Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Teaching

Right out of the box, the first word of this passage hits us with a curious problem.

The ESV and other translations use the word “Finally.”

But Paul is only halfway through this letter and he doesn’t seem to be winding up.

When my daughter has homework and I ask her if she’s finished she has the habit of saying “almost.”

Almost can mean she’s got a few more math problems or that she’s only done 3 out of a thousand.

Either way she says almost.

So is Paul like us preachers who say, “I’m wrapping up” or I’m almost done” only to go another 15-20 minutes?

I don’t think that is what Paul is doing here.

Paul is moving to a new topic, but he’s building off what he said in chapter 1.

We have to keep in mind that the original letter didn’t have section headings, verse of even chapter numbers.

It was just line after line of text.

Paul uses words to transition through the different themes he wants to cover.

This is similar to how we might write an email to someone about a birthday party we are helping plan.

We might say I want everyone to have a lot of fun at the party, make it extra special for the birthday person, and give something cool to all the guests when they leave.

Then you would go through your fun ideas in a few sentences.

After that you might say, “Also, such and such is so special I’d like to do xyz for her”.

You might say “as far as the rest of the party, I want to make this cool prize for everyone to take home.”

This is what Paul is doing here with the word translated “Finally.”

Other translations of this verse say: In addition, Further, As far as the rest, etc.

Let’s look at these section since it has been a few weeks and see how Paul has structured his letter.

In chapter one we read this:

Paul starts with this first line:

Philippians 1:27 (ESV)

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

What does a gospel worthy life look like?

He tells the Philippians in Phil 2:1 and following:

He triggers this section with a little word translated “so” that acts as a transition word.

Then Paul goes on to tell us what it means to have the mind of Christ.

Look at the rest this verse:

Philippians 1:27 (ESV)

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

How does the church stand firm and live in unity?

He tells them in Phil 2:11 and following:

He trigger this section with another connecting word: “therefore”.

Then he goes on to talk about what kind of things ruin unity and what kind of things promote unity.

He ends this section with these words:

Philippians 2:17–18 (ESV)

17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul takes the opportunity to show the example of two men who are standing firm and unifying the church: Timothy and Epaphroditus.

He takes a little bit of a detour talking about what happened to Epaphroditus and so in chapter 3 he is taking up the next section he planned to talk about:

Philippians 1:27–28 (ESV)

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

In chapter three he uses this transition word “Finally” or a better way to think of it is “Furthermore” to get back on track and he reminds them that they should rejoice and that he is writing these things to them as a safe guard:

Okay, now that we can see what Paul is doing here I want to do two things with this sermon today:

1.

I want to look at who these opponents are that Paul is warning them about in verse 2.

2. I want to look at three marks of a true christian.

In other words, when you look at a person what things should you see.

Let’s read Phil 3:2:

1. Dogs, Evil Workers, Mutilators, Oh My!

I want to talk briefly about each of these terms but first I want you to here the forceful way Paul says these three sentences in the original language.

Each of these sentences is forceful and percussive.

First repeats the word Look out, also could be translated Watch out or beware.

Each of these is an imperative, Paul is commanding the Philippians to be on their guard.

He also uses words that start with hard “K” sounds.

On commentator tries to get the force and urgency of the sentences by saying it this way:

“Beware the curs!

Beware the criminals!

Beware the cutters!”

(Frank S. Thielman.

Philippians, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 1995, 129.)

A cur is an aggressive dog.

But I think the commentator missed an opportunity here: a better word would be cat.

Because let’s be honest, I love cats, but everyone knows, whether you love or hate cats, you need to watch out, you need to beware.

If your cat comes purring next to you and rolls over and wants you to pet their belly.

You go for one or two pets, but you pull away before the third because they will bite your hand for no reason.

If you set something on the counter that your cat doesn’t think belongs there then they’re going to knock it off!

So, I think this translation captures Paul’s intent:

“Beware the CATS!

Beware the CRIMINALS!

Beware the CUTTERS!”

Strong warnings with very percussive language.

Dogs

So who are the dogs?

Are they these beautiful creatures?

SHOW MY DOGS SLIDE

We love our fur babies, a dog is man’s best friend right?!?

Not in the ancient world.

In many cultures and languages to call someone a dog is an insult.

It is in our culture as well.

In the OT, dogs are associated with “indiscriminate” and even disgusting behavior.

(All discussion of Dogs in the OT and in this context from Markus Bockmuehl, The Epistle to the Philippians, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 1997), 185. )

Dogs “eat refuse, including dead animals and the bodies of unburied people, and may even return to their own vomit.”

We can see the sense in which Paul uses this term.

The term “dogs” became synonymous with pagans, or any one who did not distinguish between pure and impure, sacred and profane things.

In Jewish contexts, it would have been used of Gentiles.

Paul attacks these people with the very insult they brought against the Philippians.

These “dogs” were teaching that “the Gentiles cannot become part of the people of God without converting to Judaism: only full Jews can be full Christians; other are ‘dogs’.”

(Bockmuehl, The Epistle to the Philippians, 186.)

Paul wants to be clear that these people who teach these things are the dogs, not the Philippian Christians.

Evil Workers

Paul also calls these people evildoers.

In the original language the word translated evildoers is two words evil workers or laborers.

Paul is again using the words of these people against them.

The word for worker is used throughout the NT and even in the Greek translation of the OT as a term for a missionary.

(All evil workers discussion from Bockmuehl, The Epistle to the Philippians, 187.)