Verse of the Day

Monday, April 16, 2018

Pastor's Sermon Notes: Philippians (series), Part 17: We Are The Circumcision!?!?!? (Philippians 3:1-3)


Sermon Series: Philippians, Part 17
We Are The Circumcision!?!?!?
Philippians 3:1-3


[Audio file on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/Philippians31-3]

1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Outline:

I. Please Allow Me to Repeat Myself (3:1)
II. The Three “Bewares” of the Apostle (3:2)
III. The Three Marks of the Circumcision (3:3)

I. Please Allow Me to Repeat Myself [1] (3:1)

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

1. This is Not a ConclusionFinally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord
2. This is Not “Same Old, Same Old”To write the same things to you
3. This is Not Paul Being a Painto me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe

“Please, allow me to introduce myself…” (Rolling Stones)

1. This is Not a ConclusionFinally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord

Phil. 3:3 — For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Phil. 1:25 — And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

Phil. 2:18 — For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

Phil. 2:28 — I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Phil. 4:4 — Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

1 Th. 5:16 — Rejoice evermore.

2. This is Not “Same Old, Same Old”To write the same things to you

2 Pet. 1:12 — Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

3. This is Not Paul Being a Painto me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe

II. The Three “Bewares” of the Apostle (3:2)

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

1. Beware of Dogs
2. Beware of Evil Workers
3. Beware of the Concision

It should be attention getting that these three “bewares” following hot on the heels of the word “safe” at the end of the previous verse.

Many folks, even many Christian folks, are uncomfortable with warnings, negatives, and judgments, especially involving specific people, and definitely when they are named. That did not stop the Apostle Paul, the prophets in the Old Testament, the Apostle John, or the other New Testament authors. That is to say that the warnings, negatives, and judgments we are confronted with in the Scriptures are from our Lord, the Head of the Church, through those He inspired by His Spirit to write such words.

When we got to conferences we are given name tags. When we purchase certain products they come with warning labels. There are those we must put warning labels on. There is a safety issue here. See verse 1. You are not safe if you ignore the warnings in the Scriptures. What follows here in verse 2 are not divorced from reality. These are not abstractions, generalizations, or fictions. When the Philippians read these words, and repeated them to one another, they knew exactly who Paul was warning them against. The targets of the Apostle’s warnings had names and faces for them. This is not ancient history. It should be the same for us as well.. These words are just as relevant today, as they were in the Philippi of the 1st century A.D.

1. Beware of Dogs

Paul, do you have something against dogs?

Ps. 22:16 — For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Ps. 22:20 — Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

Is. 56:10-11 — 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

Rev. 22:15 — For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

It must be stated, and clearly understood, that beyond doubt or argument, the Apostle is here describing human beings as “dogs.” He is doing this in the same way, and for the same reason that David the inspired poet, and Isaiah the inspired prophet did before him, and John the inspired revelator would later write.

HCSB note: “An expression of contempt for the unclean, those outside the people of God” [2]

“Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.”
  Note on Lumina at https://lumina.bible.org/bible/Philippians+3 [accessed 8 APR 2017].

Do folks in churches who call themselves Christians act like dogs?

Gal. 5:15 — But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

2. Beware of Evil Workers

The presence of evil must not be downplayed or ignored. We do so at our peril. There are those who work evil. There is no nice way to say this. There is no sugar coating here. It must not be dressed up, and made to look like something that it is not. In our world today, and in every age since Adam and Eve’s in Eden, there exists good, and there exists evil. There is need to be warned against people, those who do evil. It must be pointed out that these were not historical characters in some far distant land. For the Philippians these who names and faces. We have them in our day, in our nation, on our televisions, computers, and radios.

2 Cor. 11:13 — For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Ps. 119:115 — Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

3. Beware of the Concision [3]

NASB note: “Lit mutilation; Gr katatome” [4]

 Lumina, op. cit. — “Grk “beware of the mutilation.””

Rom. 2:28 — For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

Gal. 5:11-12 — 11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

III. The Three Marks of the Circumcision (3:3)

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

1. True Spiritual Worship — For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit
2. True Christian Joy — For we are the circumcision….and rejoice in Christ Jesus
3. True Self Denial — For we are the circumcision….and have no confidence in the flesh.

You may be familiar with the ministry of 9Marks. What the Apostle Paul teaches here is not the “9Marks of the Church,” but the “3Marks of the Circumcision.”

These “3Marks of the Circumcision” are stated as the basis for the three “bewares” that preceded them in the previous verse.

1. True Spiritual Worship — For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit

1) For we are the circumcision [5]

The meaning of this identification is unpacked for us in the three clauses which follow.

Phil. 3:5 — Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Dt. 30:6 — And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Rom. 2:29 — But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Rom. 9:6 — Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Gal. 6:12-15 — 12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
(cp. also Gal. 3:6-4:7)

The meaning of this identification is unpacked for us in the three clauses which follow. The first descriptive clause which explains the significance of this identification, “the circumcision,” is a positive statement. This is followed by another positive affirmation, and then a concluding negation is added.

Some have attempted to show a correspondence between these descriptions and the three “bewares” in the previous verse, possibly indicating a chiastic structure involving verses 2-3. Bateman concludes rightly concerning one such attempt that “The chiasm seems forced…” He is assessing David E. Garland, “The Composition and Unity of Philippians,” Novum Testamentum 27 (1985), pp. 167-170. See Herbert W. Bateman, IV, “Were the Opponents at Philippi Necessarily Jewish?,” Bibliotheca Sacra 155:617 (JAN 1998), pg. 54, note 50.

2) which worship God in the spirit

ESV note: Some manuscripts God in spirit [6]

NLT note: “Some manuscripts read worship God in spirit; one early manuscript reads worship in spirit.”[7]

Rom. 7:6 — But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Gal. 5:25 — If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Jn. 4:23 — But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Jude 20 — But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

2. True Christian Joy — For we are the circumcision….and rejoice in Christ Jesus

Phil. 3:1 — Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

Phil. 1:1 — Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Phil. 3:12 — Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Rom. 8:39 — Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 15:17 — I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.

3. True Self Denial — For we are the circumcision….and have no confidence in the flesh.

“Grk “have no confidence in the flesh.”
Ibid.

This “vote of no confidence” in the flesh is the only negative in the three descriptive clauses signifying the identification of “the circumcision.” It stands markedly against the two previous positive descriptions involving activities and spheres. This contrast may be highlighted by paraphrasing the verse as follows: “We do worship God in the Spirit, and we do rejoice in Christ Jesus, but we do no boast in the flesh.” This may even be seen as a conclusion that is necessitated by the preceding two activities: “Since we do worship God in the Spirit, and we do rejoice in Christ Jesus, it is impossible that we would have any confidence in the flesh.” The converse must also be seen as implicit here: “Those who have confidence in the flesh do not worship God in the Spirit, and cannot rejoice in Christ Jesus.”

Select resources on Phil. 3:3 follow.
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“Another passage that ascribes terminology used of Israel to the church is Philippians 3:3. While arguing against his legalistic Jewish opponents, Paul points out that all believers in Christ make up “the true circumcision.” According to Gerald F. Hawthorne this verse shows that “the church of Jesus Christ… is the true Israel of God (Gal. 6:16), heir of all the rights and privileges belonging to it.”39 Commenting on this verse, the New Geneva Study Bible reads, “Paul asserts that Christians are the true circumcision, i.e., the spiritual Israel.””40

Michael J. Vlach, “Has The Church Replaced Israel In God’s Plan? A Historical and Theological Survey of Replacement Theology,” Conservative Theological Journal 4:11 (APR 2000), pg. 16.

39 Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 43 (Waco: Word Books, 1983), p. 126. According to Ridderbos, “In these and similar pronouncements being a Jew and being circumcised acquires a purely spiritual significance, and the natural and empirical factors are not even taken into account any longer” Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology , p. 335.

40 The New Geneva Study Bible , General editor, R.C. Sproul (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), p. 1879.
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“In Philippians 3:3 Paul states, “we are the true circumcision.” Does the application of the term “circumcision” to the church mean that the church is now the new Israel?

            The context of Philippians 3:3 does not allow for this conclusion that Paul is identifying the church as spiritual Israel. First, just two verses later, Paul uses the term “Israel” in its normal sense of ethnic Jews. Second, Paul’s purpose in Philippians 3 is to counter the false teaching of those who thought that physical circumcision was necessary for salvation. He is not addressing the relationship between Israel and the church or redefining the concept of Israel. He is rebuking those teachers who based their salvation in the “flesh” (v. 3) instead of the righteousness that is found in Christ (v. 9).

            When Paul states that “we are the true circumcision” he is drawing on the Old Testament concept of spiritual circumcision of the heart (see Lev. 26:41; Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 9:25–26; Ezek. 44:7). Those who are circumcised in heart are the “true circumcision.” They have believed in God by faith in contrast to the “false circumcision” (3:2)—those who rely on physical circumcision to save them. When Paul called the Philippians the “true circumcision” he was not calling them “Israel,” he was identifying them as those who had trusted in Christ by faith alone.”

Michael J. Vlach, “Has The Church Replaced Israel In God’s Plan? A Historical and Theological Survey of Replacement Theology,” Conservative Theological Journal 4:11 (APR 2000), pp. 27-28.
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            Second, there is no incontrovertible evidence in the New Testament to support the church’s supplanting national Israel and taking over its promises. Advocates of this view cannot point to a single verse in the New Testament where the two terms “Israel” and “church” are used as theological equivalents. Furthermore, the church is never designated in the New Testament as the “new,” “true,” or “spiritual” Israel. The three New Testament passages often cited in support of including elect or saved Gentiles in the designation “Israel” are Romans 2:29, Galatians 6:16, and Philippians 3:3 (note the term “Israel” does not actually appear in either Romans 2:29 or Philippians 3:3).
            In Romans 2:29, Paul declares that a Jew is not one who has undergone the physical rite but one who has experienced a “circumcision of the heart.” Paul’s statement has been taken by many as a redefining of the expression “Jew” to mean anyone, Jew or Gentile, who shares this inner circumcision.111 Paul’s statement, however, can be understood, as in 9:6, as simply contrasting a saved Jew as a subset of the larger category of ethnic Jews, without any intent of including Gentiles within the designation.112
            The same may be said of Philippians 3:3. There Paul declares that he and his readers, the majority of whom are Gentiles, are “the circumcision,” in contrast to his Jewish opponents whose circumcision he describes in 3:2 as an outward “mutilation.” Again, a number of interpreters understand Paul’s statement as redefining “Jew” to refer to Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, who partake of this circumcision.113 It needs only to be noted, however, that Paul does not use the expression “Jew” in this passage. To extrapolate from Paul’s statement a redefinition of “Jew” goes beyond what the verse actually says.”

— R. Bruce Compton, “Dispensationalism, The Church, And The New Covenant,”
Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 8:1 (Fall 2003), pp. 36-37; R. Bruce Compton, “Epilogue: Dispensationalism, the Church, and the New Covenant,” in Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant: 3 Views, ed. Mike Stallard (Schaumburg, IL: Regular Baptist Books, 2012), pp. 267-268.

111 For example, Moo states, “But Paul goes beyond any first-century Jewish viewpoint…in implicitly applying the term ‘Jew’ to those who were not ethnically Jews” (The Epistle to the Romans, p. 175).

112 See, for example, C. E. B. Cranfield, The Epistle to the Romans, 2 vols., ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975, 1979), 1:176. Cranfield states: “Is he [Paul] implying…that the Christian Church alone is the heir to all the promises? Taken by themselves these verses would seem to be patient of such a construction. They have certainly often been understood in this sense and Paul has appeared as the father of those ‘who have denied to the Jewish people their election privileges and promises,’ simply ‘transferring them to Christianity as the new Israel of God.’ But these verses do not stand by themselves, and, if they are to be interpreted in the light of 3.1-4 and also of 9.1-11.36, they can hardly bear this meaning.”

113 For example, Moisés Silva states, “The polemic of Philippians 3 begins with an unequivocal assertion of the great spiritual reversal: Judaizers are the new Gentiles, while Christian believers have become the true Jews” (Philippians, The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary [Chicago: Moody Press, 1988], p. 170). See also Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians, WBC (Waco, TX: Word, 1983), p. 126.
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On this issue also see:

Oswald T. Allis, Prophecy and the Church (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980), pp. 278-279.

Herbert W. Bateman, IV, “Were the Opponents at Philippi Necessarily Jewish?,” Bibliotheca Sacra 155:617 (JAN 1998), pp. 39-61; esp. pp. 53-58.

David A. deSilva, “No Confidence In The Flesh: The Meaning and Function of Philippians 3:2–21,” Trinity Journal 15:1 (Spring 1994), pp. 27-54; esp. pp. 32-36.

Carl B. Hoch, Jr., All Things New: The Significance of Newness for Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995), pp. 220n15, 287-289.

Barry E. Horner, Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged, NAC Studies in Bible & Theology, series ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2007), pp. xix, 72, 171, 228, 265, 275-279.

Dan Lioy, “The Faith Journey Of Paul: An Exegetical Analysis Of Philippians 3:1-14,” Conspectus 7:1 (MAR 2009), pp. 81-96; esp. pp. 85-87.

O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980), pp. 147-166, esp. pg. 161, s.v. Ch. 9, “The Seal of the Abrahamic Covenant.”
  
O. Palmer Robertson, The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2000), pg. 44, note 11.

Robert L. Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism: The Interface Between Dispensational & Non-Dispensational Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), pp. 202-205.

Robert L. Saucy, The Church In God’s Program (Chicago: Moody, 1972), pg. 173.

Eckhard Schnabel, 40 Questions About The End Times, 40 Questions Series, series ed. Benjamin L. Merkle (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011), pg. 126.

Thomas R. Schreiner, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law, 40 Questions Series, series ed. Benjamin L. Merkle (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2010), pp. 50, 90, 124, 137.

Robert B. Strimple, “Amillennialism,” in Craig A. Blaising, Darrell L. Bock, Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., and Robert B. Strimple, Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, gen ed. Darrell L. Bock, Counterpoints Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), pg. 90.

Conclusion:

Paul will move on in the verses that follow (3:4-14) to present himself as an example, even as he has held up Timothy, and Epaphroditus previously. The pattern of Christ seen in the Carmen Christi of 2:6-11 will continue to be worked out in his own life and experiences.

Who do we need to beware of?

Do we exhibit the signs of the true circumcision?

[Sermon preached 9 APR 2017 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]

Complete Outline:

I. Please Allow Me to Repeat Myself (3:1)

1. This is Not a ConclusionFinally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord

2. This is Not “Same Old, Same Old”To write the same things to you

3. This is Not Paul Being a Painto me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe

II. The Three “Bewares” of the Apostle (3:2)

1. Beware of Dogs

2. Beware of Evil Workers

3. Beware of the Concision

III. The Three Marks of the Circumcision (3:3)

1. True Spiritual Worship — For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit

2. True Christian Joy — For we are the circumcision….and rejoice in Christ Jesus

3. True Self Denial — For we are the circumcision….and have no confidence in the flesh.


End Notes:

[1] With no apologies to The Rolling Stones for the first line to their “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968): “Please allow me to introduce myself…”

[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version (Nashville: Holman, 2009).

[3] “There is a significant wordplay here in the Greek text. In v. 2 a rare, strong word is used to describe those who were pro-circumcision (κατατομή, katatomh, “mutilation”; see BDAG 528 s.v.), while in v. 3 the normal word for circumcision is used (περιτομή, peritomh; see BDAG 807 s.v.). Both have τομή (the feminine form of the adjective τομός [tomo"], meaning “cutting, sharp”) as their root; the direction of the action of the former is down or off (from κατά, kata), hence the implication of mutilation or emasculation, while the direction of the action of the latter is around (from περί, peri). The similarity in sound yet wide divergence of meaning between the two words highlights in no uncertain terms the differences between Paul and his opponents.”
Lumina, op. cit.

[4] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update ed. (LaHabra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1995).

[5] See note 3.

[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001, 2016).

[7] Holy Bible: New Living Translation, 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2007, 2013).


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