Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. 3:18 For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 3:21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself. 4:1 So then, my brothers and sisters, dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!

During my first year at Colorado Christian University I had an amazing teacher for my New Testament course. He made a dramatic impact on my growing faith. He had a way of bringing truth to light, and while doing so he made this kind of motion with his hand. All five fingers were extended naturally, not as a flat palm more of a half circle with the knuckles on top. He would move his hand forward while turning it over, palm up. Without realizing it, I had picked up the affectation. It was only after friends started joking about it that I began to consciously try to stop.

Good teachers have a way of leaving their mark on a student. In the first century, a teacher was a master of a particular skill, art or philosophy. The students came to learn from the teacher, to be sure, but also to become like the teacher (sometimes with affectations included). For this reason, it was common for a teacher to use himself as an example, just as Paul does in verse 17. “Be imitators of me,” he says – not with pride or out of a self-absorbed psychosis – but as someone who is further along the path of sanctification. Like him, the people of Philippi need to depend on the righteousness of Jesus rather than those who oppose Paul whose end is destruction.

Paul’s enemies are easily recognized, if you know what to look for. At this time in history, the stomach was thought to be the seat of one’s passions. So while gluttony is a sin, that isn’t Paul’s meaning here. Instead, it is one who gives in to their fleshly passions, which may include eating but also encompasses sexual sin, sadism, drunkenness, drugs, and all kinds of addictions. These people, many of whom may even claim Jesus as their savior, are actually enemies of the cross by teaching that they can live according to their sinful nature instead of submission to God.

In contrast to the citizens of earth and its pleasures is the citizen of heaven. Rather than our own appetites, we serve the king heaven, also know as the Savior of man and Jesus. This savior has the power to transform our spirit, yes, but also our bodies and minds so that we might resemble him. And so we see that when Paul tells the church to imitate him, it is so that the people might in the end resemble Jesus, partake in his kingdom and share in the reward of our upward calling. Yes, they would receive rewards in heaven, and their presence in the holy hereafter was his.