(Philippians 3:1-11)
“Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort.”- Philippians 3:1-3
One of greatest threats that Paul had to confront, in regards to the church, was the tendency of believers to relapse into religion. Many Jews were coming to Christ during Paul’s ministry, however, although they were placing their faith in Christ, many remained trapped in their traditions.
This is what happens when we are indoctrinated into a tradition before we ever actually meet Jesus.
If you were born to a Jewish family, in Paul’s day, you were not simply born “in Israel”. You were born into Judaism. You were raised in it, educated in it, and participated in it. You studied the Torah, participated in Sabbaths and Festivals, and identified closer to your religious faith than your country of origin.
Many Christians today have had similar experiences having been born into a Christian home. They were raised going to church, attending Sunday School, hearing Bible stories, and participating in things like communion and baptism; all before or even without having had a personal encounter with Christ, themselves.
In the Old Testament, circumcision was the sign that God gave Abraham that identified them as being God’s covenant people.
10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14 Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”-Genesis 17:10-14
Although, none of the people of Paul’s day were around when God established this with Abraham, they had been indoctrinated in it over hundreds of years. So, much so, that being circumcised became what marked you as being in covenant with God, without any real regard to faith. It marked you as being one of God’s people, even if you really didn’t live for God at all. The emphasis was placed on the tradition rather than faith in God.
Many Christians today have had similar experiences. Baptism is a very similar type of tradition among Christians. One that is suppose to be expressed as a public profession of our faith in Jesus. However, many parents often push to have their kids baptized worried that without it they won’t make heaven. The emphasis is placed on the tradition rather than on faith in Jesus Christ. By placing this kind of emphasis on tradition, we gravitate towards putting confidence in our flesh over simple faith in Christ.
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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