Warning Warning Warning

June 14th, 2025

Philippians 3:1–3
“Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.”

Apostle Paul rejoiced in the Lord all the time, even when he was in the worst situations. All through this chapter, he was asking believers to rise up in the joy of the Lord, even while being challenged with depressing and disappointing situations in life.

Secondly, he was warning them not to go after false teaching that would deceive them. Just like counterfeit currency notes — however real they may seem — will have no value, Paul was warning them that religious credentials without Christ were counterfeit righteousness. It would have zero value. These false teachers existed then and still exist today.
Jews had used certain phrases to address Gentiles during Paul’s time, and it was these words that Paul uses here for false teachers. Jesus also used strong words against such people.

Paul uses three expressions for these false teachers:
1. Dogs:
Paul considered them to be like wild dogs, as they were vicious and dangerous. They would tear up and destroy people.

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
2 Peter 2:22 “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.’”
Revelation 22:15 “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”These dogs were not the loyal, faithful companions of man, but wild and vicious ones that tear up and destroy people.

2. Evildoers:
This was the name given by Paul to those who promoted religious rituals like the traditions of the Law, circumcision, etc., back into people’s lives. They claimed that they were the ones doing the righteousness of God, but in fact, they were doing evil things against God.
When someone teaches wrong things, he is doing evil against God.

3. Mutilators of the flesh:
The Judaizers… they preached Judaism to the church of Philippi. Wherever Paul went, these Judaizers were undoing his teaching.

Paul taught strongly that salvation was free and man’s works cannot earn salvation. They preached that what Paul was teaching was a lie and that without circumcision, it was impossible to be saved.

Paul compared these Jewish preachers to pagan worshippers who mutilated themselves and others.
God’s principle of circumcision was based on a covenant He made with Abraham in

Genesis 17:9–14, and it was carried down through generations. However, all the laws in the Old Testament find their fulfillment in the New Testament. Circumcision was only a physical sign that a person was a follower of the true God. It was given only as an external sign of one’s belief in the promises of God.
Even in the Old Testament, it never brought righteousness (Romans 4:9–10). But many distorted the truth and made it a substitute for righteousness.
The Jews hated all uncircumcised people and called them heathens. Some even substituted it for baptism.
When Jesus came, physical circumcision became obsolete, and spiritual circumcision came into being.

Philippians 3:3 says: “For it is we who are the circumcision.”

The real circumcision is spiritual.
It is an inner circumcision of the heart, not of a body part.
If they cut away their foreskin to worship God, we cut off the flesh of our heart to worship God.
It shows a repentant heart.
Old Testament circumcision is New Testament repentance.
To understand more about circumcision, let’s look at the following verses:

Colossians 2:11–12

“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self, ruled by the flesh, was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Romans 2:28–29

“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.”
Galatians 5:6

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

In conclusion, we understand that believers are: