When Paul writes “finally” (3:1) he’s not like the preacher who said “And in conclusion” and then kept talking for twenty more minutes. “Finally” here means something more like “furthermore.”[1] Having spent considerable time exploring the self-giving nature of Christ and illustrating that self-giving nature in his own lifestyle and in Timothy’s and Epaphroditus’ lifestyle (a lifestyle which, if the Philippians will adopt, will give Paul great “joy” (2:2)), Paul wants to shift direction. Paul wants to move from a discussion of Christian service to a discussion of the place of that service in the “salvation equation.”
There are at least two major conflicts brewing in Philippi. One has to do with Christians who, in one form or another, push their own rights out of selfish ambition. The other is introduced by Paul here–Christians shackling the church with rules that run contrary to the notion that salvation comes by grace. Though he has written much about the life of surrender and service prior to this point, Paul does not wish to leave any impression that such surrender and service earn any favor from God.
Paul knows that those who focus on rules often write the salvation equation in this way:
faith + works = salvation.
If we believe in the right thing and behave in the right way, we can receive salvation.
But while Paul desperately wants us to believe correctly (he uses words related to “think” or “consider” or “regard” 17 times in this letter) and behave correctly (the focus of the section preceding Phil. 3), he does not want us believe that such actions lead to our salvation. Just the opposite. Paul will move on in Phil. 3 to rewrite the salvation equation in this way:
faith = salvation + works.
Paul introduces this section on grace by saying “Furthermore, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (3:1). The call to “rejoice in the Lord” (found again in 4:4) can mean “rejoice in what the Lord has done”–an interpretation perfectly appropriate to what follows. [2] Paul is going to urge us to take satisfaction in what Christ has done for us rather than in what we can do for Christ. [3] Such instruction Paul writes “is safe for you” or “is a safeguard for you.” Paul means that the joy which comes through a focus on the worth and work of Jesus is a joy that is truly safe from the highs and lows of circumstantial happiness. [4] Those things in life which often steal other forms of joy cannot steal this joy. It is safe. A grace-sourced joy cannot be touched.
Paul has spent much time in the previous chapter exploring our response to Christ’s work–a lifestyle of service that withholds nothing. In light of this, and in light of those who, in the next few verses, focus solely on what we do for God and Christ, Paul pauses here to make a profound point. The only joy in life that is long-lasting and free from all which might erode it is one which emerges from a relentless focus on grace. Only those who unashamedly focus on what Jesus has done, with no thought to the merit of what they have or have not done, will find this joy.
Paul calls those in Philippi who wish to promote a religion of works “dogs” (3:2). They are likely a group of Jewish-Christians demanding that Gentile believers submit to certain Jewish rules and regulations if they wish to truly know God (e.g., Acts 15). “Dogs” was a derogatory term used by Jews for unclean Gentiles considered enemies of God. Paul throws the term back in their face, saying that they are the ones who are unclean and enemies of God. [5]
Pushing the argument even further, Paul boldly asserts that while these Jewish Christians might assert that their rules of circumcision and other practices make them the true recipients of God’s covenant love, the opposite is true. Only those who, like Paul, relentlessly rely on the grace of Christ are the heirs of every promise God’s ever made. Only they are “the circumcision.” [6]
Paul gives three qualities of those who truly focus on grace: they worship by the spirit of God, they glory in Christ, and they put no confidence in the flesh (3:3). [7] That is, they are engaged in a worship and devotion to God that goes far beyond the superficial and is an extension of a genuine desire to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength. In some ways, this is equivalent to Paul’s stated desire in 3:8,10 of “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Grace-focused people have as their primary goal the deepening of a genuine devotion to and love for God/Christ, rather than the mere achievement of a divine “get out of jail” card. In addition, grace-focused people refuse to place any confidence or trust in what they can do (“the flesh”) but instead glory and boast and exult in everything Jesus has done (“glory in Christ”). This single-minded focus on what Jesus has done is synonymous with “rejoicing in the Lord” and leads to a joy that is safe from all that seeks to diminish it.
Further, only a relentless focus on grace leads to a life of authentic outpouring for others and for God. Paul’s going to list seven things he could put on his spiritual resume (3:5-7). Seven works. Seven marks certain to earn him a high position in a religion focused on rules.[8] Yet these seven failed to gain Paul what truly mattered in life–knowing Jesus. And they failed to produce the kind of works worth spending a life upon. Instead, they lead to a religious zeal that actually worked against God’s purposes on earth rather than in concert with those purposes.
In the end, Paul realized that these spiritual “gains” were actually “losses” (3:7-8). The only thing of true and lasting value was knowledge of Jesus. [9] Compared to this, everything else was “rubbish” (3:8)–a vulgar term referring to dung, muck, food gone bad, refuse, filth, and even lumps of manure. [10] And knowledge of Christ came only through faith, not by works (3:9). [11]
Having “gained” Christ through faith, Paul now wishes to respond. Paul is not content to only be granted intimacy with Christ through grace by faith. He also wishes to grow in imitation of Christ. He states it this way: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (3:10-11). Literally, Paul writes that he wishes to take the form (summorphizo) of Jesus’ death.[12] He used similar language when describing how Jesus took the “form” of a servant (2:7). In response to the relentless grace of Jesus, Paul not only wishes to know Jesus. He wishes to be conformed to Jesus, to live and love as deeply and sacrificially as Jesus. And having laid down his life in service, Paul knows God will pick that life back up (e.g., Paul’s two-fold reference to the resurrection in 3:10-11).
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[1] In any case, to loipon could just as well be rendered ‘Well, then’ (Hawthorne), ‘Furthermore’ or ‘To proceed, then’ (Motyer), with no thought of ‘In conclusion’ (GNB, JB) or ‘farewell’ (NEB). Martin, R. P. (1987). Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 11, p. 143). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] Martin, R. P. (1987). Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 11, p. 143). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Similarly the command Rejoice in the Lord means, ‘Let the Lord be the one who makes you happy,’ ‘Find your joy in him and in him alone.’ The command is relevant, as we shall see, to the controversy into which the apostle plunges as he takes issue with those who would add to Christ other factors and conditions as necessary to salvation. This is the first and greatest threat to a true joy in the Lord. Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (p. 147). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[3] The following explanations of this enigmatic phrase to write the same things to you again have been offered.
1. Moffatt’s ‘I am repeating this word “rejoice” in my letter’ boldly connects the phrase with the exhortation to rejoice. This has something to support it, and when Michael, who rejects it, says that ‘while it is true that the note of joy is sounded throughout the epistle, not until we come to 3:1a do we find a direct injunction to rejoice’, he has overlooked 2:8; and this text could possibly contain the call which is renewed in 3:1a. The one objection is that, as Lightfoot says, ‘such an injunction has no very direct bearing on the safety of the Philippians’. (So Bruce too.) But their succumbing to depression and despondency under trial may have seemed to Paul a very real danger. NIV follows this view by adding again, a word not represented in the Greek text.
2. The same things may be, as Lightfoot held, an allusion to the repeated warnings against dissensions within the church. This word of caution is picked up at 4:1ff., which Lightfoot regards as following on closely from the injunction of 3:1, with the intervening verses of chapter 3 as a digression caused by an interruption in the apostle’s thought.
3. Michael and Beare suppose that verses 1a–9 form part of a separate Pauline letter, not addressed to Philippi, and therefore we have no clue as to what the same things mean. See the Introduction, pp. 40–42.
4. There may be a looking forward at this juncture to the following warnings against the enemies of the gospel (given in vv. 2ff.). This gives an excellent introduction to what follows. Paul does not hesitate to take up the vital matter of warning the Philippians against false teachers. He has possibly sent previous messages of warning in letters which are now lost; now he reiterates the teaching. Such repeated warnings are necessary for their well-being, it is a safeguard for you. This is the view taken by Kennedy, Scott, Benoit and Getty. It may well have been a report of danger which the apostle knew to be approaching the Philippian church that prompted him to embark upon the long section of the chapter. See further in the Introduction, pp. 42–43.
2. The tone of the letter changes unexpectedly at this point. See the Introduction, pp. 40–43. The threefold warning is couched in strong, vigorous language with the repetition of the verb in the imperative mood, blepete, ‘look out for’, ‘be warned against’, betraying something of the tense earnestness and emphasis of a serious warning. It is not quite ‘consider’ in a neutral light. It is not probable that distinct and different classes are meant as Synge supposes. Paul has one hostile group in mind, and describes it in three ways: dogs … men who do evil … mutilators of the flesh.
To identify the persons who are so described, the choice is between Jews and Jewish Christians. Both were a constant thorn in the flesh of the apostle. 2 Corinthians 11:13 speaks of the opponents as ‘deceitful workmen’, and points to the same identification here. Against the opinion that the Jews are in mind is the way in which circumcision is derisively spoken of as ‘cutting’ (NIV mutilators) and the argument against circumcision is noticeably absent from 2 Corinthians where Paul’s adversaries are a type of itinerant missionary of Jewish origin (2 Cor. 11:22), who displayed a forceful presence and challenged Paul’s lowly person. Paul speaks respectfully of the Jewish rite as practised by the Jews (Rom. 2:25; 3:1–2; 15:8; Col. 4:11; cf. Phil. 3:5), but what did infuriate him was the insistence that the rite must be enforced on Gentile Christians in order to make them ‘full Christians’, as the Judaizers required (Acts 15:1). Against such a false doctrine and conception of circumcision he writes trenchantly to the Galatians (5:2ff.).Martin, R. P. (1987). Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 11, pp. 144–145). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[4] But what does Paul mean that his words are “a safeguard” to the Philippians? This term carries the idea of steadfast or safe and is found in the Greek version of Proverbs 3: 18 describing the Lord’s wisdom. Paul builds on an Old Testament idea that “the joy of the LORD is [one’s] strength” (Neh 8: 10). The psalmist declares, “The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him” (Ps 64: 10), while the Chronicler writes, “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place” (1 Chr 16: 27). Unfortunately we have diluted the term “joy” so that it often means “be happy” or “have fun.” As we will see in the next few verses, nothing is further from Paul’s definition. His joy is one with eschatological content, not fleeting emotion. The Philippian believers have almost no say in the course of their lives: they don’t have political power or the option to vote for leaders; they have no government social safety nets, no thriving economy to explore new jobs or educational opportunities to “re-tool” their job skills. They live hand-to-mouth under imperial rule, with famine and war looking over their shoulders. Strength is found in the surety of God’s provision, with Christ’s resurrection as the assurance for their own life after death. This truth is what safeguards them and brings deep and lasting joy unaffected by their dismal circumstances. Cohick, Lynn H. (2013-10-29). Philippians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 3764-3775). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[5] The charge levelled against the teachers whose activities were an imminent danger to the community at Philippi is expressed in fierce terms. Dogs were regarded by the Jews as ‘the most despised, insolent and miserable’ of creatures and as unclean (Matt. 15:26; Rev. 22:15). It was a derogatory title used by orthodox Jews for the Gentile nations who were treated as Israel’s enemies and therefore God’s (Enoch 89:42). In the present verse the application is reversed and the enemies of God are now those Jewish Christian emissaries who misrepresent the gospel (2 Cor. 11:3–4, 13–15) and thereby put themselves under the ban of God (2 Cor. 11:15b; cf. Didache 9:5, quoting Matt. 7:6; Ignatius, To the Ephesians, 7:1, where he describes heretical teachers as ‘mad dogs’). Possibly, however, it was not the disgrace of the false leaders, or their impudence, as Dibelius suggests, which Paul had in mind so much as their incessant, dog-like yelping (Ps. 59:6, 14) as they untiringly ‘dog’ his footsteps, and try to ‘worry’ him in his work. Martin, R. P. (1987). Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 11, pp. 145–146). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[6] It is striking that Paul, the great opponent of the retention of circumcision for Christians (cf. Acts 15), should choose this particular way of asserting his assurance that he and the Philippians were in the right as against those whom he calls the dogs. We, he says, with deliberate emphasis, are the true circumcision. He could not have chosen a more suitable, biblical or instructive word. In the first place, he meant that ‘we are the covenant people of God’, for circumcision was introduced into Abraham’s family, and thence passed on to Israel, as a mark of the special relationship which God had established with them. It distinguished the covenant people. This idea of a ‘covenant’ is the greatest of the unifying themes of the Bible. It is mentioned first to Noah7 as that which preserves him from the calamity which overwhelmed his contemporaries. It comes to fuller flower in God’s dealings with Abram, when we are permitted to see that the covenant rests upon a sacrifice which God appoints.9 It is embodied in the sign of circumcision, and is the basis on which God was moved to save his people from Egypt.11 It reaches its fullest flowering through Moses and the redemption from Egypt, for it is specifically the people who were redeemed by the blood of the lamb upon whom God bestows covenant status and seals the relationship with blood at Mount Sinai.13 The covenant became the basis of prophetic predictions of the glorious future of God’s people. Isaiah foretold an eternal ‘covenant of peace’ wrought by the Servant of the Lord upon whom ‘the chastisement of our peace’ was laid.15 Jeremiah looked forward to a ‘new covenant’ resting upon such a settlement of the sin-problem that God says, ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’ Ezekiel saw that there would come ‘a covenant of peace … an everlasting covenant’ of which the central blessing would be the eternal dwelling of God in the midst of his people.17 The Lord Jesus brought this glorious sequence of prophecies to its climax: ‘On the night when he was betrayed (he) took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood …” ’ When Paul says we are the circumcision he is claiming for himself and the Philippians the privilege of being the undoubted heirs of this age-long divine programme of salvation. But there is something more to it even than that, for Paul does not simply say, ‘We are the covenant people.’ He says, We are the true circumcision. What precisely does this imply? What is the relation of the sign of circumcision to the covenant itself? The key passage is Genesis 17, and the important point can be simply expressed. The covenant is God’s promise. He goes on oath in certain specific matters. Abram is the recipient of the promise which is first personal: Abram becomes Abraham (verse 5), a vivid promise of regeneration or a new nature, for with the new name there is created a new man. Secondly, the promise is national, a multitude of nations (verses 5b–6). Thirdly, it is spiritual, ‘to be God to you and to your descendants after you’ (verse 7). Fourthly, it is territorial, the ‘land of your sojournings’ (verse 8); and finally, by way of emphasizing the most important point, spiritual again, ‘and I will be their God’ (verse 8). But Genesis 17 also defines the covenant in a second way. We read in verse 10, ‘This is my covenant … you shall be circumcised.’ The covenant which is first (verses 4–8) a complex promise from God to a chosen man cannot suddenly change its nature. When, therefore, it is defined, secondly (verses 10–14), in terms of a sign, it must still speak of a movement of grace from God to man. Circumcision symbolizes the application of the covenant promises to those individuals whom God has chosen to receive them. All this, Paul applies to himself, to his Philippians and to us when he says that we are the true circumcision: we are the chosen recipients of the promises of God. His words are, if anything, stronger than RSV allows them to be, for the word ‘true’ is not in Paul’s Greek: ‘We are the circumcision’—not the true as compared with the false, or whatever, but the only ‘circumcision’ there is. We are the only ‘Israel’, the sons of Abraham, the children of the covenant, the chosen inheritors of the promises. But of what promises in particular? We saw that Genesis 17 stressed one aspect of the divine oath: a promised spiritual relationship between God and Abraham and, thereafter, Abraham’s children. This came to be seen as the essential heart of the covenant promise and the most quoted verse in the Bible: ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.’ Paul, the Philippians, the whole company of Christian believers down the years—we are the chosen people of God, individually born again, individually and collectively heirs of the Lord’s purposes of grace. It is as though Paul said: We may be sure that God has set his personal seal of choice and ownership upon us, for we are the circumcision. Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (pp. 149–150). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[7] The upward aspect of true religion is that it is prompted and controlled by God’s Spirit, ‘… worship by the Spirit of God’. The word ‘worship’, both as noun (latreia) and verb (latreuo), as it is used in the New Testament, has an exclusively religious significance, and it holds together the two aspects of the word ‘service’ in our common usage. We speak of ‘Christian service’, but we also say, ‘Are you coming to the service?’ This conjunction of worship and work is interesting, and should warn us not to make an unnatural and unbiblical separation between what happens inside and outside our church meetings. All our life is worship. Prayer is worship, and so is the consecrated life of a body presented to God. Worship involves the character of the worshipper.22 It must be carried on with a correct attitude towards God, and it requires enabling from above. All this is catered for by the words ‘by the Spirit of God’. There is the touch of the supernatural upon the worship of those ‘who by the inward presence of the consecrating and transforming Spirit offer the sacrifice not of dead victims but of a devoted and renewed life’. Worshipping by the Spirit of God delivers from bondage to any special place25 and from the burden of obligatory animal oblations. Worshipping by the Spirit of God demands a heart that is right with him, a body that is a fit temple for the Holy Spirit.27 But worshipping by the Spirit of God also speaks of the agency of that divine Spirit, at work in us, at prayer for us, empowering worship acceptable to God. Worship is a holy thing of the deepest and most satisfying reality, for we have here the promise that in worship we are acceptable to God as his priestly servants through the operation of his Spirit.29 The outward mark of the people of God is that they glory in Christ Jesus. If we give this word more vigorous translation the meaning will be plainer, ‘boast about Christ Jesus’. He is their joyous theme. The word indicates a buoyant satisfaction in him; they enthusiastically appreciate who he is and what he has done, and glorify him as alone worthy of all praise: the Lord Jesus Christ.Thus God has reached down from heaven to take a people for himself. He has animated them by his Spirit, displayed before them the beauty and satisfactoriness of his Son and given them faith in him. But he has also shown them what they are in themselves, so that, alongside the experience of the life-giving Spirit and the truth of the atoning Son, they are aware that they totally lack any personal worth: they put no confidence in the flesh. Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (pp. 150–151). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[8]We see first Paul’s natural advantages (verse 5). He had the ecclesiastical advantage of full possession of covenant privileges from infancy, having been circumcised on the eighth day. And if we ask, ‘What good is circumcision?’, we can give Paul’s own answer, ‘Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God’, or again, ‘to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises’. Paul was born to all this, and introduced to his inheritance on the eighth day of life. In addition he claimed the national advantage of pure Israelite descent. The descendants of Abraham included the impure line of Ishmael. Isaac was father also to Esau. But Israel was the transformed Jacob from whom sprang the twelve tribes of God’s people. Paul’s ancestral advantage is mentioned next; the tribe of Benjamin. While he was not of Judah, the royal tribe, he was of that tribe which gave the first king of Israel and which later, alone of the other eleven tribes, remained loyal to David and his successors. Finally among his natural advantages he mentions the parental benefit: a Hebrew born of Hebrews. He was the child of godly, convinced, zealously religious parents, with all the benefit that entailed. Add now to this list of natural advantages the personal additions which Paul claims to have made (verses 5b–6). He speaks of an attitude, an activity and an achievement. Towards the law of God he adopted the most respectful and responsive attitude possible. He was a Pharisee, ‘the strictest party of our religion’. His overriding concern was to live in conformity to what he believed were God’s regulations down to every smallest detail of daily life. So firm was his belief that this alone was the way and will of God that he was zealously active in opposition to every apparent challenge to the dignity of his religion, even to an extent which later so pained him, being ‘a persecutor of the church’. But he achieved his goal, for he saw himself as to righteousness under the law blameless.Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (pp. 157–158). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[9] Paul uses the language of business and accounting when speaking of “gain” and “loss.” The business connotation is important because in business, a gain is often context specific. “The value of assets is always assessed in the light of business objectives.” 6 Thus what was once important or of supreme value to Paul, such as his Pharisee lifestyle, his zeal, his Jewish heritage, is reevaluated and reassessed based on different criteria and goals. If one wants to know Christ, the common currency of Jewish ancestry and practice is of no value. Indeed, holding onto all such things is detrimental to achieving the new goal of knowing Christ. Cohick, Lynn H. (2013-10-29). Philippians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 3891-3896). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[10] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians Word Biblical Commentary, (Word, 1983), 139.
[11]The great missionary John G. Paton, struggling to find a local word which would translate ‘faith’ and failing to find one, was interrupted by someone in great trouble and needing help. ‘Please, may I come and lean heavily upon you?’ he said. Faith is leaning heavily upon Christ: not labour but cessation of labour, not doing but ceasing to do; simply leaning the whole weight of our needs upon him, and finding in him acceptance before the presence of God, and a righteousness which could never be ours by our own works. Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (p. 159). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[12] Paul uses the term koin?nia to describe participation in sufferings, which likely shocked the Philippians. Usually the term koin?nia indicated human relationships within the church, as when he spoke of their “partnership” in community (1: 5; see also Acts 2: 42; Gal 2: 9). He also uses the term when defining the Corinthians’ participation in Christ’s death when they drink the cup of blessing and eat the bread (1 Cor 10: 16). Believers experience in a tangible way a fellowship in Christ’s death by taking communion and by refusing to accept any substitute festival that paganism offered them. Paul speaks of becoming like Christ in his death, using a term that combines the prefix “with” and the root “form” (morph?) (Phil 3: 10). That is, we take Christ’s form as we fellowship in his sufferings. Paul used a similar term to describe Christ as in the form of God and taking the form of a slave in 2: 6– 7, and he will speak about the transformation of our bodies with using another cognate in 3: 21. For Paul, then, fellowship in suffering involves changing our very nature in conforming to Christ. Cohick, Lynn H. (2013-10-29). Philippians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 3957-3965). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
