ESV Reformation Study Bible – Phil 3:18–19
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Phil 3:18–19

3:18, 19 These verses could describe all sorts of opponents (1 Cor. 1:23), including the Judaizers (vv. 2–6; Gal. 2:15–21). Paul may be thinking especially of persons who conceive of Christ as pure spirit, and who scorn the idea of His bringing salvation by means of the Incarnation and a body of flesh that could die (Col. 1:22). Such persons consider themselves to be living on an exalted spiritual plane, which frees them to enjoy sensual pleasures, whether food (“their god is their belly”) or sex (“they glory in their shame”; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9, 10).