This evening we are continuing our dive into Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Philippi. Before we get into this evening’s passage though, I want to remind us again of what we read back in Philippians 1:27.
“Live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”
I suggested when I spoke on that passage a couple of weeks ago that this is one of the controlling themes of the whole of the rest of the letter, that most of what Paul writes can be understood as an expansion of what it means to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, what it looks like in practice.
So, as we go through tonight’s reading, I encourage you to keep this question in mind,
“What is this teaching us about what it means to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ?”
I wonder if you’ve heard the one about the vicar and curate and they way that they begin the conclusion to their sermons. The curate says, “finally” and finishes. The vicar says, “lastly” and lasts.
As we noticed last week, when we were looking at the end of chapter 2, the recipients of this letter might have been expecting Paul to be coming to the end of the letter, with the comments about Timothy and Epaphroditus. But no, he’s only about half way through, hence the first word of this evening’s reading, “Further…”
Or, as we might interpret it, “And another thing…”
Not it that really is another thing, it’s one of the things that Paul has been writing about all the way through, the call to rejoicing in the Lord. From chapter 1 v 4 when Paul writes of his joyful prayers for the Philippians, to v18 and his rejoicing that the gospel is being preached, to chapter 2:17 and 18 where we read of Paul’s rejoicing in what he sees God doing in their lives, and his call to them to join in that rejoicing. Joy and rejoicing in difficult circumstances is a thread running through the letter. I wonder if Paul realised this as he dictated it, and that’s why we get the next thing, “It is no trouble to write the same things to you…”
Or, as we might paraphrase, “And another thing, rejoice actually I said that already didn’t I? Never mind – a reminder can’t hurt.”
But then Paul does move onto something that is new in this letter, though he may have written or spoken to them about this in the past. A warning against the mutilators of flesh. We’ll come back to who these were in a moment, but first let’s notice a difference between how Paul writes here, and how he writes about the same danger to the Christians in Galatia.
In Galatians 1:6, within a few sentences of the beginning of the letter, Paul writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…”
And then in Galatians 3:1, “You foolish Galatians!! Who has bewitched you?”
These are only small examples, but it seems clear to me that the teachings that Paul is concerned about have already arrived in Galatia, and turned people away from the path they were one. In contrast, the Philippians passage reads more like a warning against something that hasn’t got there yet, but Paul is concerned might be on it’s way – watch out. He’s hoping that forewarned is forearmed. He realises that the church already has some issues with unity, and is concerned that these might be made worse if they aren’t prepared to show a united front against this teaching.
So, what is this teaching that Paul is so agitated about?
He’s obviously angry with the people who bring it, he describes them as dogs, evil doers, mutilators of the flesh. The English doesn’t do this mounting list of condemnations justice, in Greek each of those words begins with a k. Furthermore Paul repeats his command to watch out three times. A closer translation might be
Watch those curs. Watch those workers of wickedness. Watch those flesh cutters.
These words Paul chose to describe his adversaries weren’t just chosen because they all started with “k”.
Pet dogs weren’t really a thing in those times. Jewish people used to call Gentiles, “dogs” or “curs”. It wasn’t a term of affection, it was a term of disdain. Paul turns it back on them. They saw themselves as the righteous remnant, the ones who did things right – Paul describes them as “workers of wickedness.” As a side note, we might recall from last week that this echoes, in contrast, with the working out of salvation and God’s work in our lives that Paul was talking about in chapter 2.
They believe that they carry in their flesh a sign of God’s blessing, Paul describes that sign as nothing more than a mutilation.
Anyway. Who is it that Paul is so poetically and vehemently warning the Philippians to be on guard against, to watch out for?
Basically, it’s people who believed and taught that if Gentiles came to faith in Jesus then they should be circumcised and keep the Jewish law.
From our perspective it can be difficult for us to understand why this was such a big issue, especially as the early church (eventually) came down so clearly on one side – it is a complete non-issue for us, so why was it such a big issue for them? Why did those who argued for circumcision do so? Why was Paul so fierce in arguing against it?
Firstly, why were those who agued for it doing so? Let’s go back to Genesis 17:10-14 where we find God talking to Abraham about the covenant that God is setting up. We read this.
“This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
There is not much wriggle room here. Before Moses, before the commandments, before the law, came the covenant. The foundational agreement between God and the people of Abraham. This is core to their identity as God’s people. It has been who they are for hundreds of years. They are the covenant people, and the sign of the covenant is circumcision. It is non-negotiable. Every male. Even the foreigners. Any male not circumcised has broken covenant. They are outside of God’s promise.
Later on in the history of the people of God we find this codified into the laws in Leviticus, we find it in the instructions of who may share in the passover meal (only those who have been circumcised) in Exodus, and we find Joshua circumcising all those who had not been circumcised whilst the people of Israel were wandering in the desert before going into the promised land, the land that was promised to Abraham as part of that covenant.
Coming closer to the time we’re talking about, we read in Luke’s historical account of Jesus’ life that he was circumcised on the eighth day, in accordance with the law.
So, we might imagine the argument going:
“Circumcision has always been the sign of the covenant between God and God’s people, so isn’t it still? Jesus was circumcised, so shouldn’t his followers be circumcised? There is a new covenant, in Jesus’ blood, the sign of which is the bread and wine of the passover meal. But only those who are circumcised are permitted to share in the passover meal, so shouldn’t those who share this meal be circumcised?”
Let’s just pause a moment and feel the weight of this argument. It’s not trivial, or easy to dismiss, that is why it had such an impact on so many in the early church.
So, why was Paul so vehemently against this argument?
Hints of this can actually be found in the Old Testament, for instance in
Deuteronomy 10:16 “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.”
and in Deuteronomy 30:6,
“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”
As long ago as Moses’ time it was clear that physical circumcision was not the thing that counted. It was a sign only, a sign that was meaningless if the heart wasn’t right towards God. It was the attitude of the heart that really mattered, and it was clear from the history of the people of Israel that they had come to trust, be proud of, the sign, of their specialness rather than have hearts that were right with God. The sign that was intended to be a reminder of their relationship with God had actually become a barrier to a right relationship with God.
It’s like two sides of the same coin. On one side you’ve got those saying, “Circumcision has always been a sign of our relationship with God, it should continue.” On the other side you’ve got Paul saying, “Yes it has, but it hasn’t done any good, in fact it’s got in the way – it needs to stop.”
More than that, says Paul. We who have come to faith in Jesus, whether our bodies are cut or not are those who carry the true sign of God’s blessing “the circumcision” – the presence of the Holy Spirit doing exactly what was promised by God in Deuteronomy, shaping our hearts to be attuned to God’s will, who put our entire trust, hope, and confidence in Jesus, who don’t rely on our own strength and attributes- our own flesh.
Paul then strengthens his argument. These people, he says, they look to their ancestry, their heritage, their lineage, their religious purity and learning, they look to these things for their confidence. If that were a true source of confidence, I should have even more than them. My credentials are flawless.
Circumcised – check. People of Israel – check. Tribe of Benjamin (Favoured son of Israel, tribe of King David, tribe of Jesus) – check. Hebrew of Hebrews (every grandparent Jewish, no foreign blood here) – check. A Pharisee (keeping every law and every extra law to make sure) – check. Zeal – oh yes, even to the extent of persecuting the church – check.
When I was a youngster I remember my Dad going through the bank statement every month, tallying it up against the cheque book, asking my mum if she could remember what such and such a payment had been for. Liz and I don’t do quite the same thing, but we do still keep an eye to make sure that the payments we’re expecting do come in – especially for Liz’s free lance editing work, and that the payments out are in line with what we’re expecting. It’s important for a household, for a business to keep track of its incomes and costs, its credits and its debits. As Mr Micawber in Charle’s Dickens’ “David Copperfield” puts it,
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”
This is the language world of the next verses – it’s accounting language of gains and losses.
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”
Whatever Paul might previously considered as on the credit side of the ledger with God – all the things he’s just listed, he’s come to realise are of no value, in fact they are worse than valueless – they’re actually a debit, a cost, because they are disgusting filth that you need to pay someone to come and clean up, to take away and dispose of.
Through all this I’ve discovered there is only one thing that is worth anything, says Paul, only one thing that is of value, is profitable to me, that is a gain for me, and that is knowing Jesus, gaining Jesus, being found in Jesus. Three slightly different ideas – but all having the same focus and core. Jesus. Nothing else matters. Only Jesus.
It is only by trusting and having confidence, faith, in Jesus’ work and gift to us that we can have any righteousness. The law can’t do that for us. Paul talks at length about this in his letter to the church in Rome, here he is content just to state it. If anyone could have achieved a right relationship with God by keeping the requirements of the law it was Paul, but he couldn’t, he didn’t. The whole witness of the history of the people of Israel is that it wasn’t possible.
Only through Jesus can we be right with God. This is why Paul argues his case so strongly. It isn’t a matter of just cutting a bit of penis off or not. It’s what it’s a sign of. Those arguing for circumcision believed it was a sign of the being part of the covenant. No, says Paul, it is now a sign of clinging to the old covenant when there is a new covenant, a sign of trusting yourself and your own work rather than trusting Jesus and his work.
And it is trust in Jesus that helps us to do what Paul talks about in verses 10 and 11. It is because we trust Jesus who went before us that we can walk the way of the cross that is the only path to resurrection.
Then, with a switch of metaphors, Paul jumps from the accounting world to the sporting one. He doesn’t want his readers to think that he sees himself as the finished article, he knows that he is still work in progress. God’s not finished with him, or us, yet. Aware of this, Paul is pressing on, eyes on the prize. I was never much of an athlete at school, but I do remember us always being told in the run up to sports day not to look behind us to see what anyone else was doing because it would just slow us down.
Paul is forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. He is completely focussed on Jesus and the direction he’s headed, which is towards his master’s voice, towards the prize of knowing Jesus fully.
And what of us? As we’ve already noted, the argument about circumcision or not is long settled. So is there anything here for us? You might have had your own thoughts as we’ve gone through, and I would like to add three questions to those thoughts.
Is there anything in our own heritage or “flesh” that we are counting as gain that is actually a loss?
As we continue through Lent, how might we reflect on our own “pressing on towards”?
What is our goal?
Perhaps as we consider these questions, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide our reflections so we will come to understand more deeply what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.
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