Philippians 3:2-11

Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 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; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

Who is Paul angry at here? Some of the "old-school" Christians at the time were trying to convince the new believers in Philippi (a Roman colony in Northern Greece, practically Turkey) that you couldn't be a Christian or be saved unless you fist became a Jew. That meant undergoing circumcision! Talk about demanding good works to be saved!

This really made Paul angry- see what he wrote about them in another letter?
Galatians 5:12 "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!"

Paul wants us to understand that being circumcised isn't what saves us. Nothing we can do ourselves can make us right with God. Then he goes on to explain that if anyone was ever good enough to claim to be a good Jew, it was him. He thought that he loved God so much that he defended the faith against this new "cult" of Jesus-followers called Christians. Before his conversion, Paul was named Saul and he was out to "ethnically cleanse," to eradicate the Christians. ( See Acts 7:54-57)

Incidentally, here's a really scary/gross story about circumcision from the Old Testament: Dinah and the Shechemites in Genesis 34: "All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised....Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male."

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

But that was Paul's old life. Now the MOST important thing to him is knowing Jesus personally.

The bad news is in, God told us- Leviticus 11:45 "I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy." No one can be with God or even near God unless they're perfect. Bummer.



But the good news that Paul's talking about in Philippians 3:9 is the same thing he talks about in Romans 3: 21-23 "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

In other words, because Jesus loves us enough to die for us on the cross, we can have HIS righteousness, His right-ness. It makes us holy so we can be in a right relationship with God the Father. And Paul would give up everything else in life, so long as he has that.

Amen, thank you for making it possible for us to know you and be in a real relationship with you , Jesus!