seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Philippians 3:1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
a. Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
This is from the easy English site.
The advantages from his family:
1 He received circumcision when he was eight days old. So his parents obeyed the command that God gave to Abraham (Genesis 17:12). He was a true child of Abraham. He had not, like some Gentiles, come into the Jewish faith when he was an adult.
2 He belonged ‘to Israel by birth’. Israel was the name that God gave to Jacob (Genesis 32:28). Paul was a Jew and so he had a special relationship with God.
3 He came ‘from the tribe of Benjamin’. Benjamin was the child of Rachel whom Jacob loved. He was the only son of Jacob that was born in the promised country (Genesis 35:16-18). The first king of Israel, Saul, came from this tribe (1 Samuel 9:1-2). Jerusalem was in the territory of Benjamin. The tribe remained loyal to David’s family when the country became two countries.
4 He was ‘a pure Hebrew’. Many Jews who lived in other countries spoke only Greek. This was the language of the people where they lived. Paul came from the city called Tarsus and he could speak Greek (Acts 21:37). But he had gone to Jerusalem in order to learn from Gamaliel, a famous Jewish teacher (Acts 22:3). So Paul could also speak Hebrew, the Jewish language. He was able to speak in Hebrew to the Jewish crowd that had attacked him (Acts 21:40).
He was ‘a Pharisee’. He had chosen to be a Pharisee like his parents (Acts 23:6). Pharisees were the most strict Jews. They tried to obey even the smallest detail of the Law of Moses. Paul said that he had carried out the most strict demands of the Jewish faith.
Paul’s efforts to serve God
1 He had been so eager to defend the Jewish faith that he tried to destroy the Christian faith. He had put Christians in prison. He was so eager to attack the church that he was prepared to travel from Jerusalem to Damascus. He intended to arrest any Christians that he found there. He never forgot how he had tried to destroy the church (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13).
2 He was without blame as far as the Law of Moses could produce goodness. The Greek word for ‘without blame’ is a word that really means ‘not to leave out a duty’. There were no demands of the Law of Moses that Paul had failed to obey.
‘My brothers and sisters’ emphasises what Paul is going to repeat. He does not want the Christians at Philippi to believe false doctrine. Some of the Christians in Philippi said that they were already perfect. They denied that people need discipline in the Christian life. But Paul himself had not completely succeeded in the work that Christ had given him to do. And Paul knew that. He had only one aim. He uses the picture of a runner in a race. The runner must not look behind him. So Paul must not look back to his life before he became a Christian. He must forget all his past failures and successes as an apostle. He must not allow them to affect what he thought or did now. He must not lose his courage or become satisfied with himself. A runner makes every effort to look ahead. And he runs straight towards the line at the end of the race. Paul was making every effort to become perfect, that is, mature as a Christian.
Christ’s death on the cross gives men and women complete salvation. Some people refused to believe this. Paul warns the Christians at Philippi again about these people. He is full of strong emotion as he thinks of the spiritual danger to his dear friends at Philippi. These ‘enemies’ were some or all of these people:
1 Jewish Christians that Paul had already described as ‘dogs’ . By their ‘physical desires’ he means ‘wrong sex’. They also said that Gentiles must receive circumcision.
2 Christians who said that they no longer needed to obey the Law of Moses. They thought that, because of this, they could now do anything at all. Because God’s grace would deal with any sin, they could sin without shame. They would be giving God more opportunity to show his grace. ‘Perhaps we should continue to do wrong things. So then, God can continue to be even kinder to us. No! Certainly we should not do that!’ (See Romans 6:1-2.)
3 Christians who believed the doctrine of the Gnostics. The Gnostics said that the body was evil. Therefore it did not matter how they used it. They could eat and drink to excess. And they could have sex whenever and however they wanted to. They said that these activities made no difference to their spiritual nature. This false doctrine had already affected the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 6:13). Paul is afraid that it will upset the faith of the Christians in Philippi.
Well... IMHO... this was one of the worst letters I've read. If it weren't for the commentary.... I would think it was about tattoos! As a matter of fact... I think I even heard a preacher do that.... I bet one of the rich donors was having a problem with a kid wanting a tattoo... so the preacher pulled out his King James Version and belted out a sermon on mutilation of the flesh.
No it's not about cutting.... No it's not about tattoos. It's about circumcision.... again. The penis is bright on the minds of most men most of the time apparently because once again.... the Jews were split on what to do with the penis! Some of the Descendants of Jacob [Israel] were saying that the only way to be right was to be circumcised.... if they were cut.... all had to be cut... it was after all a sanitary issue. Others said...no... things have changed.... we no longer have to require it. On top of that, they would add, sanitary or not... the Gentiles were not going to go through having their penis mutilated to be part of a group. It just wouldn't happen so it became a problem.
Another big deal about this letter is the way they felt about "forgiveness of sin". Some call this the law and order debate.... it's not. Paul was talking about the idea that all sins were paid for by Christ. The idea that an innocent man faced and conquered the death penalty for His disciples.... the notion of "forgiveness" of sins just brought the Pharisees to tears. After all... they had been trained to do everything according to the law set down by Moses. It was the law that would make humans "civil" to one another.... it even called for a day of rest.... but that day was more of a struggle than a rest. If a human lifted a finger wrong... they could be jailed... or maybe even have that finger chopped off. With such severe laws.... I bet that guy who had his hands chopped off for a theft jumped up and said... "No wait... we just can't go around doing want we think is right... willy nilly..... It's not fair that I have no hands.... but now a thief can just be 'forgiven'.... come on."
I've never seen an uncircumcised penis. I probably never will. It's pretty normal now for boys to be circumcised right away... that way mom doesn't have to worry with the foreskin. I assume these days.... a mother would have to object rather than permit circumcision.
The idea of forgiveness of sins, though.... that one sticks with us today. People have a real hard time with the idea that someone like Charles Manson can "find the Lord" in prison and then go right to Heaven as if he had been in a church pew his whole life. How fair is it that someone who says, drinks, eats, and does anything he wants his whole life.... while we "good little Christians" had to sit through all those sermons, schools, studies... and horrible pot luck dinners.... not to mention dealing monthly [at least] with those tiny bread pieces and those tiny staining grape juice cups without a table or a napkin. I have heard it in the church... in the corridors.... "what makes him think he is 'saved'.... I mean look at how he has lived... he can't be a Christian.... "
Awe but he can... without a circumcision... without weekly preaching or mass.... without communion in a cup.... without dunking in the baptismal pool.... he can still be a Christian.
A Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have accepted His offer to take over. He shows us what is important... He is our conscience... the spirit that keeps us shining as an example of kindness and caring. A Christian believes that God loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son. His son was born of a virgin [unique... a bastard actually], crucified [beaten and hung on a cross naked], dead [they stuck a blade in him and it came out watery], and buried [in a borrowed tomb... [un-embalmed due to the late hour... the girls promised to come back and finish the job after the sabbath] and on the third day... we believe Jesus walked right out of that tomb.... and after hosting a fish dinner for his Apostles.... and talking to numerous people.... He ascended into Heaven. I know He's coming back... and this time.... "mutilation of the body" will mean more than losing a foreskin.
As for the forgiveness of sins.... well good Christian Charles Manson.... will not get off scott free.... We do have to answer up for our sins when we get to Heaven. I've heard it said... we go through our lives... and we feel how we hurt others... we feel their pain and we learn regret... and once we regret it... God has us learn from it. It's not a get our of jail free card... we still answer up.... we just answer up to a bigger badder Judge.... who will judge the action in it's totality..... because God knows what we did... when we did it... how we did it... and why... He knows if we regret it... and His Son... Jesus the Messiah... is our Lawyer at the sentencing hearing.
No... it's not about cutting or tattoos.... it's about Salvation and how it works.
