Philippians 3:2-9 “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! (3) For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, (4) though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: (5) circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; (6) concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (7) But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”
From the first day that Satan’s ministers began to proclaim the false teaching that gentile believers were to keep the law, it never stopped. Satan had realised that this was a perfect opportunity for him to bring gentile believers into bondage, and so he continued to send his ministers into the church to teach this doctrine wherever he could. And so for the rest of his time in the ministry, Paul had to deal with this issue among the gentile believers. As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, in the church at Philippi the false brethren had tried to influence the gentile believers by displaying their Jewish pedigree, so to speak. Paul called them dogs, evil workers and the mutilation, in referring to their efforts to persuade the gentile believers to be circumcised. Paul had to steer those gentile believers back on track by explaining to them that who your ancestors are, means absolutely nothing in the kingdom of God. Because our covenant is in the Spirit, and the flesh plays no part in it at all. Paul went on to explain to them that his own Jewish pedigree (in the flesh) was impeccable, but that in the kingdom of God it counted for nothing, and he in fact classified it as rubbish.
Colossians 2:16-17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, (17) which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that in the church at Colossi, the false brethren had tried to influence the gentile believers to start eating kosher foods and to begin observing the Jewish calendar. Paul had to explain to those gentile believers that all the feasts; new moons, kosher foods, etc. were mere shadows of the real things. Notice that Paul teaches them that they are the shadow of things to come. In other words, the real has not yet come, for the real will only be revealed when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth. Until that time, believers under the new covenant worship God and serve Him in the Spirit. The Jews under the old covenant serve the types and shadows of the real things, for they cannot serve in the Spirit. New covenant believers do not serve types and shadows however, for we are destined to partake of the real when our Lord returns.
Titus 1:10-11 “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, (11) whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that in the churches in Crete, the false brethren had also tried to influence the gentile believers. Notice in this passage that among the false teachers trying to influence the church that Paul singles out the “circumcision” as being the main instigators. The “circumcision” that Paul refers to, were the false Jewish brethren. Clearly they had been trying to persuade the gentile believers to keep the Law of Moses. And so Paul admonished Titus to go through those churches and deal with the false teaching that they had begun to introduce.
Galatians 4:9-28 “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? (10) You observe days and months and seasons and years. (11) I am afraid for you, lest I have laboured for you in vain. (12) Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you ... (16) Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? (17) They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. … (19) My little children, for whom I labour in birth again until Christ is formed in you, (20) I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you. (21) Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? (22) For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. (23) But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, (24) which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-- (25) for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- (26) but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. … (28) Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.”
It was in the churches in Galatia however, that the false brethren had managed to influence a significant number of gentile believers. For in the above quoted passage of scripture we see that Paul asked them if he had become their enemy for telling them the truth about the gospel. Those churches had started to become offended with Paul, because he was preaching against their desire to observe the Law of Moses. And in fact it seems as if Paul eventually lost that battle, because later in his writing to Timothy he told Timothy that all the churches in Asia had turned away from him (2 Timothy 1:15). So what did Paul preach that upset the churches in Galatia so much? In this passage, Paul reminded those gentile believers that before they came into the kingdom of God they used to observe various pagan calendars. He reminded them that the Lord had set them free from their bondage to pagan gods and their various feasts, etc. But now Paul was concerned about them, because they were once again allowing themselves to be brought into bondage, through their observance of the Jewish calendar. For some of the churches in Galatia had already started to observe the various Jewish feasts, etc. Paul encouraged them to step back into the liberty that they once enjoyed when they first came into the kingdom. He reminded them that the Jewish law would bring them into bondage once again, because that is what the Jews outside of the kingdom partook of. Whereas the partakers of the new covenant were free from all bondage.
Michael E.B. Maher
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