Philippians 3:18 “(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: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”
The “enemies of the cross of Christ” are many and varied in their ideas and methods of assault against “the cross of Christ”; but, in this passage it seems that the primary focus is upon the rejection and active opposition to the Doctrine of “the cross of Christ”. Summarily, the Doctrine of “the cross of Christ” declares that the Son of God came into this world, received a human body, lived among men teaching that the Kingdom of God is come, that the Law Service has been fulfilled, that the Sin-debt is fully and finally paid by His Sacrificial death on the Cross, that He rose to life again, that He ascended again into Heaven, and that He will return again to take His Children to their Eternal Home! This Doctrine negates the authority and power of the Law Service leaders, of the pagan worshippers, and of those false religionists who seek to mix the Law Service and Paganism with the Doctrine of “the cross of Christ”. As the Doctrine of “the cross of Christ” took root and began to exponentially spread, the “enemies of the cross of Christ” began to lose their lustful influence, power, and authority over the people. Even today, the “enemies of the cross of Christ” utterly detest the Doctrine of “the cross of Christ” because its very existence condemns their ungodly behavior and denies and rejects their lust driven quest for absolute power and authority over the people. Their carnal yearning for power and authority seems to have no limits, they will gleefully do all that is in their power to deceive and destroy the humble, meek, and gracious Children of God, those who seek to worship our God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). There are periods in which the “enemies of the cross of Christ” seem successful in their bitter quest to destroy the Church-Kingdom of our Dear Lord; but, their “end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things”! But, while “the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things” (Acts 4:25), our loving duty is to “stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13) and “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58)!