Fake Christians
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Ahem.... Today,
(Read the text)
This is not a terribly difficult text to read or understand, except for verse 1. I want to look at verse 1 first. What does it mean to rejoice?
Rejoice in the LORD
What does it mean to rejoice? What is joy and in what contexts should we rejoice? This is something that we should be asking when we read this. Paul is giving a command, and we should be wondering how we can follow this command. Why does Paul say that he is writing again?
I think that it is because he has already said to rejoice 7 times, 5 about his own rejoicing, and twice about the rejoicing of the Philippians. Paul is continuing the theme that he began in 2:17-18 and he is also reminding the Philippians to emulate him in his rejoicing.
always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice
make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
For this reason, I am very eager to send him so that you may rejoice again when you see him and I may be less anxious.
Therefore, welcome him in the Lord with great joy and hold people like him in honor,
Joy has been a constant theme throughout this entire letter. he mentions rejoicing and joy seven times before now. It is definitely something that he wants the church to notice, especially in the context of the letter. We need to remember that Paul is in prison at this time, and he is still constantly talking about joy and rejoicing.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Biblical Relevance
In the Old Testament, joy is closely related to victory over one’s enemies. For example, in 1 Sam 18:6 when David returned from killing the Philistine, he was met with joy and dancing. It is also associated with religious acts and feasts, including sacrifices in Psa 27:6 and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (2 Chr 30; Ezra 6).
Something to note here is that Paul is saying that he is repeating the same things. Every church is a same things sort of church. Every Christian needs to constantly hear the same message over and over to remain firm in what they believe. The gospel message never changes.
Rejoicing is somet hing that comes from victoyr. What victory then does Pual have that he can say to rejoice form imprisonment? It is victory over confidence in the flesh. It is the victory of being the circumcision.
The theme of rejoicing is something that we can follow all the way through Paul’s letter until now. This is why he says that he is writing to them again. Paul is simply preparing to give another reason for us to rejoice.
Today, we arent going to make it to where the victory comes. We are looking at the lead up to the victory. We are looking at the enemy that victory is claimed over. Somehting to understand is that the worse, and the stronger the enemy is, the stronger and better the conqueror is.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
The enemy is exceedingly strong. But that means that we have all the more reason to rejoice because we have victory.
Now, how strong exactly is
Look at verse 2.
Beware… Beware.... Beware…
Paul is hammering this phrase very hard. Who are the people that Paul is wanting the Philippian church to be weary of?
Paul previously said to rejoice because we have victory over these thing. Why then does he warn the church to beware them? it is because these thing are especially dangerous to Christians. These are things that try to undermine a believer’s confidence in Christ.
Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Dogs: Paul is being ironic with this term. It is a Jewish term for Gentiles. It refers to people who do not distinguish between clean things and unclean things. Likely, this is a term that the enemies that Pual is addressing would have applied to the Philippian church.
Evil workers: This is people who insist on keepoing the works of the Law to be save
Ones who mutilate the flesh: This is refering to circumcision. Paul is saying that these people do nothing more than cut themselves by insisiting on circucmcision.
Philippians Paul’s Opponents: Their Historical Identity
He is not arguing against opponents who say that Gentiles must earn their salvation; he is combating the view that holy, righteous living can happen outside of faith in Christ. The law is not the vehicle for knowing Christ; faith is. The Torah will not empower a person for holy living; the resurrection power is the only force capable of that.
For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision—and ours—not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements: that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things.
Farewell.”
It would appear that it would be the Jwediazers. The people who say that there needs to be works and faith for salvation. That you need to keep the law in order to be saved.
This is why Paul says that we are the circumcision. What do you think he means by that?
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord had his heart set on your ancestors and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.
God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
Circumcision is the sign of the covenant between God and Israel.c That is how they knew that they were God’s people. This changed with Jesus however. Now, Gods people are not marked by circumcision. They are marked by faith. You cant tell who is one of God's people by looking at them. You only know God’s people by their faith.
Paul also contrasts his opponents with a genuine believer. What does it look like for somebody who has victory? That is verse 3. Gal 6:14
But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.
What does this mean practically?
Well, this is what Paul means when he says not to put confidence in the flesh. He is giving himself as an example of somebody who appears like one of God’s people. Somebody who does all of the right things, but does not have faith.
Now to look at verses 4-6:
Paul is showing how great he was before he was saved. The attributes that he is listing here would be the things that were the most attractive to the Jewdiazers. They are the things that would be the exact oppisite from being the circumcision. We need to remember that Paul was a pharisee before he was saved. Not only this, Paul was the best Pharisee.
Now go into what all of these things mean regardig how awesome Paul was.
Paul was practically perfect. He was the super Jew.
circumcised, Israels, Benjamin- he was born to be a super Jew
Hebrew, Pahrisee, persecution: he did everything that a super Jew would do.
Blameless: Note that Paul is not saying that he is sinless. He is saying that he kept all of the Jewish law. However, His heart was still arrogant and corrupt. He was one of the whitewashed tombs.
Paul is setting us up for a major reversal. He is getting ready to completly pull the rug out from under us. We will see oin teh next section that Paul is giving a major reversal on everything that is actually important.
What is the point that Paul is making in this section? Go through and summarize the passage again.