Title: Marks Of Those Who Know Christ
Text: Philippians 3:1-6
Date: July 7, 2024
Introduction: Paul provides three distinguishing marks of a genuine Christian in verse 3. They are contrasted with what he says in verse 2 about false teachers. For all of us dog lovers, we must realize that Paul lived in a different context. Dogs were not viewed as adorable little pets. They were nasty, unclean, and dangerous. Dogs often wandered where they didn’t belong. Paul viewed these false teachers like feral dogs. They were entering the church and damaging it.
Who are these particular false teachers? They were known as “Judaizers.” During the time of the early church, many devoted Jews were willing to accept Jesus as Messiah. However, they wanted to hold onto forms of Judaism. Judaizers believed that Gentiles had to become Jews before becoming Christians. This involved the act of circumcision and taking on the law of Moses. We read about them in Acts 15. They were saying, “unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved!” (Acts 15:1) However, the leaders of the church, including Paul, Barnabas, James, and Peter, denied this claim and preserved the gospel of grace. Salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone, apart from works of the law.
The reference to dogs is striking because the Jews often called the Gentiles “dogs” since they viewed them as unclean (Mark 7:27-29). But Paul states that a dramatic reversal has taken place through the work of Christ. Now it’s the Judaizers who must be regarded as dogs. He also calls the Judaizers “evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” They were evildoers because their mission was evil, not good. Their mission wasn’t heroic but hellish.
The phrase “mutilators of the flesh” speaks against the value of circumcision. They were trusting in a physical operation instead of in God’s gracious work of salvation in Christ. When Gentiles accepted this pressure to be circumcised in order to gain God’s blessing, they were acting like pagans, who also mutilated the flesh in order to gain the favor of the gods. They didn’t need mutilation; they needed regeneration.
Who is responsible for these “dogs?” The Devil of course! He wants to destroy people’s confidence in Christ’s sufficient work. The Devil would like nothing more than to have people believe in a false gospel.
So beware of dogs. Like physical dogs, there are all sorts of spiritual dogs. Many do the same thing that these Judaizing dogs were doing, namely, adding to the gospel. When we add to the gospel, we lose the gospel! It’s not Jesus plus our good works. It’s Christ and Christ alone.
In verse 3 Paul says, “for it is we who are the circumcision.” He is not speaking of a circumcision of the flesh, but of a changed heart. At the end of his letter to the Galatians he says it like this: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (Galatians 6:15). While Paul was a circumcised Jew, most in the Philippian congregation were Gentiles. Paul is saying that those who trust in Christ are the true people of God; they are the true circumcision. Following this statement, he provides three distinguishing marks of a Christian, the true people of God. What are they? The first two statements are positive and the third is negative. (Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Philippians, p134-135, Tony Merida and Francis Chan)
I. We
II. We
III.We
Larry Gipson
First Baptist Church-Oneonta