Chapter 3, Verse 19 “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”
Paul has four distinct ways to describe the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their failure to follow the Christ sets them up for a disastrous end. There is no name given among men who can save other than the name of Jesus. God sent Him to be the savior of Jews and Gentiles and if the Jews rejected Him, they were sealing their own doom.
These enemies were wrapped up in the law and would not escape it. So many rules about what to eat and how to eat it. They could not get beyond their own fleshly appetites and the laws around them to see that what went in did not defile them. The only purification laws they needed to follow were to eat and drink the Lord Jesus Christ.
They bragged about their law keeping, when in fact they failed to keep the law. Jesus had made it clear that He had annulled the law and that they no longer needed it but they were too proud of their law accomplishments to forsake them for the words of Christ.
Christ came offering them a new spiritual way to be God’s children, but they could not get their minds off of the physical rules and regulations which had governed their past interaction with God. Food rules, Sabbath keeping, and fleshly circumcision occupied their minds to the point that they could not hear Jesus.
Task for Today: Forget the former covenants and the various rules and regulations associated with them. Especially, forget the law brought by Moses. Jesus, the Christ, has fulfilled that law and set it aside. He is the new and living way that we must follow. Do not bind nor be bound by Jewish laws or traditions but live solely by the words of Christ.
Philip Dampier's Blog 