This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 2, 1992.

Our scripture reading this morning is Philippians chapter 3, 3rd chapter of Philippians, beginning at verse 1. Hear the word of God. So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. But for you it is said, beware of the gods, beware of evildoers, beware of the concision.

For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gained to me those I count lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dumb, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended that this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

In my messages here on Philippians chapter 3, the point that I want to set out before you at the beginning is this, that these verses, and especially the opening verses of this chapter, pose special problems for us. Last week, as we opened our messages on this third chapter of Philippians, we saw that these verses confront us with some of the most annoying conundrums we will encounter in Paul’s letters. These problems that we face are of two sorts.

They are what we might call structural or grammatical on the one hand, And on the other hand, what we might call doctrinal or theological. Now we’ve already looked at the opening statement of the first verse. And this is the way we’ve rendered it. So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And we’ve handled this opening statement in terms of the structural problems presents us, and also in terms of the doctrinal complexity. This morning we move on to the second part of that first verse in the third chapter, and focus upon it the same way we focused upon the opening statement. First of all, we want to look at the structural difficulty. the grammatical problem.

I know how you might be reacting. You may be saying to yourself, this is where I go to sleep. This is where I tune out. It may be especially difficult for you if you don’t have a Bible in front of you and you can’t see what’s going on in the text, admittedly. And structure and grammar may not be your province. It might not really excite you. And I can understand that. There’s only a few of us nuts that get excited about points of grammar, structure, and syntax. But I ask you to hang with it, to stay with it for the course, because if you put a little bit of energy into it, I am certain the rewards will be great.

The grammatical problem, broadly speaking, or the structural problem, first of all. A statement reads this way in the King James, to write the same things emphasize those words, the same things, to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Here’s the problem. To what is Paul referring when he speaks about the same things? You may think, as you read through it innocently, that this is all very clear to you, but it hasn’t been clear to the translators of Scripture. There are various opinions, which are held with a great amount of dearness.

Some translators, for instance, have decided that Paul’s reference here is to the matters that he has been discussing in the broad context beginning in verse 27 of the first chapter, especially as those matters have focused upon the issue of the Philippians rejoicing.

There are others, however, who say that the context must be focused even more specifically. and that Paul has in mind particularly that message that Timothy eventually will bring to the Philippians, and the message which Epaphroditus, who is presently bearing this letter to the Philippians, the message is in fact that they will bring verbally to these Saints in Philippi when they arrive on the sea. that then focusing upon the close of the second chapter, verses 19 through 30. Both of these positions then would join verse 1 of chapter 3 with the conclusion of chapter 2. And that being the case, they would suggest that there then is a remarkably abrupt break between verses 1 and 2 of Philippians 3, so that verse 2 begins Paul’s discussion of an entirely new matter. But we have these translators, as it were, on one side. disagreed over some particulars, but yet agreed in assigning that first verse of the third chapter to the second chapter, there are other translators, or creatures that there are, who take the exact opposite position. No, Paul doesn’t have in mind here what has gone before, he has in mind what is coming after. So the break doesn’t occur between verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3, actually the break occurs in the middle of verse 1.

The first part of verse 1 belongs to chapter 2, the last part of verse 1 belongs to chapter 3. That’s how they interpret it. I know a lot of you aren’t reading the New English Bible. If someone is reading the New English Bible, they will find that that is precisely how the New English Bible breaks the text.

So then, according to this latter position now, the same things mentioned by Paul in the latter part of that first verse are a reference to what follows and pertain specifically to what Paul is about to say as a reminder to these Philippians of what he has already said to them on previous occasions when he had written to them other letters or had been present with them personally.

Well, here are the opinions. Now for the truth. Actually, Paul’s words here are intended to be the most general of references. His words are intended to be the most general of references. And as a result of that, His words are meant to be taken parenthetically, as an aside, as if he were speaking as it were under his breath. These words at the end of verse 1 in Philippians 3 are a general reference, they take in the of Paul’s entire teaching to these people, whether he has written to them or whether he has been physically present with them. As it pertains to what he writes here in Philippians, the letter we have in our Bibles, that broad sweep includes what he has been saying to this point and what he will say. This means, then, that the entirety of Paul’s direct and pointed address to these Philippian Christians, which began properly with verse 27 of chapter 1 and does not conclude until the end of the letter, the entirety of Paul’s direct and pointed address is a single, unified message.

It is to be viewed as a whole. There are sections of it, there is progression in it, but it is to be viewed as a whole. Paul’s words, therefore, here at the end of the first verse in Philippians 3, are parenthetical. They are an aside. If you have a pen or a pencil, put parentheses around the statement. But this being the case, As you know is true with all parentheses, the flow is meant to move from what is stated previously to what follows, as if what is in the parentheses weren’t there at all. This means then that we can move in Paul’s thinking from what he says at the opening of the third chapter, or the first verse, to what he says at the beginning of the second verse. We can move from his statement, “‘So then, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord,’ to his statement at the opening of verse 2, “‘Beware of the dogs.'” As if the intervening words weren’t there at all. They are parenthetical. Paul, then, is moving from one imperative, the imperative to rejoice, to another imperative, the imperative to beware.

The intervening words meant as an aside, and could very well disappear without affecting the sense of the message. But let’s consider further. By taking these words out of the text, temporarily of course, I’m not suggesting that you get out your scissors. But taking these words out temporarily, we are faced with more than the connection of more than the connection of commands. We are faced with the connection of ideas. This means, then, that the command to rejoice, in verse 1, is connected with the command to beware, in verse 2. And these two imperatives are connected by contrast.

In other words, if the Philippians are not on the alert with regard to these dogs, whoever they are, these dogs will devour, will eat up their joy. The dogs pose a threat specifically because of what they mean for the rejoicing of these Philippians. If the dogs win, your joy is dead. Why is this the case?

Paul alludes to why this is the case when he gives a purpose statement in verse 3. We are getting ahead of ourselves here, I realize. And you’ll note at the end of that third verse that Paul says that these Philippian saints and all Christians are those who put no confidence in the flesh. Later, Paul will add to this description. The Christians put no confidence in the flesh, which means, by way of contrast, the dogs are those who put confidence in the flesh. In verse 19 of this third chapter, Paul will describe those he has in mind as those who mind earthly things.

They stand over against the saints who are described in that third verse as the true circumcision. These people, spoken of as gods, as evildoers, do not understand the true spiritual identity of the Christian Church. They do not understand the nature of the true circumcision. They do not understand the fact that the Church is the true Israel of God. nor do they appreciate the grace of God that has conferred such an identity upon the Saints, enabling, as you move through that third verse, enabling the Saints, enabling us to worship God by the Spirit and glory that is rejoiced in Christ Jesus. Such worship and such joy in Christ Jesus stands totally opposite the doctrine of these dogs, these evil workers, the concision, as they are called. Their doctrine will rob you of your joy, because it robs you of grace.

Grace positions you in Christ. That’s the significance of the statement, Rejoice in the Lord. It’s a positional statement. You rejoice in Him because you are in Him. You glory in Christ Jesus because you are in Christ Jesus. You have been positioned in Him by grace.

The dogs are those who will rob you of that. tell you it’s not true, do everything in their power to countermand it. The doctrine of these dogs will rob you of your joy because their doctrine will rob you of grace, of what has been granted you in the Lord and in Christ Jesus. but I might have. The converse is also true. Your genuine rejoicing in the Lord robs these gods of their power over you.

Rejoicing in the Lord, understanding your spiritual identity, by the Spirit, glorying in Christ Jesus. These sins are the divine inoculation against the religion of the flesh, a religion that robs you of grace, of God’s gift. But returning now briefly to that concluding statement in the first verse.

To write the same things is no trouble to me. It is a safeguard for you.” Returning to that statement, we have said that we could easily remove that statement and the statement itself would not be missed. And if this is true, why is the statement there at all? A statement appears there, not merely as a parenthetical reminder to the Philippians of that message

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.