Philippians part 5

I would like apologize for not posting recently. My father was very ill in the last few weeks and he passed away the first week of June. Everything that goes along with that has been stressful for me.

We have come to chapter three of Philippians. In verse one, Paul tells the Philippians to rejoice in the lord. It's okay if he repeats himself, it is insurance that they get the message. Verse two tells them to watch out for " those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh." Make no mistake, he is referring to Jews, possibly Jewish Christians. He doesn't like them very much does he?

Mutilation of the flesh refers to circumcision, which was a prerequisite to becoming a Jew, one of Yahweh's chosen. In the old testament circumcision is called " an everlasting covenant" between the Jews and Yahweh. In spite of that, Paul says those who worship by the spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh are the true circumcised people. Paul is doing what many today do with old testament scriptures, going metaphorical with them. They are in fact following Paul's example. Everything physical becomes spiritual.

Even though Paul takes no stock in circumcision, or his birthright as an upstanding Jew, he parades it out in verses 4-7 to make a point. His point is that none of that matters to him as much as knowing Christ Jesus. Let us remember that the only way he knows Jesus is through personal revelation, revelation that he alone received. So, we have to take his word for it. He goes on to say that he has lost all those things for Jesus's sake. He considers them garbage, because righteousness does not come from following the law but by faith. Paul wants to know Christ by sharing in his sufferings and becoming like him in his death. This is why Paul was happy to be persecuted and taught that others should rejoice in it too. His ultimate goal is resurrection from the dead, like Jesus. Paul wants to live forever. The fact that he was once a Pharisee has primed him to believe in the resurrection of the dead.

There are questions that always return to me. At what exact point in history did all believers in Jesus gain the gift of resurrection? What happened to all the people that didn't,  from before and  that point onward?  If there were no more than a few thousand believers at the time of Paul, that's an awful lot of leftover people who who would go to hell. I'm not even sure what Paul preached about hell, if anything. However, it is clear he doesn't believe they will be with him in the resurrection.

More to come.