Philippians Chapter 3: Verses 4b- 14 ESV

Philippians Chapter 3: Verses 4b- 14 ESV

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

• Paul is not writing his letter to the common individual, but those who are in Christ through the circumcision of faith and baptism. He is writing this letter to those now part of the church. He calls them “brothers” because they are united in Christ in the Lord’s Supper and through baptism. They are one in the body of Christ and therefore family.
• He rejoices in the Lord and calls the church to rejoice in the Lord. He is calling them to give all thanks and praise to the Lord apart from themselves. He is telling the brothers and sisters in Christ to avoid rejoicing in the flesh and their own will and only rejoice in what Christ has provided.
• Paul states that writing such things is not a burden on his own conscience and is telling the others that following Christ means we should leave all conflict behind. Conflict comes from the flesh and sin which desire to maintain control. This conflict not only continues to tear us from Christ, but it also desires to be in submission to the world that is full of malice and sin. Paul speaks peace to the individuals who are in conflict in the church by bringing the world and evil into the congregation. He knows the hardest part of our task in Christ is to repent and leave what we know and desire behind at the cross. Jesus states that to follow Him is to pick up your own cross. That means to die with Him and to allow what we know as good in the world behind and adhere to God’s work. Therefore, rejoice in the suffering of being a Christian!
• Summary: Rejoice in the Lord always! He has not left us and we should not allow the world to pressure us to be ashamed. Our sin constantly wants to bring us back to sin because it is comfortable. We tend to feel safe in this law. But as Christians, we are not part of the worlds law. We are set apart with a new law and new kingdom.

² Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

• The sin of the world continues to seek Christians and the Church to destroy it. They are evildoers stuck with their sin. They seek out those preaching God’s word and look to destroy the work of God in the world.
• Sin is a funny thing. With sin, there is no place for God. This does not mean we work to reduce or eliminate sin. We cannot remove sin, fight it, or get rid of it. Jesus spoke that a house divided cannot stand. His word’s echo when He is accused of being from Satan. He rebukes this idea in His response by saying Satan will do whatever it takes to maintain control including casting out demons. But when Satan allows one to cast out demons it is for Satan’s glory. Jesus is casting out demons for the glory of the kingdom of God and for the people.
• The world not in unity in Christ are not in unity with the church. These individuals will mutilate the flesh of Christ to which Christians belong. This is the flesh Paul is talking about when he writes to the church. These individuals will tear and separate faithful Christians from the body of Christ by embracing the world and rip individuals from God’s kingdom. They do not allow God to work in the church and desire to take control of the church for their own benefit and desires. This applies to the local congregations. These individuals will tear the congregations apart with laws and desires of the world.
• Summary: Individuals turning against the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the congregations and church to focus on their own desires and the world for acceptance and their own image. God is going to work in this world to bring His kingdom to the world that wants this kingdom gone.

³ For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

• Paul mentions circumcision again. The Church in Christ and in His flesh is circumcised from the world. Paul reflects the circumcision that was given to Abraham as a covenant and promise of God’s glory. The circumcision Abraham received is not a promise or law for the Church. The new circumcision is completed with water and promise from God the Father, Son, and Holy spirit known as baptism.
• The new circumcision is when we worship God. Worship does not mean giving praise and song in Church. Worship is the receiving of God’s promise of death and resurrection. It is a place we should receive His body and blood, baptism, and forgiveness of sins.
• When Paul writes, “who worship by the Spirit of God” he is referring that is the Spirit of God that allows us to come in unity and receive His blessing. Church is a place where God offers himself to us, not us to Him. When He offers Himself to us, we respond in faith in praise and song. Not the other way around. Paul is telling the church that God is the agent of faith and renewal. We can often reverse this act and make worship an agent of our own. If we think it is our flesh that is praising God, we have put faith in our flesh and not in God.
• Summary: Paul is warning us about embracing the flesh as the agent in Church practices and worship. When this occurs, we are embracing the flesh and world in Church practices which Paul warned us in verse of chapter 3.

⁴ though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

• Paul continues to demonstrate the power of flesh and sin. He admits that if he looks at his flesh, he can count his own works as the greatest.

⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

• Paul continues to affirm how he was once part of the flesh of the world. He followed the laws of the flesh apart from Christ by following the laws made by man. He put his faith in man and not circumcision in Christ. The pharisee’s saw themselves as the interpreters of the law. He points out the failures of sin because they are blinded by their own will. He is delivering how important it is to recognize personal gain against the Church and Kingdom of God.

⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

• Paul continues to affirm how lawful he was. A zealous sinner who saw the perfection of the Church came from his own obsession of what the Church should look like. He reveals the dangers of evil in the church body destroying unity in the Church to further men’s expectation apart from the one true God. He finds himself blameless rather than turning to God. He himself is blind.

 ⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

• Paul understands what it means to pick up the cross. It means to lose all of what he thought he knew and what was right. He was right in the law, but not in God. He loses his standing in the world to gain Christ. He no longer stands on the law, but on Christ. Martin Luther felt the same release when he read Romans1:17. Martin Luther thought he had to be perfect in the sight of God until he saw the promise given in Romans. We are made right with God by the righteousness of God, and not by the law. Paul sheds his own skin and perfection in the Jewish eyes for the righteousness of the Lord.

⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

• Paul gives credit and praise to God for the death of his old life as top jew. Paul knows that we should not boast in our own work attaining faith, it is impossible to attain faith. For that is the work of the flesh. This idea died at the cross.

 ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

• Paul continues to reinforce that we are lost when we try to reinforce the law for salvation and that we cannot achieve righteousness of our own. Ony through the one who gives life can we achieve righteousness. So many individuals suggest perfection through the law, but they do not rest in Christ as the one who completed this righteousness. To believe righteousness can come through the law is to deny Christ.
• To saw one can achieve faith through their own merit is adhering to the law in the first place. Belief is not the birthplace of faith, but faith is the birthplace of belief. This faith comes through Christ and not through man.
• Summary: Paul wants us to understand that we cannot pruduce faith unless we are to boast in ourselves. This type of teaching is deadly and leads churches away from Christ. But to die in Christ is to be a new creature, one that can freely boast in Christ.

¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Straining Toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.