Warning Against the Judaizers (Philippians 3:1–9)

In the third part, the Apostle gives the Philippians: 1) a warning against the Judaizers, dissuading them from being carried away by their teaching by his own personal example. He enumerates the advantages that Jews customarily set forth in enticing others to follow them. He then says: all of these I possessed more than others, yet I counted them as nothing compared with the inexpressibly exalted promises and hopes of the Christian faith (Phil. 3:1–9). This gave him occasion to add: 2) it is precisely toward these that I now strive with all my heart. Strive likewise after me, clinging to nothing earthly or sensuous—for our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:10–4:1).

1) Warning Against the Judaizers (Phil. 3:1–9)

Phil. 3:1. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not irksome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.

“Grief and anxiety, when they overwhelm the soul to excess, take away its strength. For this reason Paul encourages the Philippians, who were in great grief. They grieved because they did not know what the Apostle’s circumstances were; they grieved because they supposed him dead; they grieved over the preaching, over Epaphroditus. And so, having given them satisfactory news of all this, he adds: ‘finally, my brothers, rejoice.’ Now, he says, you have no reason to grieve: Epaphroditus, over whom you were sorrowing, is with you; Timothy also is (soon to be) with you; and I am on my way; and the gospel is advancing. What more do you lack? ‘Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord.’ Well said: ‘in the Lord,’—not with worldly joy; for that is not what rejoicing means. Even tribulations for Christ’s sake, he says, contain within them joy” (St Chrysostom).

“To write the same things to you.” “He had not written another epistle to them, but in this single letter set forth many instructions” (blessed Theodoret).

“The same things.” If this is referred to “rejoice,” the meaning is: to keep repeating to you: “rejoice,”—for the Apostle had already written this to them: “rejoice and rejoice with me” (Phil. 2:18); and he repeated it once more: “rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). Some give the word “the same things” the meaning of “such things” and refer it to everything written up to this point. To write all such things to you is not irksome for me, and for you it will serve to strengthen you in faith and in a life according to faith. He speaks as though saying: it is not irksome for me to write you such things—that is, all things concerning faith and life according to faith—for this serves to confirm you in both. To complete the thought, one may understand here: and I will add to you now also this!

Phil. 3:2. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation.

“Whom does the Apostle call dogs here? Those to whom he alludes in all his Epistles—the vile, shameless, covetous, and power-seeking Jews who, wishing to draw away many of the faithful, preached both Christianity and Judaism, corrupting the gospel; and since it was difficult to recognize them, the Apostle says: ‘beware of dogs.’ The Jews are no longer children. Once the Gentiles were called dogs, and now they are. Why? Because as the Gentiles were once estranged from God and Christ, so now they are estranged. And by this he points to their shamelessness, their insolence, and their great distance from the children. That the Gentiles were once called dogs—hear what the Canaanite woman says: ‘Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table’ (Mt. 15:27). But since dogs are at the table, so that (those Jews) might be excluded even from this, (the Apostle) adds the reason by which he excludes them, saying: ‘beware of evil workers.’ The words ‘beware of evil workers’ are worthy of admiration; for they not only act (with zeal, labor, face dangers and privations of the journey—all out of zeal), but they act to do harm, and their activity is far worse than inactivity itself. — They destroy what is well ordered” (St Chrysostom).

“Beware of the mutilation.” By “mutilation” the Apostle designated circumcision—a somewhat deprecatory and ironic term, entirely un-biblical—so as to show that the Jews, though they continue to circumcise, their circumcision no longer has the significance and force that it once possessed; formerly it was the seal of the chosen people, but now it is a mere cutting of the flesh, without any meaning (St Chrysostom). He says “beware” of the “mutilation,”—that is, of circumcision; but if he obliges them to beware of circumcision, all the more of everything else contained in the Law. By this single word he commands them to keep away from all things Jewish. “The Jewish circumcision was of importance because the Law itself yielded to it—the Sabbath was lower than it; for to perform circumcision the Sabbath was overridden, but the Law of circumcision was never overridden to observe the Sabbath. Take note of God’s economy. Circumcision is placed above the Sabbath. It was not set aside at any time. Therefore, when circumcision is abolished, how much more the Sabbath” (St Chrysostom); and how much more the entire Law, the whole of Judaism. The Apostle repeated “beware” three times—to show how necessary this is, and to stir up zeal to keep away from it in every way.

Phil. 3:3. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.

“We are the circumcision.” The circumcision to which the Jews cling—the Apostle did not even call circumcision, but named it mutilation. In the Law of the shadow (the tabernacle) it was of importance, but since the entire Law was a shadow of good things to come, it too was a foreshadowing—a prefiguration of “circumcision of the heart in the Spirit” (Rom. 2:29). When this circumcision came, the former lost its force. “Those who perform it now do nothing other than cut the flesh. For when this act ceased to be lawful, it is nothing other than a cutting of the flesh. If one must seek the true circumcision, you will find it among us: ‘who worship God in the Spirit,’—that is, those of us who serve God spiritually” (St Chrysostom). “We serve with soul and mind. One who is circumcised in soul and serves God with it—this is the one who has the true circumcision—higher and more noble, insofar as the soul is better than the body” (blessed Theodoret).

This spiritual circumcision consists in the cutting away of the passions from the heart and in the granting to a person of the strength to withstand them and always, contrary to their pull, to remain faithful to the commandments of God. Having been established in the heart before the face of the Lord by the grace of the Holy Spirit, a Christian allows himself to do nothing according to self-indulgence and lusts, but directs all things—both his inner life and his outer life—according to the will of God, to His glory. In this both circumcision and the service of God in the Spirit consist. They are inseparable, or form one and the same spiritual state.

We serve God thus, he says, and “glory in Christ Jesus.” For whence comes this grace? From Christ Jesus the Lord. He came, offered Himself as a sacrifice, and tore up the bond of our sins; and having ascended into heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit, for whom He had opened the way to us by satisfying the infinite justice of God. The Spirit of grace produces in us both the circumcision of the heart and the spiritual service of God. This is why we glory only in Christ Jesus—for from Him we have everything. The Jew says: I am of Abraham, I am circumcised—both of which are fleshly. But we say: we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by virtue of this faith we receive through the sacraments the grace that gives us new and spiritual life and makes us children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. These are our hopes! They rest on nothing fleshly. Descent from Abraham and circumcision had their significance in their time; now they are nothing and must be left behind. St Paul proves this by his own example.

Phil. 3:4. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.

I too, he says, could have boasted in the fleshly privileges of Judaism, no less than anyone else, and rested my hopes upon them, as I once did—but now I do so no longer, having come to know the worthlessness of such supports. “The Apostle fittingly added this. For if he, being of Gentile origin, had found fault with circumcision—and not only circumcision, but with those who receive it out of season—it might have seemed that he attacked it because he lacked the noble heritage of Judaism, did not know its great privileges, and had no share in them; but when one who does have a share in it finds fault, it means that he does so because he has come to know (the worthlessness of it all)—not from ignorance, but from perfect knowledge” (St Chrysostom).

“If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.” By this turn of phrase he gives very great weight to the fact that he afterwards cast all of this aside. I, he says, am not one of ordinary Jews. The Jews have common privileges on which they base their hopes; but St Paul had more than others. What exactly? Of the privileges he enumerates below, only one peculiarity is distinctive to him—his persecution of the Church of God. This placed him in the ranks of the defenders of the Law. Therefore he could justly say: if any Jew thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. For such persons rightly have special worth both before the Church and before God. He too would have had such worth for his deeds—if what he had fought for had been the truth.

Phil. 3:5–6. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the Law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the Church; concerning the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

“He enumerates in detail all that was held in honor among the Jews” (blessed Theodoret). “Circumcised on the eighth day.” “First he sets forth that of which they especially boasted—circumcision” (St Chrysostom). By this he showed that he was neither a stranger nor a proselyte—those who were circumcised in adulthood—but was born of one who was circumcised and was himself circumcised on the eighth day. But one might think: your parents were foreigners who came over. No, even the parents were not foreigners. Our lineage comes from Israel. I am “of the people of Israel.” But perhaps you are from one of the ten tribes that were scattered and mixed with others in an unknown way. No, I am from the “tribe of Benjamin,” which remained a faithful ally of the tribe of Judah and together with it guarded the hope of Israel—the Temple, all its ordinances, and all the promises. In a word, I am “a Hebrew of Hebrews,” “of pure Hebrew descent” (St Chrysostom).

“Next he passes to what was a matter of his own free choice. All that was said above was not a matter of free will—it was not within his power to be circumcised, to be of the people of Israel, or of the tribe of Benjamin. Yet even in these things he had more advantages than others, though many shared in them. In what, then, does the ‘more so’ consist? Certainly in the fact that he was no stranger, that he was from the most honorable tribe, from such ancestors as few have had from of old. But since all this was not a matter of free will, he passes to the acts of the will, in which this ‘more so’ is evident: ‘concerning the Law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the Church of God.’ He says this because what was said above alone does not sufficiently explain the ‘more so.’ For one can be a Pharisee without being a great zealot for righteousness; one can venture into dangers and do so out of love of power rather than zeal for the Law, as the high priests did; but he was not such—‘concerning the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.’ Therefore, if I, he says, surpassed all in noble descent, in zeal, in character and in life—why did I abandon these high privileges, except in order to acquire those of Christ, which are greater and far greater?” (St Chrysostom).

The Pharisees were zealots for the Law. Out of this zeal he persecuted the Church of God. But while persecuting the Church and standing for the confession of the Law, he neglected none of the legal observances—he strictly kept the Sabbaths, the new moons, offered sacrifices, and everything else; so that in regard to the righteousness of the Law there was nothing with which he could be reproached.

Phil. 3:7. But what things were gain to me, those I have counted loss for Christ.

“Gain,” κερδη — profit, advantage; “loss,” ζημιαν — damage, detriment. While the Law was in force, all the aforementioned privileges that St Paul possessed by right of being under the Law were a profit to him; but when the Law was brought to an end by the coming of Christ and St Paul came to know this and believed, then to cling to the Law would have been for him not profit but loss. Therefore, he says, I resolved to accept the loss of the Law and all its privileges in order to be with Christ, for Christ’s sake. He expresses by this: having come to know Christ, I cast aside these privileges. Others, looking at this, might say to him: what a loss, what damage you have sustained! Yes, I chose this loss freely, for Christ’s sake. — Or he is setting profit and harm in opposition. The Law was profitable before the coming of Christ the Saviour, but after His coming it became harmful. I, he says, reckoned it to be so—for Christ’s sake.

But in this one must not forget that the Law in its time was the sole path of salvation and of drawing near to God—and this by God’s will. Only its suitability was temporary—likewise by God’s decree. Those who followed the Law in its time pleased God; and those who left it when its time had ended also did what was pleasing to God. Therefore the Law must be given its due: it did its work and accomplished it. St Chrysostom says: “Think what it cost to transform people who had become like beasts back into human beings! (This the Law did, taming the customs of the Jews.) If there had been no Law, grace would not have been given either. Why? Because the Law was, as it were, a bridge to grace. For when one cannot ascend from a very low place to a high one, a staircase is placed; and one who has climbed it, though he no longer needs the staircase, does not therefore despise it, but still remains grateful to it. For it brought him to such a state that he no longer has need of it; and for this very reason—that he no longer needs it—he considers it right to express gratitude to it, for without it he could not have climbed. The same must be said of the Law. It raised us up to the heights, and therefore it was profit (useful); but now we count it as loss (as something detrimental)—why? Not because it is in itself a loss (harmful in itself), but because grace is far greater than it. A starving pauper, as long as he has silver, feeds himself on silver; but when he finds gold, and cannot use both at once, he counts the possession of the first as a loss and, casting it aside, takes the gold—he casts aside the silver not because it is a loss (harmful or unprofitable), but because he cannot take both at once and must necessarily leave one behind. So it is here. — Therefore the loss is not the Law itself, but the forsaking of Christ out of attachment to the Law; therefore when the Law leads us away from Christ, it becomes a loss (harmful and detrimental), but when it leads us to Him, it is not a loss. This is why the Apostle calls the Law a loss—that is, ‘for Christ’s sake.’ But if ‘for Christ’s sake,’ then it is not a loss by nature.” St Chrysostom says this against the heretics who taught that the Law of Moses was not from God, and who turned the Apostle’s words about the Law being “loss” and “refuse” into a confirmation of their teaching. Similar thoughts are expressed by blessed Theodoret: “In comparison with what is higher, the Apostle called what is lower a loss; for a lamp is superfluous when the sun has shone, a tutor is superfluous for those who have received perfect wisdom, the milk of a nurse is useless for those who partake of solid food.”

Phil. 3:8. But indeed I count all things to be loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

“But indeed I count all things to be loss.” — In the original, before “count” stands the word “also.” — “But indeed I also count.” The meaning is either this: but even now I count all things loss, just as I counted them from the first moment of my enlightenment by grace, and I continue to count them so. Or this: but I count all things loss—not the Law only, but everything earthly. The latter is the interpretation of St. Chrysostom, who says: “Why do I say I apply this to the Law alone? Is the world not a good? Is the present life not a good? But I account even these as rubbish, lest they draw me away from Christ. Whether the Apostle here again calls the Law rubbish is unclear; it is probable, however, that he means the things of the world.” Yet St. Chrysostom then adds that, if one wishes to apply even these words entirely to the Law alone, one may do so. The course of the argument—both before and after—is indeed entirely about the Law. It is therefore more natural to have the Law in mind here as well. But the other interpretation—that he continues to count them loss—is meager; there was nothing worth saying there. More likely the Apostle intended to express this thought: I do not reckon all those things as rubbish for nothing, but “for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,” which explains the preceding phrase “for Christ’s sake.”

“For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” — “For the excellence,” το υπερεχον — the surpassing quality of this knowledge.

“Because of a higher knowledge, I call the lower things rubbish and despise the lesser for the sake of the greater. It is not that I flee because these things are bad, but because I prefer what is more important; and having received the grain, I count the chaff superfluous—for ‘rubbish’ denotes the coarsest and hardest part of the straw. It holds the grain of wheat, but once the wheat is gathered, it is thrown away. So the Law points to Christ; but when Christ came, the Law became superfluous.” (blessed Theodoret)

By “knowledge” one may also understand the system of Christian teaching, which is centered entirely in Christ Jesus, yet proceeding from Him, embraces all things—past, present, and future—and explains everything in the most satisfying, edifying, and consoling way. The light of knowledge concerning Christ Jesus captivated the Apostle’s expansive mind. The framework of knowledge given by the Law, however, is narrow. Having compared the two, I abandoned the Law and cleaved to Christ. In His light, the Law appeared to me as nothing but darkness.

Or by “the knowledge of Christ Jesus” he means what was granted concerning Christ Jesus—the experiential taste of spiritual goods through faith in Him. Circumcision, sabbaths, sacrifices, washings and purifications, and all the rest purified the body, while the soul remained without any benefit; nothing found its way into it. But in Christ Jesus grace descends into the soul, drives out the passions, bestows power for every good, fills the soul with consolations, prevents one from feeling the bitterness of privations and tribulations, illumines all the paths of life, and strengthens the heart with an unshakable hope. All this I know, as he says, by experience, and I see how it surpasses what the Law gives. Therefore I cannot remain with the Law, but willingly abandon it and all its advantages, for the surpassing excellence of what I come to know and experience in Christ Jesus.

The addition of “my Lord” to the words “Christ Jesus” breathes warmth and tender sweetness. He counts Him as his own, for he carries Him in his heart. And he carries Him in his heart because he feels how much he has received from Him and continues to receive—how he was personally converted by Him, and thereafter constantly preserved, guided, consoled, and illumined by Him, and is even now kept by Him, despite the hostility that surrounded and still surrounds him.

“For whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things”—I have been deprived of everything, abandoned everything, renounced everything: both the legal justifications and sacrifices, and pharisaic zeal, and my own kinsmen; and all this and the like “I count as rubbish,” I regard as refuse, as nothing—“that I may gain Christ.” He did this in order to gain Christ, for the gaining of Christ. And this gaining is not something hoped for in the future; it is already a present possession. He abandoned all those things, and in their place gained Christ Jesus my Lord. If you weigh the exchange, you will see that this is not loss but gain. I suffered loss of what was truly costly, and I gained that in which is the source of inexhaustible acquisition. For to gain Christ is to have everything.

Phil. 3:9. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

“And be found in Him.” He who gains Christ, as it were, makes Christ his own possession; and yet he himself is found in Him, encompassed by Him, becoming, as it were, a part of Him. Christ the Lord gives Himself to all believers and clothes each one with Himself; yet He is not monopolized by any one believer, not seized exclusively by any single person to the exclusion of others. On the contrary, giving Himself to all as their portion, He encompasses all and contains them all within Himself. For this reason all—as many as have been, are, and will be—form one whole in Him.

Do you wish to gain Christ? Then be found yourself in Christ. How? Strip off your own righteousness, following the example of the Apostle, who says: “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the Law.” The righteousness from the Law: you have offered a sacrifice—and you are righteous; you have performed a washing—and you are clean; you have paid tithes, observed the sabbath, fulfilled all the other requirements—and you have pleased God; you are descended from Abraham—and you are a child of God, an heir of the Kingdom. This legal righteousness, outward and material, the Apostle abandoned, and received in its place, in Christ Jesus, another righteousness, spiritual and inward, which is built up in the spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ grants the forgiveness of all sins and, bringing down the grace of the Holy Spirit into the heart through the sacraments, sanctifies and purifies it before the eyes of the all-seeing God Himself. This is the essential righteousness. The Apostle received it. Everyone must receive it. — Do not rely on your visible outward deeds; seek this inward holiness built up by grace in the spirit, for in it is everything; without it, everything is nothing. By the righteousness of the Law one may understand, in general, outward correctness of conduct; and by “the righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ,” the inward purity of feelings and thoughts before the face of God. When the Apostle sets faith over against legal righteousness, he does not deny the obligation to live a righteous life; he only charges us not to rest content with merely outward correctness of life, but to seek that inward gracious sanctification given through faith in Jesus Christ. This is what he means when he says: “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the Law, but (having the righteousness) which is through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” He did not say: and be found in Him, together with the Law’s righteousness plus faith—but: with a righteousness, only such as the faith of Jesus Christ bestows, which proceeds from God upon faith, or on the condition of faith. And this righteousness is well known how it comes: to the repentant who draws near to the Lord, sins are forgiven, and, as one who has received mercy, he is given the grace of the Holy Spirit, which both teaches him how to walk always and in all things holy before God, and gives him strength to do so. — Good qualities and good principles are laid in our nature; and by following and being prompted by them, a person can perform much good and appear virtuous; but all this has no value before God until it is sanctified by faith and until grace, coming in, has refashioned everything according to its own spirit. St. Chrysostom says that the Apostle here means specifically “that righteousness which comes from the faith of God—that is, which is given by God: this is the righteousness of God, wholly a gift of God; but the gift of God is far superior to the trifling good deeds accomplished by our own diligence.”

With this, we may conclude, the warning against the Judaizers is finished. The Apostle does not labor to explain in detail the absurdity of their teaching, but exposes it briefly yet forcefully; and by his own example he decisively forestalls any possibility of the Philippians—who so love him and are loved by him—turning toward them. Confidence in this also abbreviated his words: he knew that the Philippians would always be where he was. Having accomplished this, the Apostle judged it more necessary and profitable to expand upon what the essence of righteousness in Christ consists in: how to be in Him, what to keep in view, and what hopes to cherish.