Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Philippians · About this commentary
We Are the Circumcision
Philippians 3:1-3
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe. · WEB
A sharp warning is introduced as a safeguard — and the identifying marks Paul gives are all internal.
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. The word finally does not end the letter, and the joy command arrives immediately before the harshest paragraph in it.
To write the same things to you is not tiresome to me, and is a safeguard for you. Repetition is defended as protective rather than apologized for, which is the same instinct Peter shows in a letter about remembering 2 Peter 1:13.
Then three warnings with one verb: beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. Dogs was a term Jews used of Gentiles, and Paul turns it on those insisting Gentiles become Jews. The last phrase is a play — the word means mutilation rather than circumcision, so the rite performed without its meaning is called a cutting and nothing more.
Verse 3 states the counter-claim: we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Three marks, and not one is visible. Worship in the Spirit, joy in Christ, and confidence placed anywhere but in oneself.
settled What this mark means