By Tyson Thorne

December 6, 2017
 
 

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. 3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 3:4 – though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ, 3:9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.

The first verse of chapter three both ends Paul’s previous discussion and introduces his next topic. Interwoven in his instruction regarding growing nearer to God and being a light in the community and encouragement to being humble is the constant cheer, “rejoice!” As a Christian community, when we rejoice in the success of others we find that others rejoice in ours, God is glorified, and an infectious faith begins to spread. It seems straightforward enough, a little challenging but worth the effort and certainly doable. So why does Paul bring the warmth of his instruction to a halt by inserting that last phrase?

Reminding others to rejoice is easy for Paul, and in some fashion that reminder helps protect the flock. But how? Whenever you have a question about a statement in the Bible that isn’t answered directly, the best thing to do is to look at the context. In order to answer our question, we must first identify what the people of Philippi need to be safeguarded from. The immediate context helps us with that, for in the very next verse the apostle tells his readers to “beware” of certain types of people.

Those people he describes as “dogs”, which were not domesticated in the Middle East during first century and were instead dangerous, dirty predators. He further describes them as workers of evil, people who take the sacred and turn into an evil through mutilation. The Greek word translated as “mutilators of the flesh” is similar the Greek word for “circumcision” used in verse three. Paul is using word play to show that those things God commanded them that were for their health, in this case circumcision, these men reverse causing mutilation. In short, the church needed to be safeguarded from false teachers.

How does rejoicing safeguard Jesus-followers from false teachers? Rejoicing alone doesn’t; it matters what you are rejoicing in. Rejoicing in a job promotion, a spirited drive in a new car or even in good news like a welcome pregnancy or a remission of a friend’s cancer will do nothing to protect you from false teachers. For this reason, Paul instructs the congregants to “rejoice in the Lord”. By rejoicing in the Lord we recognize and find joy in who God is and what he has done for us. When we focus on God, his character, his love for us, his longsuffering and forgiveness, his generous blessing it is very difficult for someone to deceive us about who God is.

Deception comes from a variety of people, and sometimes those people have a pile of letters after their name. Letters like PhD. And Esq. and hundreds of others. We believe that those people are probably smarter than we are and therefor worth listening to. Paul warns us against making such a mistake, for these people have been trained in the traditions of men while you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside. And in case any might disregard Paul’s instruction, he highlights his own list of worldly credentials – credentials he considers to be less than worthless and even undesirable as “dung” now that he knows Jesus.

Never allow a boss or professor or even a close family member interrupt the growth of your faith simply because of their training or giftedness. Paul has been down the path of human tradition and study, and none of it helped him attain what he – and we – need most, the righteousness of Jesus. This is not to say that study and knowledge are bad things, only that we need to keep them in proper regard. When we learn something new and can relate it to God’s personhood or creativity we rightly rejoice. When we learn new truth and allow other’s to “mutilate” its meaning in an argument against God we can be discouraged. In such hard times, rejoice in the Lord and you will find firm footing.

 
 
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