17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 4
1Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Dig Deeper
Throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even eighteenth centuries, there were an incredible amount of colonies planted in the new world of America. These colonies came in all different shapes and sizes and there were many different reasons that colonies were planted. Although there were a few colonies that were planted so that its inhabitants could simply escape from life in their old country, most of them were planted to be outposts. They were places where people who were seeking adventure, fortune, or a new start could do so while still staying connected to their home country. The point of most colonies, though, is not for the people to go and then quickly come back, that’s called a vacation. People came to the new world to establish permanent colonies. They were still usually loyal to the country of their citizenship, but they came to these colonies to benefit their mother country and to spread the life, culture, and economy of their homeland to the new world. In doing so, they expanded the territory, rule, and influence of their home country.
The Roman world of Paul’s day was no stranger to colonies either. In fact Philippi was a Roman colony that was planted in the decades before Christ was born. It was originally planted by former Roman soldiers. Philippi was a fiercely Roman city that was proud of their Roman heritage. The point of planting this colony of these Roman citizens, though, was not for them to return to Rome. Caesar certainly did not want a bunch of former soldiers hanging around Rome, that could be dangerous. No, instead the whole point was for them to spread the language, culture, values, and influence of Rome to this new place. So, they were not Rome but would spread the life of Rome, and if they ever got into any kind of trouble, they could be sure, because they were citizens of Rome, that Caesar would come with his powerful army and set things right.
This is precisely Paul’s point in this passage. Christians are not to live their lives avoiding trouble and looking at the world around them as a necessary evil that must be endured until we can escape and go off to heaven. Rather, Christians are citizens of heaven, living in this present age. We are to live as citizens of heaven in an evil culture around us, spreading the territory, rule, and influence of of heaven, the place of our citizenship. As in the previous passage, Paul’s point is not that Christians are waiting to go to heaven (although we certainly will until the time of resurrection and renewal of God’s creation), the point has everything to do with how Christians are living right now. The great Christian hope that Paul describes is not to leave the world forever and float off to heaven, the great hope is for our King, the only true King of the world to return and set things right.
Paul begins this passage by calling those in Philippi to follow his example, something Paul called young Christians to do frequently. It’s not that Paul wanted people to mimic him or even become like him by following his mannerisms, his manner of speaking or any other trivial things like that. When Paul calls for imitation of him or anyone else, it has everything to do with living the life of Christ. This is what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 4:16-17 when he called them to imitate him, and then said he would send Timothy so that they could do that because Timothy’s life would remind them of his life in Christ Jesus. He wanted them to consider the example of how he went about living Christ in the real world and to apply that example to the difficult situations of their own life. We certainly don’t have Paul or anyone who knew Paul around today to imitate, but surely there are others in our lives who live the sacrificial, loving lives of Christ in the real world and that provide wonderful principles which we can watch and institute in our own lives.
Just as they should draw near to and be like those who are truly living the life of Christ, they should keep on the watch and beware of those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Although this certainly would include followers of pagan religions, Paul is likely thinking more of those who live counterfeit versions of Christianity. If he is writing this letter from a prison in Ephesus, then it is likely that he had just finished writing 1 Corinthians and had the issues that they were dealing with fresh on his mind. The Corinthians had become obsessed with the knowledge, power, and values of the world as was evidenced, among other things, by their indulging their appetites at the Lord’s Supper and ignoring the needs of the poorer members of the community. If people continue to seek after the things of the present age then truly their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach (literally "appetite" which can refer to many things beyond just food), and their glory is in their shame.
In contrast to living like citizens of the world, especially citizens of Rome, Paul wants them to live as citizens of heaven, creating a colony or outpost of heaven in the present age. Paul’s point here is clear. Their primary allegiance is to heaven not Rome, to Jesus not Caesar, and they were to focus on doing the will of God not the will of the Roman Empire.
It is important to note that, once again, as Paul talks of heaven, he is referring to the manner of living while here on earth. That, of course, doesn’t mean that the righteous don’t go into God’s presence in heaven when we die, but Paul knows that that is only a temporary state. He has his eyes on the ultimate prize, that is what he eagerly awaits. He looks forward to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Savior of the world (as opposed to Caesar, who called himself the savior of the world, but was just a parody of the real thing), comes from heaven.
Paul doesn’t so much look forward to going to heaven as he does to the time when the Messiah will come from heaven, bringing with him the judgment and restoration of the entire world. As he transforms the entire cosmos with the power of heaven, he will also transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (this is the resurrection he hoped to attain in v. 11). Christians don’t look forward to dying and then living on in some sort of alternate state apart from the prison of the body. That’s pure Platonic philosophy. The early Christians didn’t look at the material universe as somehow evil as opposed to the spiritual universe which was good. They were both part of God’s good creation, parts that will be renewed and brought back together when the King returns. When Paul says that our lowly bodies will be transformed, then, he isn’t talking so much of the substance of which the body is made (Jesus’ resurrection body, the prototype for our resurrection bodies, demonstrated that he was raised in the same, yet glorified, body—complete with scars and the empty tomb—that he went to the Cross with. When Paul speaks of transformation, he is primarily referring to what animates the body. In our current state, we have the down payment of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, but when Christ returns our bodies and spirit will be completely transformed and be perfectly animated by God’s own Spirit. This is the incredible hope that Christians have, and to which our lives of being led by the Spirit now, point to and foreshadow.
Devotional Thought
Spend some time today thinking about what it would look like and what it would mean for your Christian community to truly take on the mind set of being a colony of heaven rather than a group of people waiting to go there? How might the life of your community and your own personal Christian life look different?
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