Philippians, Chapter 3

Philippians 3

1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

• "Rejoice in the Lord" - Paul had previously spoken of his rejoicing in all circumstances in 1:18 and in 2:17-18, and exhorted the reader to also rejoice, sharing in his joy.
• Maintaining a proper attitude is essential in safeguarding our faith.  The joy of the Lord is our strength!  Wrong attitudes, on the other hand, can work against our faith, as well as our spiritual oneness in Christ.  As the apostle James wrote, "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?   You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.   And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure (James 4:1-3)."
• In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul was taking preemptive action against those who were trying to undermine, even pervert, the gospel of grace.

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.

• These are three strongly worded descriptions of the Judaizers, those Jewish Christians insisting upon circumcision and observance of the Torah as a condition of salvation.
• "Dogs" - The Jewish people thought of Gentiles as "dogs" - unclean, savage scavengers.   Paul's usage of this very term in reference to the Judaizers, then, paints a vivid image of his esteem of them.
• "Evildoers" - Given that the Judaizers believed that the requirements and laws they taught were God's will, 'evildoers' stands in stark contrast.
• "Mutilators" - The Jews held circumcision as a mark of true godliness, yet Paul is saying here that their fixation on outward actions were no different than the prophets of Baal's custom of cutting themselves "with knives and swords until the blood gushed out (1 Kings 18:28)."  In Galatians, Paul used even harsher language regarding this topic, saying, "Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.  As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves (Galatians 5:11-12 NIV)!"
• Why is the issue of grace versus the law such an issue with Paul, and why should it be important to us?  It is important because it is a running theme throughout the New Testament, and opposes the very grace of God as displayed in Jesus Christ.  Jesus reserved his harshest words for the teachers of the law of His day, and from the book of Acts through the last epistle, the New Testament is filled with warnings and rebukes of false teachers who would arise to try to draw us away from faith in the amazing grace of God.  By emphasizing observance of the law in addition to salvation, such people are saying that the blood of Jesus was not enough to cover sin.  Paul wrote in Galatians, "If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.  I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.  For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace (Galatians 5:2-4)."

3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,

• True circumcision is of the heart, not of the flesh.  God spoke of this in the Old Testament.  "'A time is coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit…' (Jeremiah 9:25)"  Paul wrote inRomans 2:28-29, "For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.  No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people."  To the Colossians, Paul further explains, "When you came to Christ, you were 'circumcised,' but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision — the cutting away of your sinful nature (Colossians 2:11)."
• As believers, we not to trust in our own merits or efforts to win God's favor, or to secure a special standing of God.  Rather, Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV).

4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!  5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. 

• Although Paul normally avoided discussion of such things, he felt it necessary to list his qualifications as a Jew in order to minimize any legitimacy the Judaizers may have held in the Philippians' eyes.  His impressive qualifications were established by birth, by tradition, and by merit.
• Of note, Paul had previously been a Pharisee; if anyone should have had a drive and a passion for observance of the law as a means of worshiping God, it was Paul.  He had been present at Stephen's death (Acts 8:1), and later, aggressively persecuted Christians (Acts 9:1-2).
• We often pride ourselves on our accomplishments, on our social status, and esteem others based upon their titles, positions, achievements, and accolades.

7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

• Paul brings his impressive list of qualifications crashing down by comparing them to garbage in the light of knowing Jesus.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field (Matthew 13:44)."
• To put this into further context, 'garbage' is translated from the Greek word 'skubala,' a vulgar word used only once in scripture.  It would have had a certain shock value at the time of its writing, as Bible.org elaborates, "This word is used primarily for excrement, especially human excrement; secondarily for rubbish, dirt, leavings, etc."

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 

• The more that we are interested in, or in love with, someone, the more we long to know them and everything about them.  We want to emulate our heroes, to identify with them.  Remember Philippians 1:29, "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him."  Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul writes, "For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives (Romans 6:4).

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

• Story of Roger Bannister and John Landy - British Empire Games in Vancouver, Canada on August 7th, 1954, mile run, both under 4 minutes.  Landy had the lead at the third lap, prompting Bannister to push himself even farther.  By the final lap, they were dead even.  Approaching the home stretch, however, Landy made the mistake of looking back to see where Bannister was, and lost his focus.

15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.  17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.

• Again, we are exhorted to "hold on."  Additionally, we are instructed to learn from and to model the lives of other Christians.

18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

• Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter (Luke 7:21)."
• And what is the will of God?  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 offers some insight: "Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

• As mentioned back in Philippians 1:27, "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ."
• Remember that we are foreigners here, fellow sojourners only passing through.  Although we may encounter the occasional valley or wilderness, we are destined for a far greater place than we can imagine.
• Like Roger Barrister, let us keep our eyed firmly fixed upon the goal, not looking back, but running the race with patient perseverance and determination.  May we always be joyful, always be praying, always be thankful.  And like the man who sold all he had to gain the treasure, may we count all else as loss for the sake of knowing Christ.  Let our hearts truly cry out, "That I may know You!"