The identity of Paul's opponents in Philippi continues to elude historical illumination. It is usually assumed that the persons referred to in Phil 1.15–17, who ‘preach Christ from envy and rivalry’ (v. 15) and attempt to afflict Paul in his imprisonment (v. 17), are with Paul in Ephesus (or wherever Paul is thought to be imprisoned). Attempts to discern the identity of the opponents in Philippi, therefore, usually focus on the teachings in 3.2–21. Most attention is given to the warnings against ‘dogs’, ‘workers of evil’, and ‘mutilation of the flesh’ in 3.2, and against ‘enemies of the cross’ in 3.18–19, which seem to represent direct evidence for at least the presence of opponents. These warnings are followed by affirmations (3.3–16 and 20–1) which are assumed to distinguish Paul's own understanding of Christian existence from that of his opponents, and thus to reflect the views of the opponents in ‘indirect’ ways. This evidence, however, has been worked over again and again with no consensus regarding the identity of the supposed opponents.

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Since the appearance of Ernst Käsemann's programmatic article on "The Beginnings of Christian Theology/' 1 the signifiance of apocalypticism for the proclamation of earliest Christianity, and for the theology of Paul in particular, has again become a central issue in New Testament interpretation. 2 Beginning with the assertion that apocalypticism is the "mother of Christian theology/' 3 in so far as the earliest Christian understanding of history "finds its criterion and goal in the parousia of Jesus as the Son of Man," 4 Käsemann also argued that the message of Paul was decisively determined by this same conceptual horizon. 5 "The apocalyptic question concerning to whom belongs the lordship of the world stands behind the apostle's resurrection theology as well as his ethical exhortations." 6 According to Käsemann, the way in which apocalypticism determines the theology of Paul is most clearly evident in his battle against spiritual enthusiasm in Corinth, which was carried out by the apostle "under the banner of apocalypticism." 7 Apart from the apocalyptic tradition in which he stands, which provides the essential framework for his message, Paul's "entire anti-enthusiastic argument would lose its center meaning." 8 1

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