end, find a destiny in hell, as surely as the irreligious rebel, Mat 7:22-23; 2Co 11:13-15.
2) “Whose God is their belly” (hon ho theos hekoilia) “Whose God is the belly” of gluttony, slow-bellies, (lard- belly – gluttons) as the heathen Cretians called one another, Tit 1:12-14. The aim of their life was gluttony and food-greed, Rom 16:17-18.
3) “And whose glory is in their shame” (kai he doksa en aischune of them) “and whose (occasion of) glory is (to) their shame,” The object of their present glory leads to eternal shame, which presently understood, should bring a sense of guilt and shame to call them to repentance, Rom 2:4-6; 2 Corinthians 7-10.
4) “Who mind earthly things” (hoi ta epigeia phronountes) “Even those thinking continually (of) the earthly things.” Their minds are fixed, glued onto things earthly, sensual, demonish, which lead to destruction of life and soul, Tit 1:11; Rom 8:6-7; 2Pe 2:9-22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
19 Whose end is destruction He adds this in order that the Philippians, appalled by the danger, may be so much the more carefully on their guard, that they may not involve themselves in the ruin of those persons. As, however, profligates of this description, by means of show and various artifices, frequently dazzle the eyes of the simple for a time, in such a manner that they are preferred even to the most eminent servants of Christ, the Apostle declares, with great confidence (199), that the glory with which they are now puffed up will be exchanged for ignominy.
Whose god is the belly As they pressed the observance of circumcision and other ceremonies, he says that they did not do so from zeal for the law, but with a view to the favor of men, and that they might live peacefully and free from annoyance. For they saw that the Jews burned with a fierce rage against Paul, and those like him, and that Christ could not be proclaimed by them in purity with any other result, than that of arousing against themselves the same rage. Accordingly, consulting their own ease and advantage, they mixed up these corruptions with the view of mitigating the flames of others. (200)
(199) “ Hardiment et d’vne grande asseurance;” — “ Boldly, and with great confidence.”
(200) “ Pour esteindre et appaiser le feu des nutres;” — “For the sake of mitigating and allaying the fire of others.” Calvin’s meaning appears to be, that they made it their endeavor to screen themselves as far as possible from the fiery rage of those around them. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Whose end is destruction. . . .The intense severity of this verse is only paralleled by such passages as 2Ti. 2:1-5; 2Pe. 2:12-22; Jud. 1:4; Jud. 1:8; Jud. 1:12-13. All express the burning indignation of a true servant of Christ against those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are again entangled therein and overcome.
Whose God is their belly.A stronger reiteration of Rom. 16:18, They serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. Note the emphasis laid on feasting and rioting in 2Pe. 2:13; Jud. 1:12.
Whose glory is in their shame.As the preceding clause refers chiefly to self-indulgence, so this to impurity. Comp. Eph. 5:12, It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. To glory in their shameto boast, as a mark of spirituality, the unbridled license which is to all pure spirits a shameis the hopeless condition of the reprobate, who not only do these things, but have pleasure in those who do them (Rom. 1:32).
Who mind earthly things.This last phrase, which in itself might seem hardly strong enough for a climax to a passage so terribly emphatic, may perhaps be designed to bring out by contrast the glorious passage which follows. But it clearly marks the opposition between the high pretension to enlightened spirituality and the gross carnal temper which it covers, grovelling (so to speak) on earth, incapable of rising to heaven.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Whose end Eternal perdition instead of the heaven for which the cross would have prepared them.
Their belly Finding their highest happiness in the sensuality of eating and drinking. The classics furnish many like expressions.
Whose glory The low and grovelling pleasures which they delighted in, and boasted over, were really their shame, though they did not think it so.
Who mind They thought, loved, and cared for only earthly things, and of even them they were chiefly intent upon the most debasing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.’
The people in mind, who were seemingly visiting preachers (for Paul indicates no exceptions when he praises the Philippian church as a whole – Php 1:3-11), have their belly as their god, glory in what is shameful, and have their minds totally set on earthly things. They were the total opposite of the One Who emptied Himself, chose the way of sufferings and the cross, and Whose whole career and life were focused on heavenly things, all to the glory of God the Father (Php 2:5-11). And for such people their destiny is not to be raised and exalted with Christ, but is eternal destruction (apoleia – perdition). They are the opposite of all that Paul has been teaching throughout the letter.
Note the contrasts:
‘Their end is eternal destruction’ – this contrasts with those whose sole aim and stress is on reaching out to heavenly things which will result in eternal life and exaltation with Christ (Php 3:10-14, especially in the light of Php 2:9-11), and whose citizenship is in Heaven (Php 3:20). The Psalmist, when baffled at the way that the wicked prospered, while the righteous suffered, had his problem solved when he ‘considered their end’ (Psa 73:17). It is the end of those who walk in the broad way, which is ‘destruction’ (Mat 7:14). This is a reminder that being ‘religious’ is not sufficient. These people claimed to be Christians, and boasted about their knowledge and their ‘spirituality, and yet they were headed for destruction, because they had failed to truly respond to Christ crucified and risen.
‘Their god is their belly’ – the most obvious meaning of this is that they enjoyed overindulgence in food and drink, and all that went with it, aiming for a materially satisfactory lifestyle. This idea of seeking earthly wealth is one of Paul’s constant criticisms of false teachers (Rom 16:17-18; 2Co 11:20; 2Ti 3:4; 1Co 4:8). It may go along with the idea that they did not hesitate to go to idolatrous feasts, and encourage others to go, always a danger for poor Christians in those early days when free food and drink was available at idolatrous temples, especially on feast days. Paul had to warn against it constantly (e.g. 1 Corinthians 8; compare Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20). Others have seen it as indicating their refusal to eat ‘unclean’ things (compareCol 2:16; Heb 9:10; Rom 14:17). But Paul did not see that in itself as being a cause for condemnation (Rom 14:13-23), only the teaching that it was necessary to salvation.
‘And the glory is in their shame’ – Paul had earlier said, ‘God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me’ (Gal 6:14). And he had prayed that in nothing should he be ashamed (Php 1:20). But these teachers gloried in things that were shameful. Compare Eph 5:12; 2Ti 3:4; 2Ti 3:6 ; 1Co 5:6. In terms of Eph 5:12 the idea may be that they gloried in the things that most people out of shame would seek to keep secret. In other words they were shameless. This would tie in with the ideas described in Rom 6:1, ‘shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?’, (compare ‘let us do evil that good may come’ – Rom 3:7-8). The idea there was their claim that by their evil behaviour they brought out the compassion and goodness of God in that He accepted them anyhow, possibly because they ‘believed in Jesus’, a view that Paul condemned as totally un-Christian where it did not have a deep effect on their lives. His argument was that to be a true Christian you recognised that you had died with Christ to sin, and if you had done that, how then could you blatantly continue in it? It would be to ignore the significance of the cross. Those who see ‘their gods is their belly’ as referring to abstinence from unclean foods, see the reference here as having in mind their glorying in the flesh in that they had been circumcised (Gal 6:13), something which to the Greeks was seen as shameful.
‘Who mind earthly things’ – they have their minds set on, and are involved in and participate in, earthly things (and not on being involved in and having the mind of Christ – Php 2:5). Their whole focus is on earth, in contrast to those whose minds are set on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:2). They are not ‘stretching towards the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Php 3:13-14). They are totally earthly minded (even though they may well have claimed supernatural experiences). Those who see unclean foods and circumcision as in mind, see this also as referring to earthly rituals rather than heavenly experience (see especially Hebrews 7-10). But in view of the context it must surely indicate the opposite of Paul’s own view of the need to reach out to what is heavenly, especially as Php 3:20 stresses that our citizenship in is Heaven. This would seem to favour our initial interpretations in each case.
It is possible that we are to see here an amplification and contrast with Php 3:2-3.
‘Beware of dogs.’ ‘Their end is destruction’.
‘Beware of evil-workers.’ Their god is their belly. ‘
‘Beware of the mutilators.’ ‘And the glory is in their shame.’
‘Who worship God in the Spirit (etc)’ ‘Who mind earthly things.’
If this is so it confirms that the same people are in mind.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Php 3:19. Whose end is destruction, See 2Co 11:15. It has been thought that the Apostle has an eye here to what he had observed of these men before, ch. Php 1:28 and so he may be understood as if he had said, “These men reckon upon your destruction, but they will certainly meet with their own.” The next clause implies, that however they pretended to act for the service and honour of God, they were seeking solely their own profit, and prostituting all things for the promoting of a temporary interest. Thus they made a god of themselves, or of their own belly. See Rom 16:18. 1Ti 6:5. Tit 1:11. St. Paul’s aim and behaviour were directly opposite; who did all things for the edification of the churches, without seeking his own temporal advantage, as he often declares in his epistles, and that with a tacit reflection upon these men for their behaviour. By shame and earthly things the Apostle refers to their glorying in the indulgence of those earthly and sensual passions and pursuits which are a shame to the rational mind.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Phi 3:19 . A more precise deterrent delineation of these persons, having the most deterrent element put foremost , and then those points by which it was brought about.
.] By this is meant Messianic perdition, eternal condemnation (comp. Phi 1:28 ), which is the ultimate destiny appointed ( ) for them ( is not: recompense , see Rom 6:21 ; 2Co 11:15 ; Heb 6:8 ). For corresponding Rabbinical passages, see Wetstein and Schoettgen, Hor . p. 801.
] , Theophylact. Comp. Rom 16:18 ; Eur. Cycl . 334 f.; Senec. de benef . vii. 26; and the maxim of those whose highest good is eating and drinking, 1Co 15:32 . It is the (Plat. Phaed . p. 81 E; Lucian, Amor . 42) in its godless nature; they were (Eupolis in Athen. iii. p. 100 B), (Lucian, Patr. enc . 10); (Dem. 524. 24).
. . .] also dependent on : and whose honour is in their shame , that is, who find their honour in that which redounds to their shame, as for instance, in revelling, haughty behaviour, and the like, in which the immoral man is fond of making a show, is subjective , viewed from the opinion of those men, and is objective , viewed according to the reality of the ethical relation. Comp. Polyb. xv. 23. 5: , , and also Plat. Theaet . p. 176 D; . On , versari in , to be found in, to be contained in something, comp. Plat. Gorg . p. 470 E: , Eur. Phoen . 1310: . The view, foreign to the context, which refers the words to circumcision , making . signify the genitals ( Schol. Ar. Equ . 364; Ambrosiaster; Hilary; Pelagius; Augustine, de verb. apost . xv. 5; Bengel; Michaelis; Storr), is already rejected by Chrysostom and his successors.
] who bear the earthly (that which is on the earth; the opposite in Phi 3:20 ) in their mind (as the goal of their interest and effort). Comp. Col 3:2 . Thus Paul closes his delineation with a summary designation of their fundamental immoral tendency, and he put this, not in the genitive (uniformly with the ), but more independently and emphatically in the nominative , having in view the logical subject of what precedes (comp. on Phi 1:30 ), and that with the individualizing ( ii, qui ) article of apposition. Comp. Winer, p. 172 [E. T. 228]; Buttmann, Neut. Gr . p. 69 [E. T. 79].
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Ver. 19. Whose god is their belly ] A scavenger, whose living is to empty, is to be preferred before him that liveth but to fill privies; as they do that make their gut their god, that dunghill deity. Such a one was that Pamphagus, Nabal, Dives, and others, that digested in hell what they ate on earth. They say the locust is all belly, which is joined to his mouth and endeth at his tail. The spider also is little else than belly. The dolphin hath his mouth almost in his very belly; the ass-fish hath his heart in his belly. (Solinus. Aristot.) In mea patria Deus venter est, et in diem vivitur. In my country (saith Jerome) their belly is their god, they live from hand to mouth, &c. Epicurus said, that eternal life was nothing else but an eternal eating and drinking; . See my Common Place of Abstinence.
Who mind earthly things ] As they have their hands elbow deep in the world, so their minds are shut in their chests, as dead bodies are buried in coffins; they are interred in the Golgotha of this world, as moles in their hillocks.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Phi 3:19 . . Paul regards the two issues of human life as and (1Co 1:18 , 2Co 2:15-16 ). The latter, is a common word for “destruction”. There is much in the Epistles to support the statement of Hltzm [3] . ( N.T. Th. , ii., p. 50): “To be dead and to remain dead eternally, that is to him (Paul) the most dreadful of all thoughts”. (Similarly Kabisch, Eschatol. d. Paul. , pp. 85, 134.) . Most comm. compare Eupolis, . 4, , a “devotee of the belly”. . is probably used as a general term to include all that belongs most essentially to the bodily, fleshly life of man and therefore inevitably perishes. Istorum venter nitet: nostrum corpus atteritur: utrumque schema commutabitur (Beng.). Hort ( Judaistic Christianity , p. 115 ff.) supposes that we have here the same development of Judaism which is attacked in Col 2:20-23 . But this type of life was by no means confined to Jews. . . . “Who boast of what is really a disgrace to them.” Wetst. aptly quotes Polyb., 15, 23, , . Cf. Pro 26:11 , , . (So also Sir 4:21 .) This was apparently a current proverb. The limiting of . here to sensual sins is doubtful. . . . It seems reasonable to explain the nominative as a resumption of the opening words of the sentence, summing up tersely the character in view. Cf. Mar 12:38-40 . . are opposed to or . Curiously parallel is the Homeric phrase ( Odyss. , 21, 85), .
[3] tzm. Holtzmann.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
end. Compare Rom 6:21. 2Co 11:15. Heb 6:8.
destruction. Same as “perdition”, Php 1:28.
god. App-98.
belly. Compare Rom 16:18,
earthly. See Php 2:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Php 3:19. , whose) The nominative is implied; comp. , which presently after occurs and is dependent on , walk.- , the end) This statement is put before the others, that what follows may be read with the greater horror. It will be seen in the end. [The end, to which the plans of every man tend, shows truly what is his condition.-V. g.]-, destruction) The antithesis is , Saviour, Php 3:20.- , whose god is their belly) Rom 16:18. The antithesis is , Lord, Php 3:20; and , body, Php 3:21, as 1Co 6:13. Their belly is sleek, our body is wasted; the fashion [ out of ] of both will be changed.- , glory) The previous, God, and glory, here are set down as parallel; and therefore , glory, in this passage denotes a god, or glorying concerning a god. Hos 4:7, LXX., , I will turn their glory to dishonour.-, shame) It corresponds to the Hebrew word , for example, Hab 2:10. Comp. respecting this prophet, the note at Col 2:23; likewise below, , belly. But at the same time the word alludes to ah idol, to which , , , corresponds. The LXX. have sometimes , , for , ; therefore in this passage Paul seems to denote , concision, to indicate, that the now was not , but a subject for . So the and are closely allied. They worship that of which they ought to be ashamed, and they will be miserably ashamed of it at the proper time, although even now they want frankness.[48]- , who mind earthly things) The antithesis is at the beginning of the following verse.
[48] Beng. seems to mean, Even now they deprive themselves of that Gospel freedom which they who place no trust in carnal ordinances enjoy.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Php 3:19
Php 3:19
whose end is perdition,-The intense severity is only paralleled by such passages as 2Ti 2:1-5; 2Pe 2:11-22; and Jud 1:4; Jud 1:8; Jud 1:12-13. All express the burning indignation of a true servant of Christ against those who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome. [Thus they suffer the loss of everything that makes life worth living-exclusion from the kingdom of God, and the glorious eternal home of the righteous. (Rev 22:15).]
whose god is the belly,-They are given up to the worst kind of lusts, and find their chief satisfaction in the gratification of their animal passions. They that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly. (Rom 16:18).
and whose glory is in their shame,-They pride themselves on those very sins of which as Christians they should be deeply ashamed.
who mind earthly things.-This presents the essentially earthly character of their state of mind and heart; they think of nothing but earthly matters, have no high and heavenly thoughts and aspirations, but concentrate their whole soul upon the things of time and sense. [For such persons the upward heavenly calling of God has no attraction. They are given up to what is base, the satisfaction of the momentary desires of the flesh, and therein they live entirely, groveling like the beasts. With all their talk of high thinking and their assumption of superiority their minds are essentially concerned with things of earth and their minds seldom rise above it.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
end: Mat 25:41, Luk 12:45, Luk 12:46, 2Co 11:15, 2Th 2:8, 2Th 2:12, Heb 6:6-8, 2Pe 2:1, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:17, Jud 1:4, Jud 1:13, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:9, Rev 20:10, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15
whose God: Phi 2:21, 1Sa 2:11-16, 1Sa 2:29, Isa 56:10-12, Eze 13:19, Eze 34:3, Mic 3:5, Mic 3:11, Mal 1:12, Luk 12:19, Luk 16:19, Rom 16:18, 1Ti 6:5, 2Ti 3:4, Tit 1:11, Tit 1:12, 2Pe 2:13, Jud 1:12
whose glory: Psa 52:1, Hos 4:7, Hab 2:15, Hab 2:16, Luk 18:4, 1Co 5:2, 1Co 5:6, 2Co 11:12, Gal 6:13, Jam 4:16, 2Pe 2:18, 2Pe 2:19, Jud 1:13, Jud 1:16, Rev 18:7
who: Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Psa 17:14, Mat 16:23, Rom 8:5-7, 1Co 3:3, 2Pe 2:3
Reciprocal: Gen 25:34 – thus Esau Exo 20:3 – General Exo 20:17 – thy neighbour’s house Lev 11:5 – but divideth Lev 11:16 – General Lev 11:20 – General Lev 11:29 – creeping things that creep Lev 13:8 – General Num 11:5 – the fish Deu 14:19 – General Jdg 5:16 – sheepfolds Jdg 18:20 – heart 1Sa 2:15 – General 1Sa 2:23 – by all 2Sa 16:22 – went in Psa 10:18 – the man Psa 119:25 – soul Pro 23:2 – General Pro 23:21 – the drunkard Ecc 7:2 – that Isa 56:11 – they are Jer 6:15 – blush Jer 8:12 – ashamed when Jer 44:17 – then Eze 33:9 – if thou Hos 7:14 – assemble Mic 2:11 – I will Mat 7:13 – that Mat 13:38 – the children of the wicked Mat 24:49 – and to Mar 8:33 – savourest Luk 16:8 – children of this Luk 16:25 – thy good Joh 6:26 – Ye seek Joh 8:23 – Ye are from Rom 6:21 – for the 2Co 11:3 – I fear 2Co 11:20 – take 2Co 12:21 – that I Phi 3:2 – evil Col 3:2 – not 2Th 1:9 – be 1Ti 1:19 – which 1Ti 5:15 – General Jam 3:15 – wisdom 2Pe 2:20 – the latter 2Pe 3:16 – unto their own Rev 17:5 – upon
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
EARTHLY THINGS
Who mind earthly things.
Php 3:19
Every circumference is generated from a centre; every life must have its pivot.
I. God is the one true centre of our life.It has been said, Gods centre is everywhere; His circumference nowhere. If you and I refuse to take God as the central thought, the innermost idea of our life, we are convicted of thrusting Him from His rightful position. Our life becomes an inharmonious disadjusted thing; its activities become distracted, fragmentary. The principle of moral unity is lost.
II. The faculties of soul were intended to serve some higher end than to ensure to us the maintenance of our physical being for a longer or shorter term of years. Unless it be so, we are outdistanced in the race by some amongst them. Many of them are our superiors in physical powers; many outlive us; and in the case of all, instinct affords so swift and sure a guidance in the conservation of their being as may well put our boasted reasoning powers to the blush.
III. Choose the higher.Be what your Redeemer, Who has redeemed life for you from its hopeless secularity, would have you be. The earthly things, for which exclusively you have perhaps lived, will not suffer at your hands by the admission to your thoughts and aims of the heavenly. Rather they will gain. For the result of yielding ourselves to the service of God is not to eliminate the earthly, but to absorb it in the heavenly; not to broaden and strengthen the barriers between the secular and the sacred, but to break them down.
IV. Earthly things for earthly souls.It is a sad, sad scene, the passing of a world-bound spirit, that leaves its paltry all behind it, and goes to where nothing of its treasure has ever been laid up, clinging to its idols to the last: the past, one long regret; the future, a dull, portionless blank.
Bishop A. Pearson.
Illustration
The wordswho mind earthly thingsclose a brief description of certain enemies of the Cross of Christ whom St. Paul had in mind when he was writing to the Philippian converts; and at first sight they appear to present us with a somewhat feeble climax. For the former part of the description is couched in some of the strongest language to be met with in Holy Scripture: Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. Gluttony, drunkenness, and flagitious vice hardly culminate appropriately, it might seem, in mere engrossment in earthly things. But in the words of the text the Apostle touches the soil out of which those evil plants spring which he has previously noticed.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
(Php 3:19.) -Of whom the end is destruction, whose special and ultimate fate is destruction. Rom 6:21; 2Co 11:15; Heb 6:8, etc. The clause and context will not warrant the notion of Heinrichs, that bears an active signification, and that the meaning may be- whose final purpose is the destruction of the church. The term is the opposite of , and denotes a terrible issue. Mat 7:13, and in many other places; Php 1:28; Rom 9:22; 2Th 2:3. They do not realize the end of their being, and fall short of the glory of God. The cross has not sanctified them, and they cannot enter heaven. The purpose of Christ in dying has not been wrought out in them, and such a failure necessitates exclusion from His presence. The Lamb is the theme of high praise before the throne, but their enmity to the cross incapacitates them from joining in such melodies. Nay, as sin has reigned unchecked within them in spite of all that has been done and suffered for them, they carry the elements of hell within them; their nature remaining unsanctified, in scorn of Christ’s blood and His apostle’s tears. Gross sensualism characterized them-
-whose god is their belly. Rom 16:18. Theodoret adds- . But there is no real ground for supposing the persons referred to to be Jews. The expression is a strong one, and the general meaning is, that they found their divinest happiness in the gratification of animal appetite. This god they loved and served. No idolatry is so unworthy of a rational being; no worship so brutal in form, and brutifying in result. Intemperance, for example, ruins fortune and forfeits character, crazes the body and damns the immortal spirit. And if, as in the figure of the apostle, a man’s belly be his god, then his hearth is his altar, and his liturgy turns on the questions, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? or repeats the chant-Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Many passages from the classics have been adduced which refer to such sensuality. Such men are named by Athenaeus. The Cyclops in Euripides, 335, boasts about his beasts-I sacrifice to no one but myself, not to the gods, but to this my belly, the greatest of the gods-
–
for to eat and drink each day, is the god for wise men-
.
The cross has for its object to lift man above such ignoble pleasures-to spiritualize and refine him-to excite him to cultivate the nobler part of his nature, that he may rise to communion with the Father of all. But men indulging in these low and unworthy pursuits which darken and endanger the soul, persisting in this , as Theodoret calls it, are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Still worse-
-and whose glory is in their shame. That is, they find their glory in what is really their shame. It is their shame, though they do not reckon it so; as Origen says- , . The context does not warrant any allusion to circumcision and the parts affected by it, in pudendis, as is held by some of the Latin Fathers, by Bengel, Michaelis, and Storr; nor yet does it specially describe libidinous indulgence, as Rosenmller and Am Ende suppose. The simple cannot of itself bear either signification. These enemies of the cross were not hypocrites, but open and avowed sensualists, conscious of no inconsistency, but rather justifying their vices, and thus perverting the gospel formally for such detestable conduct. These victims of gross and grovelling appetites disqualifying themselves from fulfilling the end of their being-to glorify God and to enjoy Him-frustrated the purpose of the cross, and therefore were its enemies. Lastly-
-they are those who mind earthly things. Col 3:2. The nominative is now used, or, to give the clause special emphasis, the original construction is resumed. Winer, 63, I.2; Khner, 677. The phrase earthly things cannot, as Pierce supposes, mean any portion or section of Jewish ordinances. Their heart was set on earthly things-such things as are of the earth in origin, and do not rise above it in destiny. The contrast is-heavenly things-to the love and pursuit of which the cross is meant to raise us who died with Christ, and with Him rose again. When men are so absorbed in earthly things, in the lust of power, pleasure, wealth, fame, or accomplishment, as to forget their high calling to glory, honour, and immortality; when they live so much in time and sense as to be oblivious of life eternal, and seek not a title to it, nor cherish the hope of it, nor yet make preparation for it; they surely are the enemies of the cross, and their end is destruction. On the other hand, listen to Augustine-O anima mea, suspira ardenter et desidera vehementer, ut possis pervenire ad illam supernam civitatem de qua tam gloriosa dicta sunt. Vol. vi. p. 1399, ed. Paris, 1837.
It is matter of surprise, first, that persons of such a character were found in the early church; and, secondly, that they were not shamed out of it by the earnest piety and the spiritual lives of so many in the same community. Perhaps the novelty of the system attracted numbers toward it, and the freshness of its statements induced their adhesion to it, though they felt not its inner power. As we have said on a recent page, polytheism had lost its hold on many thinking heathens, who had been wearied out with scholastic disputations, and were glad to embrace what proposed some certainties, such as a spiritual worship, an authoritative law, and an assured immortality. But their convictions might be purely intellectual, the truths adopted being held only as opinions, and such change of views might happen without change of heart. The power of Christianity was neither relished nor understood. The cross in its agony might thrill them, but the cross in its spiritual penetration was a mystery. It might be taken as the scene and the symbol of sorrow and triumph, of suffering and bliss, but its efficacy to raise and ennoble, while admitted in theory, might be refused in practice. Such persons lived in a new circle of ideas and associations, but their soul was untouched and unquickened, and therefore, under this sad hallucination, they gratified without stint their animal propensities, and were immersed in earthly occupations and epicurean delights. We could not have believed in the possibility of such delusions, had not similar forms of misconception and antagonism been frequently witnessed in the history of the church. On the other hand, the apostle affirms-
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Php 3:19. End means fate or final outcome, and that which is awaiting those characters described in the preceding verse is eternal destruction. The word god should not be capitalized, for it refers to a wrong object of devotion, namely, the belly. The original Greek word has different shades of meaning, but it is here used in reference to the fleshly desires. Some people are more devoted to such interests than they are to the true God, who wishes His children to make their devotion to Him first in their lives, and all other matters (even those that are right of themselves) secondary. Glory in their shame. Not that they admit having pride in their shame, but Paul is asserting that the things these evil workers take glory in, are truly shameful. The reason such people act as here described is due to the fact they mind (care) earthly things.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Php 3:19. whose end is destruction. And as St. Peter says (ii 3), this destruction does not slumber, it will soon come. The heresies of destruction, which they bring in, will in the end bring swift destruction upon themselves.
whose god is the belly. The apostle has spoken of such men already to the Romans. They serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.
and whose glory is in their shamethat is, in what ought to be their shame; but instead of this, they make a parade of what they do, foaming out their own shame.
who mind earthly things. For such men the upward heavenly calling of God has no attraction. They are given up to what is base, the satisfaction of the momentary desires of the senses, and therein they live entirely, grovelling like the beasts.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
3:19 Whose {n} end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] {o} glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
(n) Reward.
(o) Which they hunt after from men’s hands.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The context does not specify whether these people were Christians or not, but antinomianism was common among both groups in Paul’s day, as it is today. [Note: See Robert A. Pyne, "Antinomianism and Dispensationalism," Bibliotheca Sacra 153:610 (April-June 1996):141-54.] Consequently we should probably understand "destruction" in a general sense. The same Greek word (apoleia) occurs in Php 1:28 where it probably refers to unbelievers and eternal destruction. Nevertheless believers can experience discipline, and even premature physical death as discipline, if they continue to resist the will of God (Act 5:1-11; 1Co 11:30; 1Jn 5:16).
Three characteristics mark these people (cf. Php 3:2-3). First, they give free rein to the satisfaction of their sensual appetites and do not restrain the flesh (cf. Rom 16:18; 1Co 6:13; Jud 1:11). Second, they find satisfaction and take pride in things that they do that should cause them shame (cf. Eph 5:12). Third, they involve themselves almost totally in physical and material things, things pertaining to the present enjoyment of life, to the exclusion of spiritual matters. In short, their ritualistic observances had taken God’s place in their lives. They had become idolaters.
"He [Paul] is probably describing some itinerants, whose view of the faith is such that it allows them a great deal of undisciplined self-indulgence. . . . In any case, they have not appeared heretofore in the letter, and do not appear again. They have served their immediate purpose of standing in sharp relief to Paul’s own ’walk’ and to his heavenly pursuit, so crucial to this letter, and toward which Paul now turns once more as he begins to draw this appeal to an end." [Note: Fee, Paul’s Letter . . ., p. 375.]