Philippians 3:1-11
3 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoicein the Lord.
To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of Godand boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had; these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christand the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Meditation
Paul is the epitome of hardcore repentance—he completely shifts his understanding of righteousness from zealous persecution of the church to preaching its message of new life in Jesus Christ. As the story goes, Jesus did knock him off his horse and blind him to get his attention (see Acts 9:1-9). A wee bit hard to ignore that call.
The letter to the Philippians is a kind of atta-boy/girl to the church to keep up the good work with a bit of a thank you for a gift the Philippians sent to Paul. Our text today begins with a three-fold warning concerning false teachings that require adherence to the law—namely circumcision. You see, there were Jewish converts (Judaizers) visiting predominately Gentile churches preaching the requirement of circumcision to be considered proper followers of Christ. Beware! Beware! Beware! (vs. 2). These Judaizers have placed their “confidence in the flesh” meaning they believe that circumcision is necessary for righteousness because faith in Jesus Christ couldn’t possibly be enough.
Paul compares himself to these Judaizers as an example of the sacrificial faith that comes from Christ. “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more” (vs. 4b). Paul has every reason to be proud of his accomplishments. He has the very best pedigree among the Hebrew people; he has followed the law—to the letter—his entire life to the point of defending it against being mutated by the Jesus movement. And yet, he sees the pedigree, the circumcision, the zeal, and the “righteousness under the law” (vs. 5-6) as “loss because of Christ” (vs. 7). He confesses that it is all “rubbish” (vs. 8) in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. Righteousness does not come from the law it “comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith” (vs. 9). Nothing we do (to our flesh or otherwise) makes us more or less righteous—faith in Jesus Christ is our righteousness even if we have believed our righteousness came from another avenue in the past.
Paul sacrifices his pedigree and blamelessness under the law—his life in a sense—to confess: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow, I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (vss. 10-11). Knowing Christ and living into his call on your life (a call which requires sacrifice) with the hope of resurrection is as hardcore as it gets—no mutilation necessary.