The Jewish Annotated New Testament (102 page)

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I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you.
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I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
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All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
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But Timothy’s
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worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
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I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me;
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and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.

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Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus—my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger
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and minister to my need;
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for he has been longing for
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all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
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He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.
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I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
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Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people,
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because he came close to death for the work of Christ,
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risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me.

3
Finally, my brothers and sisters,
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rejoice
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in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.

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Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!
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3
For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God
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and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh—
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even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:
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circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
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as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

“BEWARE OF THE DOGS”
(3.2–9)

These adversaries from outside Philippi who
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someday soon arrive were evidently different from opponents mentioned earlier in 1.15–18 and 1.28. They were either Jewish-Christians (or Gentile-Christians partial to the law, or conceivably even Jewish agitators bent on winning back Gentile godfearers). Customarily, they falsely argued that Gentile males must be circumcised. Paul sarcastically terms them “mutilators” (perhaps obliquely referring to the self-inflicted wounds by the prophets of Baal [cf. 1 Kings 18] or to devotees of the Phrygian mystery goddess, Cybele, who would slash themselves amid religious frenzy).

Paul was wary because of his own past experiences with this danger elsewhere (cf. Gal 2.1–16; 5.2–6,12) and likely also because Philippi’s vulnerable location near the Egnatian Way rendered this church susceptible to such subversives showing up. The bitterness of his tirade is a measure of his conviction that believers in Christ should not emphasize the flesh lest they nullify their new freedom, thereby hindering God’s plans for Gentile salvation and clouding their perception that justification comes solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ’s shed blood. Indeed, if one could become righteous by one’s own works, then Christ would not have needed to die (Gal 2.21b).

Instead, the Philippians should heed Paul who is himself qualified not only to refute but to preempt his enemies—given his own consummate possession of the very privileges of which his adversaries boast (see 3.3–6nn.). Expert in appraising his impeccable privileges at their true value (namely, as less than nothing), Paul gladly relinquished them in favor of the extreme gain of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.

Paul depreciates his Jewish background only in the context of his polemic against the “dogs”” who seek to discredit him. “Dog” in the ancient world was an insulting term; see 1 Sam 17.43; Rev 22.15; also the Greek “cynics” (from “kyon, kynarion,” “dog”) were so called because their deliberately uninhibited public behavior was regarded as shameful. We should, therefore, contrast this invective with Rom 9.4–5, where Paul declares that “to them [the Israelites] belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; … the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah.”

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Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
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More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
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and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,
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the righteousness from God based on faith.
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I want to know Christ
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and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
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if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

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Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;
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but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
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Beloved,
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I do not consider that I have made it my own;
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but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly
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call of God in Christ Jesus.
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Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you.
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Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

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Brothers and sisters,
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join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.
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For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.
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Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.
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But our citizenship
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is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He will transform the body of our humiliation
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that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,
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by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
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Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
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whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

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I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.
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Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion,
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help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

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Rejoice
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in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
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Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
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Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
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And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Finally, beloved,
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whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about
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these things.
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Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

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I rejoice
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in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it.
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Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.
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I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.
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I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress.

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You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.
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For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs more than once.
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Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account.
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I have been paid in full and have more than enough; I am fully satisfied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
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And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
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To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

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Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The friends
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who are with me greet you.
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All the saints greet you, especially those of the emperor’s household.

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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
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