Beware The Dogs
I realize that dogs are much loved in our day and age, but it helps to realize that dogs were not thought of in that way at the time of the early church. They were held in contempt back then.
Have you ever found yourself clinging to something long after its usefulness has expired? Perhaps a belief or a habit that you’ve outgrown. This is a common human experience, one that even the early church grappled with.
Nostalgia can cause someone to hang on to something way past its expiration date. That is what was happening in the early church. Some Jewish believers struggled to let go of things that no longer applied to believers in Jesus, especially the Gentile believers.
It is why Paul wrote what he did to the Philippian church.
Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
The ones refusing to let go of the things Moses instituted for the Jewish people under the Old Covenant were trying to obligate all who followed Christ to observe the Law as proof of their salvation and dedication. They were basing their confidence on the flesh, which simply means they thought they could observe the Law more perfectly now that they had been saved.
By having confidence in this, they put their confidence in their flesh to perform. They were carnally minded and not centered on Christ and His finished work on their behalf. In other words, they were robbing Jesus of His glory in a sense. It is why Paul said in verses 4 - 6
“though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
These were the things Paul counted as rubbish and considered a loss. Why? So that he might gain Christ! Why was this so important to Paul? He explains it.
Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
If you or I desire to really know Jesus, we must give up our quest to establish our own righteousness, based on keeping the Law, and instead rest all our hope and faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus did. We must come to terms with the fact that Jesus imputed righteousness to us, which comes from God and is ours only by faith.
To draw confidence in being right with God from any other source is a huge mistake and an insult to the righteousness made possible through Christ. I do not wish to insult the very One I claim to love the most by setting out to establish my own righteousness and beginning to think I am in good standing with God based on something I have done rather than what Christ has done on my behalf. I not only wish to avoid the dogs in this sense, but I do not wish to become one myself.
