How this will play out was not fully fleshed out by Paul, but clearly, it is not good. The point is, there would be consequences. Jesus is going to rid His kingdom of anything that defiles (Matthew 13:41).

John wrote that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire.

What Paul is mentioning in this verse are the chaff. He has been talking about himself and others who think like him as the wheat - the good ones.

The chaff are those whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, who think about earthly things. The Bible warns of the chaff of thinking about earthly things and of the love of the world (1 John 2:15-17).

This seems plain enough and almost similar to what Jesus said about not serving God and money (Matthew 6:24). When Paul said their god is their belly, he is saying that it is their overarching animating principle. This is what they are shaped by.

In previous verses, Paul said he used to think his human credentials made him something.

So I conclude that the people Paul is talking about in this verse take their boast in earthly things.

While Paul boasts, as it were, in the accompaniments based on the law rather than in Christ, these people boast in their cars, their expensive clothes, their private jets, the size of their congregation, and the expensive school their children attend. You get my point.

Is there anything inherently wrong with those things? I don't believe so.

Just as it is the love of money that is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), it is exulting in these things that is the problem, as they form the core of your identity.

And that is what they pursue, rather than the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

I am not talking about telling people about the good things you just bought. I am talking about an orientation that defines Christianity as about getting things. It's a fine but clear line.

For these people, that is how they measure themselves - with earthly things (2 Corinthians 10:12). They have a fixation on it.

When you measure yourself, value yourself by the sophisticated car you have, meaning that is what you say people should emulate about you, being what they lift up about themselves, then we have a problem.

They exult in their shame also suggests an air of boastfulness among these people. Contrast that with Jesus' humility, as Paul highlighted earlier.

And how do we know you are boastful? The first exhibit is what comes from your mouth. The Bible says, Let another man praise you and not your own mouth (Proverbs 27:2).

Jesus mentioned a man who accumulated wealth for himself but was not rich towards God (Luke 12:16-21), in a redefinition of what true riches are (Revelation 3:17-18).

Jesus is saying these people are exalting in their shame, because they do not realize their true pathetic state. They say (boastfulness from the mouth and a tacit comparison with others based on materials), “I am rich...”

People with sleight of hand want to say Jesus spoke a lot about money. That is a trick they are playing on your mind. The question is not that Jesus spoke about money, but how he spoke about it. What a shame indeed. It is a shame to push lies in the name of Christ, all for an earthly-focused agenda.

We may not know what you are thinking about, but Jesus says we should not worry because out of the mouth speaks what fills the heart (Matthew 12:34).

Paul is here focusing on our thoughts.

Because they think about earthly things, they must necessarily exult in those things.

And the earthly-minded are quick to tell the heavenly-minded that they are fools.

They can say things like: Don’t be so heavenly-minded that they are of no earthly use.

That seems like something everyone can line up with, right? But that is the language of those who mind earthly things, who want to cut you down from your single-minded, as Paul said, pursuit of heaven, of Christ, of the reason for which Christ has laid hold of you (Philippians 3:12-17). They want to shame the heavenly-minded (Colossians 3:1-2), but Paul said it is they who should be truly ashamed.

It is a sly and effective tactic; hence, Paul cried when writing this (Philippians 3:18).  

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This book lays out the case for the Sufficiency of Scripture, arguing that it is enough to define the life and practice of Christians and the church. It pushes back against both subtle and blatant violations of this tenet, including Tradition, Imagination, Divination, Emotion, Revelations, and Visions (TIDER).Join the author as he explains:Passages that prohibit adding to or removing from God’s word.Scripture has a special quality that sets it apart from anything else that has ever been written or will ever be written.The need for humility so that we can separate our biases from the truth.There are consequences for either adding to or removing from God’s word.How Jesus and Paul argued for the Sufficiency of Scripture.How the devil is the enemy of the Sufficiency of Scripture, and humans willingly cooperate with him for different reasons.How, “The Scriptures, as a fixed set of documents, is a shared body of agreed reference that defines the contours of truth,” and not the preacher’s charisma or eloquence.Holding to the Sufficiency of Scripture one day doesn’t mean the preacher will always do so, hence the call for carefulness.Why it’s wrong to pit one passage of Scripture against another.That “humans have been building up reasonings apart from and against the light of God’s truth for centuries.”Take the journey to deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Sufficiency of Scripture.

The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved