Philippians 3:1-6

(Philippians 3:1-6)

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Paul is in prison. When a person is imprisoned and is in a state where his freedom is limited, his body and mind become difficult. According to 2 Timothy 1:15, it was said that when Paul was put in jail, everyone in Asia (believers of Asia under the influence of Paul) turned away from Paul. This must have made Paul depressed. In the meantime, it would have been troublesome whether his efforts were in vain. Timothy at that time was influenced by this atmosphere because he was working in the same church in Ephesus in Asia Minor. However, 『my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. He who is in Christ is to rejoice because there is eternal hope even in the midst of trouble and suffering physically.

In the second verse, the Apostle Paul emphasizes three times: "Beware of." Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision』

For dogs, Matthew 7:6 『Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 』 And in Matthew 15:26-28, 『But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. 』

This is a conversation between Jesus and a Canaanite woman. The Canaanite woman's daughter was demon-possessed, but she begged Jesus to heal her daughter. In 15:24, however, 『But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus said that the Canaanite woman was a dog. The Canaanite woman knew Jesus as the Messiah, and the meaning can be found in the words, "Children of David." Nevertheless, Jesus purposely turned away from the woman. But the Canaanite woman replied, "The dogs also eat crumbs that fall from my master's costume." Here you can see that salvation is spread from the Jews to the Gentiles. Dogs mean strangers.

When we say dog, it shows the behavior of the dog. In Proverbs 26:11『As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. 』

This statement applies to those who "given God free from the law, and who are living by the law again." The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1, 『Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul was again talking about becoming a slave to sin.

In "Do not give the dog anything holy," the holy thing is the word of God. It means the gospel that those who repent and enter into Christ are saved. In other words, those who say that they believe in Jesus, but say that they must obey the law, do not need to give this Gospel. They came out of Egypt, and those who would return to Egypt would not let them go into Canaan.

The subjects of The Beware of Dogs were legalists who emphasized religious rituals and actions. They were infiltrating the church and deceiving the church members. At the time of Paul's mission to Asia, Macedonia and Corinth, there were Jews scattered from Jerusalem. They are those who learned to be circumcised according to the tradition of the law and to be saved by observing the Sabbath. So, among the Jews who attended the church, they insisted that they could be God's people only if they were circumcised by Gentiles. After hearing this, some Gentile Christians were circumcised.

『Beware of evil workers』. evil workers are those who do evil. Evil workers are those who distort salvation. Those who lie that there is salvation in all religions. The post-modernism era in which we live is dominated by relativism and pluralism. Relativism denies one absolute truth and insists that each local culture has its own truth and respect each other. The circle has one center. Speaking of multiple circles means that there are multiple centers. Those who have this point of view believe that Jesus is not the only way to be saved by believing in Jesus, and that Christianity does not have the way of salvation. They deny the saying, "By faith in Jesus Christ we are justified before God." Faith is to believe in dying with Jesus and resurrecting with Jesus.

『Concision』 is circumcision. Christians do not practice circumcision. However, you need to be wary of emphasizing certain religious rituals or actions rather than beliefs. Most people in the church believe that it is "saved by faith," not as an act. In spite of that belief, people see themselves through the law and think they have to do something to avoid sinning. This is to say that you do not follow the act of the law, but to think and act legally. Why do these things? The reason is that he did not die with Jesus. Those who have not died of the law with Jesus cannot escape the law. He says that he is saved by faith even though he has not escaped the law. They have two hearts.

『For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 』In Colossians 2:11 speaks of the circumcision of Christ. The circumcision in Colossians said, "The circumcision not done by hand, that is, taking off the body of fresh." In Deuteronomy 10:16, 『Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.』 Moses was circumcising his heart before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. The apostle Paul also speaks of circumcision of the heart in Romans 2:29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 』

Christ's circumcision was said to take off the body of fresh. On the cross of Jesus Christ, to die together in association with the death of Jesus, and to resurrection together with Jesus Christ in resurrection in the new life (spirit body), is to take off the body of fresh. In Colossians 2:12, 『Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 』 Romans 6:3-5 says the same thing.『Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 』 "Taking off the body of fresh" means "to die together at the cross".