Truth Today Newsletter: Philippians 3:2

It’s not enough to just rejoice, as we saw in the last verse; we also need to beware. This is a call for awareness, and we are not just to be aware of something going on in the unseen realm, but there are real-life (human) dogs, evil workers, and those who mutilate the flesh.

Likewise, Jesus said, “Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees” (Matthew 16:6-12). Both Paul and Jesus were drawing a line between what is true and what is false.

Are you drawing that line?
Are you equipped enough to distinguish between good and evil, as the writer of Hebrews said (Hebrews 5:14)? For example, the book of Job talked about the tongue being able to distinguish between good taste and bad (Job 12:11, 34:3).
Do we just stand there and are swayed by eloquence, or are we sensitive to truth?

Paul, in another place, said the mark of maturity is not being tossed to and fro by every wind of teaching, but rather being grounded in the truth (Ephesians 4:14-15).

These “dogs,” “evil workers,” and “mutilators of the flesh” are not carrying physical swords, but messages that erode from the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross. Jesus paid the ultimate price to assure us of heaven (John 3:16); therefore, anything or anyone that reduces the importance of that work is evil to the highest level. Specifically, the salvation obtained by His shed blood on the cross through which He brought us near to God, should not be played with.

You look at them and think they are human beings, but they are dogs. Jesus called them wolves in sheep’s clothing.

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“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. (Matthew 7:15)

We think fruit is moral, but they are also what comes out of our mouths in good or bad teaching, which, of course, can have outcomes in promoting immorality.

And the Bible specifically talks about the fruit of one’s lips (Proverbs 18:20-21, Proverbs 12:14, Hebrews 13:15). So when Jesus says, “By their fruit we shall know them,” it is both moral and strongly about teaching.

The moral is more obvious, but the teaching is more insidious, which is why both Jesus and Paul referred to it as yeast/leaven (Galatians 5:7-9, Matthew 16:6, 12).

Jesus did not condemn sinners, but he did condemn wrong teaching. And both need to repent. But sin comes with its own judgment (disgrace), but people can become fat with the wrong teaching. You can be respected as a false teacher, as the Pharisees were.

Someone who tells you there are ways to qualify for salvation rather than leaning completely and heavily on the completed works of Christ is a dog—a dog backs to instill fear, the very opposite of rejoicing that Paul mentioned in the previous verse.

And you might look at them and think they are workers for the cause of Christ. But they are evil workers, meaning they are motivated by evil and cause harm and pain, and they mutilate flesh, specifically circumcision (we can relate that to a heavy emphasis on appearance/rituals).

These people advocate for circumcision to be saved. Paul reserved his most scathing take-down for these people (see Galatians), and again, it’s similar to what we saw with Jesus, trying to impress on the disciples that just because some people carry the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) does not mean they should be believed or followed.

Both Jesus and Paul brought a revelation of God that you need to get directly or indirectly from them.

Now we are privileged to have Paul’s writings, in which he explains the truth about salvation.

Also, Jesus taught the apostles and asked them to teach others (Matthew 28:18-20), and we have documentation of Jesus’ words; Paul’s teachings are also in the Bible.

Jesus brought the revelation of the Father to contrast it with the Pharisees’ teaching. He said, “Embrace my thinking, not that of the Pharisee.” Why? Because no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten of the Father has revealed him (John 1:18).

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The Lord says, “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! I, the Lord, affirm it! (Jeremiah 23:25-28)

The point I want to make with the Jeremiah passage is that people can proclaim falsehood in the name of Christ. I know the passage from Jeremiah mentions a prophet, but when people say they are speaking the truth that comes from God, in a sense, they are saying they are prophets.

So, a false prophet may not have the label of prophet, but when someone proclaimed another truth different from what Paul revealed, then we have a problem.

And just as Jesus came from the Father with the truth, Paul also delivered what he received, not by being taught, but through the revelation of Christ himself. And just as Jesus mentioned His having all authority in heaven and on earth, Paul said, “I have authority to build” (2 Corinthians 10:8). Similarly, Moses was supposed to build according to the pattern he had seen in heaven (Exodus 25:40).

So these three men were choke points of truth.

First, with Moses, who distinguished the truth from the multitude of ways people in the nations of the world conceive of God, emphasizing his holiness. So also Jesus became a choke point from the law to grace and truth (John 1:17). He introduced us to a God who wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth and not on the mountain or in a temple (John 4:23-24).

And lastly, Paul came and revealed how the Gentiles are now part of the people of God (and not through the multitude of other gods).

One revelation builds on the other in a continuum of divine revelation (Moses-Jesus-Paul), where certain people groups become the background —the canvases on which that truth is painted in the view of all men, angels (1 Peter 1:12), and principalities and powers (Ephesians 3:10).

The nations of the world were the background for Moses; the Pharisees were the background for Jesus; and these evil workers, dogs, and flesh mutilators are the background for Paul. And by ‘background,’ I mean contrast, where God teaches about himself by drawing a contrast. Hallelujah.