Chapter 3, Verse 3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…”
Circumcision had been a sign of the covenant God had with the Jewish people. It was a physical sign of a spiritual connection. The new covenant brought by Jesus was spiritual however, not physical. The concept of circumcision as a covenant sign was still there but was accomplished in the spiritual act of baptism. Paul makes it clear that those who are a part of Christ are of the circumcision even though not circumcised in the flesh.
The Philippian church like all churches of Christ was worshiping by the Spirit of God not by any means of the flesh. This was a difficult transition for many Jews to make. The insistence of Jewish leaders for Gentile Christians to be physically circumcised caused great harm among predominant Gentile congregations. Paul wants to end that by showing that the gentiles were circumcised but not in the flesh. ‘We are the circumcision’ was a bold statement to make but a crucial one for both Jews and Gentiles.
Paul points out a major difference in the two kinds of circumcision. One was tied to the flesh but the other to the spirit. The Christians worshiped by the Spirit of God. Their worship was tied to the glory of Christ and the circumcision of the heart. Paul delegates the physical act of circumcision to the past and a different means of being in covenant relationship with God. Regardless of what the Jewish teachers thought, Paul is sure there is no reason to have confidence in a fleshly circumcision.
Task for Today: Forget things of the flesh. As a Christian your relationship and therefore your worship is to be in the Spirit. You are bound to Christ by a spiritual covenant wrought through baptism. See Romans 2:29 and Colossians 2:11, 12. Circumcision of the heart was a promise of the Old Testament and is fulfilled in the New Testament through the act of baptism. Have you experienced the new birth through baptism? Be baptized today. Become a spiritually circumcised believer.
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