We may also liken national characteristics that occupy our soul to a tumor which grows in a person’s stomach until there is room for little else. In our psychological stomach a tumor has grown and has taken over nearly all the room which should be reserved for Christ. For this reason, our inner being cannot contain much spiritual food and it cannot function normally. Believers from every country, and even from different regions in a particular country, have a tumor characteristic of them. This tumor grows especially in our natural mind. It has grown to such a degree that it has become part of our very constitution.
From years of experience I can testify that, without exception, all believers have such a tumor in their psychological stomach. The only difference among us regarding this tumor is its size. Only the most skillful Surgeon—the Lord Jesus Himself—is able to remove the tumor hidden within us.
In 3:1-16 Paul deals with this tumor; he operates on our soul, especially on our thinking. When he was Saul of Tarsus, Paul had a large tumor in his soul. This tumor influenced Paul’s thoughts about the Jewish religion, law, circumcision, and tradition. But one day the Lord Jesus, the greatest Surgeon, operated on Paul, and a huge tumor was removed from his mind. However, with most of us, this surgery has not yet taken place. The tumor is still in our soul.
For a number of years I was bothered within by a question for which I was not able to find an answer. Why do Christians who truly love the Lord and seek Him earnestly go on year after year without growing in life? Even though they read the Bible faithfully, they do not see anything. Now I have at least part of the answer. The lack of growth in life and shortage of revelation in reading the Word are caused by a tumor in their psychological stomach. Realizing the seriousness of this, I am burdened to emphasize again and again that in 3:7 and 8 Paul refers not to material things, but to religious, philosophical, and cultural things, in particular to thoughts, concepts, and ideas that occupy our soul. Because such things have grown within us like a tumor, we are in desperate need of surgery. We need a thorough dealing with the soul, especially with the mind.
In 3:15 Paul says, “Let us therefore, as many as are full grown, have this mind.” If we would have “this mind,” we must have a mind without a tumor, a mind filled with Christ and occupied with seeking Christ, gaining Him, and enjoying Him. In order to have such a mind, we must be operated on by the Lord and have our psychological tumor removed. Oh, may the Lord show us how we need such a mind!
After dealing with the soul in 3:1-16, Paul goes on to deal with the body in 3:17-21. These five verses deal with physical enjoyment, especially as practiced by the Epicureans. As genuine seekers of Christ, we need surgery to eliminate our religious and philosophical thoughts, and we also need a proper dealing with the physical body. In verse 19 Paul speaks of those “whose God is the belly,” but in verses 20 and 21 he says that we are awaiting the Lord Jesus Christ, “Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of His glory.” In these verses Paul deals with the physical body and its enjoyment. We should not think that Paul deals only with the soul and leaves the body free to indulge itself in its lusts. In dealing with the soul, Paul does not touch physical things. But in dealing with the body, he does touch these things.
Once again I wish to point out that, after his fellowship with the believers in chapters one and two, Paul gave them instructions in chapter three concerning how to deal with the soul and the body. To deal with the soul, they had to count as refuse all religious, philosophical, and cultural things and not treasure them. Nothing religious should be regarded as a treasure. Nothing philosophical can compare with Christ, and no cultural element should be allowed to be a substitute for Him. We must condemn all religious, philosophical, and cultural things and count them as refuse in order to gain Christ in our soul and to be filled with Him in our soul, especially in our mind. This is the way to deal with our soul.
Turning to the matter of physical enjoyment, Paul says in verse 17, “Be imitators together of me, brothers, and observe attentively those who thus walk as you have us for an example.” The example here does not refer to what Paul has covered in the foregoing verses. Instead, it is the example set by those who deal with the physical body in a proper way. How do we know that verse 17 refers not to the things of the soul, but to the things of the body? We know it by the fact that verse 18 begins with the word for, indicating that this verse is an explanation of verse 17. Verse 18 says, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” They were enemies of the cross of Christ, which has terminated the indulgence of the lusts of the physical body.
As we have pointed out, the Epicureans care for indulgence in the enjoyment of eating and drinking. Paul refers to this in verse 19, which says, “Whose end is destruction, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” These are those who worship their belly and serve their stomach; their belly was their god. In promoting the enjoyment of eating and drinking, the Epicureans were more concerned with physical indulgence than with ethics or morality. Today many take the way of the Epicureans to indulge in physical enjoyments. On the weekends some are so given to sports and physical pleasures that they forget everything else. Of the Epicureans Paul also says that they “set their minds on earthly things.” By earthly things he means physical things, material things, matters of eating and drinking.
According to the book of Colossians, Paul did not agree with asceticism, with the practice of treating the body severely. But neither would he agree with the Epicurean indulgence in physical enjoyment. We need such things as food and clothing. Without them, we cannot live. However, we should not indulge ourselves in these things.
In 4:11 Paul says, “I have learned in whatever circumstances I am to be content.” The Greek word rendered “content” is a Stoic term, indicating a practice opposite to that of the Epicureans. The Stoics taught that a person should be content in all circumstances, caring neither for enjoyment nor for suffering. Paul used this expression in testifying that he had learned the secret to be content. In principle, we Christians agree neither with the Epicureans nor with the ascetics. In a sense, we may somewhat stand with the Stoics.
As Paul was writing to the Philippians, deep within him was the realization that both the Judaizers and the Epicureans were a cause of damage to the church life. There was the danger that the believers would be misled by the Epicureans into the indulgence of physical enjoyment. As we have indicated, Paul wrote Philippians 3 to help the believers deal with both the soul and the body. We today need such a word of instruction. Concerning our soul, we should not hold on to religious, philosophical, and cultural things. Rather, we must be willing to have the tumor of national characteristics removed. May we allow the heavenly Surgeon to operate on our soul and to rid it of any tumor. It is crucial that our soul be dealt with in this way. Concerning our body, we need to eat properly and be nourished in order to have a long life for the Lord’s expression. But we should avoid indulgence or excessive enjoyment of physical things. We should not practice Epicureanism. We need clothing, a house, and transportation. But we should not indulge in these things. On the one hand, we must reject the Judaizers; on the other hand, we must also avoid the Epicureans. In these matters we should follow Paul and imitate both him and those who followed him.