Once again, we meet yet another church under attack from Judaisers; this time at
Philippi. As always, the agitators wanted to take the believers under the law, especially,
in those early days, with respect to circumcision. But, as I have shown, it was ‘the law’
which was the issue. As before, the Judaisers mistakenly argued for the oneness of the
Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, and that if Gentiles want to become children of
Abraham they must be circumcised – that is, they must go under the law of Moses.
And again, as always, Paul stood up to the Judaisers. He would have none of it, and he
was prepared to ‘fight it out’ every inch of the way. Opening his account in the most
abrupt manner, even to the extent of starting with his conclusion, he twice commanded
his readers to ‘beware’ of the false apostles, to beware of their teaching and their
practice. Moreover, he chose a highly insulting way of defining those he had in his
sights, calling them ‘dogs’ and ‘evil workers’. Notice, further, the apostle’s use of
Jewish terminology, and his calling upon one of his favourite devices – word play. 2
None of this was an accident. Right from the start (Phil. 3:2-3), the apostle was
deliberately setting the tone for what he wanted to say. |
