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Php_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.
ὧν τὸ τέλος ἀπώλ .] By this is meant Messianic perdition, eternal condemnation (comp. Php_1:28), which is the ultimate destiny appointed ( τό ) for them ( τέλος is not: recompense, see Rom_6:21; 2Co_11:15; Heb_6:8). For corresponding Rabbinical passages, see Wetstein and Schoettgen, Hor. p. 801.
ὧν ὁ Θεὸς ἡ κοιλία ] λατρεύουσι γὰρ ὡς Θεῷ ταύτῃ καὶ πᾶσαν θεραπείαν προσάγουσι , 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 γαστριμαργία (Plat. Phaed. p. 81 E; Lucian, Amor. 42) in its godless nature; they were κοιλιοδαίμονες (Eupolis in Athen. iii. p. 100 B), τὰς τῆς γαστρὸς ἡδονὰς τιθέμενοι μέτρον εὐδαιμονίας (Lucian, Patr. enc. 10); τῇ γαστρὶ μετροῦντες καὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν (Dem. 524. 24).
καὶ ἡ δόξα κ . τ . λ .] also dependent on ὧν : 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, ἡ δόξα is subjective, viewed from the opinion of those men, and τῇ αἰσχύνῃ is objective, viewed according to the reality of the ethical relation. Comp. Polyb. xv. 23. 5: ἐφʼ οἷς ἐχρῆν αἰσχύνεσθαι καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν , ἐπὶ τούτοις ὡς καλοῖς σεμνεύεσθαι καὶ μεγαλαυχεῖν , and also Plat. Theaet. p. 176 D; ἀγάλλονται γὰρ τῷ ὀνείδει . On εἶναι ἐν , versari in, to be found in, to be contained in something, comp. Plat. Gorg. p. 470 E: ἐν τούτῳ ἡ πᾶσα εὐδαιμονία ἐστίν , Eur. Phoen. 1310: οὐκ ἐν αἰσχύνῃ τὰ σά . The view, foreign to the context, which refers the words to circumcision, making αἰσχ . 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.
οἱ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονοῦντες ] who bear the earthly (that which is on the earth; the opposite in Php_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 ὧν ), but more independently and emphatically in the nominative, having in view the logical subject of what precedes (comp. on Php_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].