Philippians Chapter 3

Always rejoice in the Lord Jesus, for no matter what happens to you, it cannot separate you from His love. Nothing anyone can do to you here on earth is able to take your eternal life away. Everything works together for good for a Christian who is doing what God has called him to do. We are extremely blessed to have such a Savior and that should be our joy.

The word translated "grievous" could be rendered "bothersome". What Paul is telling them is that it is no problem for him to write these things down and send them to the Philippians. The things he wrote down follow this verse, for this is a preamble to the remaining verses in his epistle. These are the same things he had taught all over the empire. Many of these things are written in his other epistles, so he is being repetitive, but He is not annoyed by it.

Synonyms of the word 'safe' are: sure, secure, sound, etc. While Paul may have preached these things to them and to others, having them written down is much safer that relegating them to memory. In the context of the next verse, it would give them much more security to have them in writing so that when those false teachers tried to pull them away form the truth, they could refer to the scriptures Paul had written them. Of course, at the time, they might not have considered them scripture. But it is sure that some of his writings were considered scripture while he yet lived. No matter, they did accept that the things Paul said and wrote were the true will of God. Accordingly, having these things in writing did make them more secure in their faith.

"Dogs" is a derogatory term for men who are evildoers, and concision means cutting. The Greek for "concision" is κατατομην, (katatomen, accusative of κατατομη, katatome, 2699), which means "cutting off" or "mutilation." Being the accusative, it is the object of the verb beware. It refers to those dogs and evil workers. He was saying, "beware of the mutilators". They were the Judaizers who insisted that one had to be circumcised in the flesh in order to be saved. Paul heralds a warning against those who are at once dogs, evil workers, and mutilators. They still exist today. They say do this, do that, don't do this and don't do that. There are many churches today that have rules and regulations you must adhere to if you want to be a member of their church. Some prohibit the drinking of caffeinated beverages. Others say that one must worship only on Saturday. As Rodgers' and Hammerstein's King of Siam said, "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." Paul's warning still holds. Don't put yourself in bondage to any man or woman or church. Christ has set us free.

We are the circumcision, that is, we are God's children who have believed on the Only Begotten Son of God. Those who practiced circumcision of the flesh are no longer God's people. That was the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, circumcision of the flesh is not required. The only circumcision we Christians have had is that circumcision of the heart whereby the old sinful heart was cut away revealing a pure sinless heart, made sinless by the blood of Christ.

We worship God in spirit as opposed to ritual. The flesh is temporal, sinful, and not dependable. Our confidence is in Christ, not empty ritual. We are circumcised in our heart, not our flesh. It is OK for males to be circumcised in the flesh. There is nothing wrong with it, but it has nothing to do with our salvation. Being a blood sacrifice, circumcision has been replaced by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all, and to be circumcised for salvation is to demean the sacrifice made by Christ.

Paul tells that he, of all people, is most qualified to have confidence in the flesh (yet he does not). He tells why:

These are Paul's credentials, yet he has no confidence in them. Those credentials would have gotten him far in the political world. A seat on the Sanhedrin was in his future had he continued his old ways. But those credentials were of no value for the work he did in Christ. They were great to bring glory to Paul, but Paul did not want glory—he only wanted to bring glory to Christ.

Let's break down these credentials. Paul met every requirement of the law, including the essential circumcision when he was eight days old, which proclaimed him an Israelite by birth. Though not mentioned here, Paul was also a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22:25-29). As far as he was concerned, he was no lawbreaker. He was born an Israelite, in the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin is included in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Therefore he was a Jew. When he says he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, he is using an idiom that means that as a Hebrew, his lineage was impeccable. He was a Pharisee and was educated by Gamaliel, the foremost Rabbi of the time. He was zealous. He considered himself blameless under the law. That meant that his peers, other Pharisees, considered him blameless as well. You could not get any more Hebrew than he was. Some teach this means his parents were both Hebrews. I don't believe that is what Paul means. He was both a Jew and a Roman citizen by birth. His parents could have been both. He felt that, in persecuting the church, he was near the righteousness of the law.

Those things he counted or esteemed as gain for himself while a Pharisee were no longer important to him now that he was in Christ, in fact they were a detriment or a disadvantage (the word for "loss" literally means detriment) to him.

"Dung" is skubalon (Strong's 4657) which also means "what is thrown to the dogs". In other words, they were refuse. Either way, you get the point. Excellency is superiority. The knowledge of Christ is superior knowledge. The lyrics of a poem come to mind:

God credited Abraham with righteousness because of Abraham's faith. Men's righteous acts are as filthy rags. Christians' works are made acceptable through Jesus Christ who works in us. Those works will be our white garments at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. See 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 and Revelation 19:8.

Paul was blameless in the eyes of the law. He was therefore righteous because of his own works under the law. He counted those things as dung, or refuse. In other words, those things under the law were worthless to him. The only thing he cared for and wanted to do was to be found to be righteousness credited to him by God. He wanted to be found not lacking in the day of the Lord.

God imputed this righteousness to him because of the faith, that is the Gospel. It is because of the faith, that we are saved. The faith we have in Christ was preached to us by the faith, so that we heard the Gospel and became saved.

Paul gave up all of those things so that he could know and be sure of the power of Christ's resurrection. To that end, he was willing to suffer just as Christ did. Not only was Paul willing to suffer as Jesus did, but he was willing to die for Christ as well. In fact, as Christians we have already conformed to His death:

Romans 6:4 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.

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.

We are buried in Baptism with Him. We die to the old life as we enter the water, and are raised to new life when we come up out of the water. This is why baptism by emersion is a much better example of our salvation that being sprinkled. The Greek word for baptism, βαπτιζω, baptizo, 906, literally means immersion.

Paul will do all of these things in order to be a part of the resurrection of the righteous. In verse 11, Paul uses a special word for resurrection. This is the only place in the Bible that this word is used. The Greek for resurrection is αναστασις, anastasis, 386. The word used here is εξαναστασιν, anastasin, accusative case of εξαναστασις, exanastasis, literally "out-resurrection." The dead in Christ are currently with Christ, as we know from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 2 Corinthians 5:8, and Ecclesiastes 12:7. Paul is one of them. What is this resurrection? It is the resurrection from the dead unto life, which is the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6). Only those in Christ will achieve this resurrection. The other resurrection is of the dead unto judgment. DON'T be in that one!

Substituting "pursue" for "follow after" and "possess" for "apprehend" you get (for pursue and possess are the correct renderings): "Not as though I had already attained [the first resurrection], or was already perfect, but I pursue [perfection] so that I may possess that for which I am possessed of Christ Jesus." Paul wants to possess the first resurrection. That is why Christ came: to resurrect to those who accept Him. Jesus possesses Paul (and you, if you are a believer) as one of His own for resurrection.

Here Paul uses an allusion to the Greek races. He is pursuing the goal of being a part of the resurrection of the righteous. He has not already finished the race, but the finish line and the reward for running the race are still ahead. He will continue to pursue his goal until the race is finished. Now, in the Twenty-first Century, Paul has already long ago possessed that for which he ran. He died and attained the resurrection he pursued. He is not in the presence of His Christ, Whom he loved so much in his earthly life.

Or, "Even though I do not yet possess [the resurrection of the dead], but this I do, forgetting the past, and seeking the future: I pursue the goal for the prize, which is the top vocation of God in Christ (Messiah) Jesus." The vocation or calling is the call to the resurrection of the dead. How do we get there? Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

While Paul was still running the race, he had not yet apprehended his goal of the resurrection of the righteous. He kept looking ahead to the goal and did not look back. His entire mind was on his goal and he considered it imperative that he not falter but press on toward the goal.

In our walk with Christ we must emulate Paul. The past is the past and it cannot be changed. The future is what we seek, so let us put the past behind us and continue on our way to Christ.

The Greek word for perfect is τελειοι, teleioi, masculine plural of τελιοσ, telios. It means complete, whole, mature, etc. Paul is addressing mature Christians. The word telios is from the prime telos. Aristotelian philosophy is based on telos. It literally means "result" or "the accomplishment of a goal," or "ultimate purpose." I am not praising Aristotle; he deserves no praise. His philosophy was based on seeking the ultimate good. Little did he know or believe that God Almighty is the ultimate good. Aristotle thought that all human life and accomplishment was based on seeking this ultimate good. Again, he was right, but not in the way he thought. He believed in working one's way toward the ultimate good. His was a works based quasi-salvation. The truth is that we all seek God. There is a need for God deep within us. I brought this up to show that Paul, who had surely read Aristotle (remember Paul's education), was concerned with the ultimate good for us, that is, completion in Christ

If we are mature Christians, we should be of the same mind as Paul—that all of his earthly accomplishments are dung and that He seeks to live a godly life and attain the resurrection of the dead in Christ. If we are not of this mind, God will reveal it to us.

In other words, let us follow the same standards set by those who are already mature Christians, and again, let us be like minded. Not (to quote a well-known talk show host) as "mind-numbed robots," but like minded as to what we are seeking, the resurrection of the dead, which is eternal life.

Join Paul as a follower of the Way, and use Paul's walk as an example of how your walk should be. He was exemplary in his Christian walk. He sought after Spiritual things; after the grace of God. He did not walk in the flesh; rather, he walked in the spirit. There are many men and women who do not seek after the things of the flesh, preferring to walk Spiritually. Their walk is a worth example for all. The Apostles, for instance, were above reproach. They stayed on the course even unto their own martyrs' deaths. Many emulated them and many more emulated their students and so forth down through history. These are the people we should emulate. If you know a godly man or woman, follow after them and make them your example. (I suppose I shall have to stop worrying about a singular antecedent followed by a plural consequent pronoun. Such grammar has been accepted into the language as a genderless device.)

We must assume that the many that walk are those professing themselves to be Christians. Why should Paul warn of pagans who are the enemies of Christ? Everyone knew they were enemies. No, Paul was warning against professing Christians who really were not Christians, or at least those who at one time professed Christianity. He weeps because it is likely that he was the one that presented the Gospel to them. He would have considered them his children in Christ. See such passages as 1 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Timothy 1:2, 18, and Titus 1:4.

Paul told his flock about such people often, as he states here. But he also wrote about such people several times. Demas was one of these (2 Timothy 4:10), as were those that preached Christ out of envy of or competition with Paul (Philippians 1:15). Paul discussed the Judaizers in several places. They were the ones teaching that Christians had to be circumcised. Theirs was a works salvation. All of these are enemies of the cross. There are no fence-sitters. You are either for or against Christ. If you are a true believer, you are for Him. If not, you are His enemy.

The end of any enemy of Christ is destruction. All of Christ's own, that is, all who are true believers in Christ have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Philippians 4:3). "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). That Lake of Fire was created for the Devil and his angels. But all of God's enemies, that is, those whose names are not written in the Book of Life, will be cast into this place prepared for Satan and his demons. That is the destruction that is their end. This end is another use of the Greek word, telos, which, in this context, means the ultimate end. They are headed for destruction. Their God is their desires. Whatever they want becomes their ultimate goal (which is another definition of telos). The world is out seeking the world and all its merchandise. According to Revelation 18:12-13, they seek "The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men." John Bunyon gives a similar definition of a place called Vanity Fair:

All of those out seeking the world, instead of seeking God, are headed for destruction in the Lake of Fire. Do not be among that number.

While their citizenship is in the world, which ultimately ends up destroyed, our citizenship is in Heaven. Here and now, our citizenship is in heaven. But we are not yet in heaven. That day is coming. We are strangers sojourning is a foreign land. We are here but our home is in Heaven.

Paul is not saying that we should completely disregard earthly things, but that they should not be our focus. We are in the world, and must work and live in the world, but we are not of the world. Don't let the things of earth become idols that get in the way of God. Look toward Heaven, toward Christ.

Since we are citizens of our home, which is Heaven, we may look from that vantage point toward our Savior, Jesus Christ. For without Him, our home would still be on this old, tired, and short-lived Earth. We look toward Him for our hope, which is our salvation. Without Him, we would be like ships without sails near treacherous rocks, bent on destruction upon those rocks. Some are like that now. But we, with our Savior, are not.

While we walk upon this earth, we have a body made of earth that is sown corruptible. That means that our flesh is made up of the same elements and compounds as the dirt beneath our feet. When we die, when our spirit leaves our body, it will return to the dirt from which it was formed. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. (Genesis 2:7, 3:19, 18:27)

When Christ returns, we will all be changed into our spiritual, incorruptible bodies. We are made mortal, but in the fullness of time, we will exchange our mortal bodies for immortality; our corruptible bodies will put on incorruptibility. That immortal body will be like the Body of Christ. See 1 John 3:2.

The power to change our bodies from mortal and corruptible to immortal and incorruptible, is that same power that spoke the worlds into existence. We know from the first chapter of Genesis that God said, "Let there be…" and as he uttered that phrase all things sprang into existence form His might Word. We know from the first chapter of John that the Word that caused things to be, was none other than the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. It is the Power of God that can change our bodies, and it is that same Power that was able to change our hearts from a hardened, stony condition, to a soften heart that has all the hardness circumcised from it.

That Power will subdue the earth, the ungodly in it, the universe, and is able to destroy Satan and all his angels and all their works. It is the power that will cause "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).