COMMENTARY CHAPTER TODAY ( CHAP. 3 ) 3:1-3 Warnings against the circumcision To understand what Paul refers here and in the following verses , we need to go back to the early years of the church. The early believers in Jesus were Jews, and as loyal Jews considered vital law , emphasizing the covenant that Israel had with God , which was the sign of circumcision . These early believers were sent with a worldwide mission (Acts 1:8 ) , but they found it particularly difficult to cleave to the Gentiles (Acts 10) and was not long before they began a real mission to the Gentiles ( see Acts 11 : 20). Paul , as an apostle to the Gentiles , believed that if non-Jews turned to the Lord in repentance and faith would be accepted as members of Gods people , without the need to convert to Judaism and be circumcised men . However, there were Jewish Christians in Antioch (Acts 15:1 ) and in Galatia insisted that Gentile Christians should convert to Judaism . So he summoned the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 , to discuss the same matter of which Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians Years later, this issue remained a problem , and so Paul wrote to the Philippians because for you is more sure. 1, 2 Paul was so incensed against those who pressed for the Gentiles were to become Jews who called dogs, the name the Jews gave to the Gentiles. These people , however , deserve that name more than any kind by the way they wandered by Christian congregations seeking to win Gentile believers to Judaism ( Beare , Phillipians ) . Hence the warning believers needed ... beware! They were evil workers , misleading people of truth and freedom ( Matthew 23:15 , 2 Corinthians 11:13 , Galatians 1:7-9 ) . For circumcision had no spiritual value , they were merely those who mutilate the body. 3 When the spiritual value of circumcision has been lost, the practice of it becomes only an external rite , a question of confidence in the flesh . We are the circumcision , says Paul . Some think it could have been speaking only of Jewish Christians , the evidence is that Paul and the NT writers generally assume all titles and privileges of the people of God in the days of AT and apply to Christians , whether Jews or Gentiles ( p . example . Ephesians 2:11-22 , 1 Peter 2:4-10 ) . Objectives 3:4-7 Pauls previous life 4 Paul says that he could have the same confidence in the flesh as it were some who sought to convert Christians into Jews . He could list one by one the things he first , as a devout Jew , thought gave credit to God. 5, 6 lists seven things considered gain deeply religious life she had lived before meeting Jesus. ( i ) was circumcised on the eighth day after birth as required by law ( Genesis 17:12). ( ii ) Born Israelite lineage , a member of Gods people . ( iii ) could name his tribe ( Benjamin ) , which belonged to the first king of Israel and who had remained faithful when others were not . ( iv) It was not only a true Jew , but a Jew , that is, someone who spoke Aramaic ( cf. Acts 6:1 , 22:2 , 2 Corinthians 11:22) , the son of Jewish parents , not as many who had lost the use of their native language . ( v ) strict in the observance of the law , Paul was a devout Pharisee (Acts 23:6 , 26:5 , cf. Galatians 1:14). (vi ) His religious zeal was evident at that persecuted the Christians (Acts 8:3 , 9:1 ) . ( vii ) could tell as to what external demands concerning the law , the Mosaic law for which he had tried to live , was blameless . This, however, was a matter of justice of the law , of trying to be righteous before God based on obedience to the law. 7 Now Paul considered all winnings as a great loss. But all this, it used to cost a lot to me , now , because of Christ, I have for something worthless (NIV ) . He had come to regard them as a basis of trust and even fake an obstacle. Goes on to describe the way infinitely better than he found. 3:8-14 Give up the old , new expectations of Paul Because of his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus ( Acts 9 ) , and also because they finally realized that there was not keeping the law ( Romans 7 ) , is that Paul was taken to a radical revaluation of values ( Hawthorne , Phillipians ) . 8 For he had found the way of acceptance with God in Christ , Paul considered all those things over which he had rested before and lost . He decided that anything I give value if compared with the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (NIV ) . Not only had everything as loss, but I could say that for Christs sake I have lost everything : their place in Judaism , the Pharisees , probably even your own home. Yet not distressed , the considered useless rubbish compared to the gain Christ ( Phillips ) . 9 Now his desire is to be accepted on the basis of justice which is a gift of God , offered on the simple condition to believe ( cf. Romans 3:21 to 4:25 , Galatians 2:15 to 3:29 , Ephesians 2:4-9 ) , ignoring the call justice achieved by proper works on which had rested before . 10 Better yet, want to live in the knowledge of Christ ( to consider what the Christian baptism see Romans 6:1-4 ) , that is, be identified with the crucified and risen Christ . This means knowing the power of His resurrection in daily experience ( cf.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:41:34 +0000
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