Don’t put confidence in the flesh
[Philippians 3:4-6]
It is very important what kind of consciousness we have in our faith life. Here, the consciousness that I consider important is "consciousness of grace" and "consciousness of merit". First of all, we must be filled with the consciousness of grace. We must keep a record of what our Lord has done for us on the cross on the tablet of our heart. Therefore, we must work harder than others with God’s grace, like Apostle Paul, confessing that “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). As we do so, we must be careful about the consciousness of our own merit. We must be careful not to record in our mind what we had done for the Lord, for His church and for our neighbors. In addition to this merit consciousness we must guard our hearts against another consciousness. And that consciousness is "privileged consciousness". According to Samuelson, we are living in the Age of Entitlement. In other words compare to the past, people think that they have to get exactly what they want, and they are increasingly inclined to feel right that they should receive what they want immediately. Sometimes this is manifested as a tendency to have excessive expectations for society, organization, and other people that I have to be given special treatment unconditionally, without taking into account the welfare and well-being of others, being caught up in the privilege of the individual (Internet). Sometimes we have words like this on our lips or in our minds. That is, "Do you know who I am?" The reason is because there is a sense of privilege within us. Not only do we think that we are special unlike others, but we may also have tendency to be prideful and show off our status within our privilege consciousness.
In Philippians 3:1-3, Apostle Paul said three times "Beware" for the sake of their safety. Who did Paul tell them to beware? They are “those dogs,” “those men who do evil” and “those mutilators of the flesh” (v. 2). In fact, Paul told the Philippian church saints to beware of the Judaizers. Why did Paul warn them to beware of the Judaizers three times? It was because they believed and taught that they could be saved through human endeavor or work, not by faith in Jesus Christ. And the human endeavor or work that they pursued was to observe the law. They believed that by observing the law they could obtain eternal life. And one of the laws that they followed strictly was circumcision. But Paul told the Philippian church saints that the Judaizers weren’t the true circumcision but the Philippian church saints are the true circumcision. Look at verse 3: “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--.” Here, Paul summarized the true circumcision in three ways: (1) First, those who worship by the Spirit of God, (2) Second, those who glory in Christ Jesus and (3) Third, those who put no confidence in the flesh. Here, the word “flesh” refers to ‘human privilege or honor’ (Park Yun-sun). When Paul said that those who didn’t trust the flesh were true circumcision, he would have spoken in mind the Jews, the Judaizers, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law who put confidence in the flesh. And Paul, in keeping with the three things they were proud of in the flesh, namely, the chosen people of God, the law, and the circumcision, he told the Philippian church saints that the Judaizers were not the true circumcision but the false circumcision. In particular, Paul warned the Philippian church saints to beware of the false circumcision who didn’t do the circumcision of the heart, but did mutilating their flesh outwardly and physically and put their confidence in the flesh and were boastful. And he told the saints not to put confidence in the flesh.
Then Paul said in Philippians 3:4 to the Philippian church saints, “though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more.” He said in six things why he had more reasons to put confidence in the flesh than the Judaizers. I have divided these 6 things into two groups. Note that the three of the first group (the circumcised Israelites, the Benjamites, and a Hebrew of Hebrews) are by no means privileged by Paul himself. This privilege was given to him. On the other hand, three of the second group (the Pharisee in regard to the law, persecuted the church with zeal, and faultless for legalistic righteousness) were earned by his efforts rather than given to him.
The first group is “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews” (v. 5).
Here Paul told the Philippian church saints why he had more reasons to put confidence in the flesh than the Judaizers in three ways:
(1) Paul (Saul) was an Israelite who was circumcised on the eighth day.
Paul (Saul) was also circumcised on the eighth day like the Judaizers. As we have already meditated, circumcision was one of the privileges enjoyed by the Jews, and the Jews were very proud and boastful that they were circumcised. The reason was that circumcision was a sign of the covenant of being the people of God. In other words, circumcision was like a certificate of being the God's people. But here we have one thing to consider about circumcision. There were three kinds of circumcision: (1) The Gentile converts were circumcised when they became adults, (2) The sons of Ishmael were circumcised at the age of thirteen, and (3) The Abraham's orthodox family sons were circumcised on the eighth day (Park Yun-sun). Among these three kinds of circumcision, Paul (Saul) was an Israelite who was circumcised on the eighth day (v. 5). This means that Paul was in the Abraham’s orthodox family and he could have put his confidence in his privilege of being circumcised on the eighth day. In fact, Paul said in Romans 11:1 – “… I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.” Paul told the saints in the Corinthian church that he too would boast like many who were boasting in the way the world did (2 Cor. 11:1) because he was a Hebrew, an Israelite and an Abraham’s descendant (v. 22). Paul, unlike some Judaizers, both his parents were Jews. When we trace the genealogy of his family, he was a descendant of Abraham. He was a true covenant people (Walvoord). He wasn’t converted to the Israelites, but he was an Israelite from birth. Therefore he had all the rights and privileges as a God's chosen people (Martin).
(2) Second, Paul (Saul) was a Benjaminite.
Benjamin is the second son of Jacob's wife, Rachel (Gen. 35:18). And the tribe of Benjamin was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, one of the elite tribes, with the tribe of Judah, was the loyal tribe of the kingdom of David, a tribe of the south Judah kingdom (1Ki 12:21) (MacArthur). Also, the Benjaminite was regarded as a noble leader (Jdg. 5:14), and Saul, the first king of Israel, came out of that tribe (MacDonald). In particular, according to Deuteronomy 33:12, the tribe of Benjamin was “the beloved of the Lord”.
(3) Third, Paul (Saul) referred himself as "a Hebrew of Hebrews."
The reason why Paul said he was the Hebrew of Hebrews was because there was not even one Gentile among his ancestors and all of them were pure Hebrews (Park, Yun-sun). Paul was born of Hebrew parents and maintained the Hebrew tradition and language. He lived in the Gentile city, but kept the Hebrew tradition and language (see Acts 21:40; 26: 4, 5) (MacArthur).
The second group is “in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Phil. 3:5, 6).
Here again, Paul told the Philippian church saints why he had more reasons to put confidence in the flesh than the Judaizers. And he used the Greek word "kata" (according to) to distinguish the three reasons:
(1) First, "to the Law, a Pharisee" (κατὰ νόμον) (v. 5).
Paul (Saul) was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), the son of a Pharisee (23: 6), was thoroughly trained in the law of his fathers under Gamaliel (22:3) who was “a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people” (5:34). And he was a Pharisee who kept the Law of Moses strictly (Park Yun-sun). So Paul said in Acts 26:5, “They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.” Also in Acts 23: 6, Paul cried out in front of the Sadducees and Pharisees who gathered in the Sanhedrin: “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” Thus "Pharisee "was a title of honor for Paul. The title asserted the highest honesty and faithfulness in fulfilling God's responsibilities to the divine Torah (Martin). At that time the 'Pharisee' referred to the elite of the Jewish people. The Pharisees were fervent in the study of the law (reading and meditating the Bible hard), without defect in their works (living according to the Scripture) and were honored by the people (consistency of speech and action). They respected the purity of Judaism, condemned the fall of the Jewish people to the other cultures, and were patriots against Roman domination. The number of Pharisees at that time was about 6,000, and their influence was remarkable. People said that ‘If two people enter into the kingdom of God, one of them will be a Pharisee.’ But because the Pharisee had a great defect as a religious man, the Lord Jesus called and rebuke them “whitewashed tombs” (Mt. 23:27), “You snakes! You brood of vipers!” (v. 33) The term “pharisaic” originally came from the Hebrew “parash”, meaning 'to separate'. In other words, as the purists they separated themselves from the Hellenistic culture and those influenced by it. The motive wasn’t wrong, but there was a spirit of self-righteousness and exclusion. The Lord Jesus most condemned was Pharisee who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else (Lk. 18:9) (Kim Hee-bo).
(2) Second, "as to zeal, persecuting the church" (κατὰ ζῆλος) (Phil. 3:6).
Saul (Paul) wasn’t satisfied with just keeping the law. As a Pharisee he zealously persecuted the church. Here Saul's "zeal" toward God was enthusiastic toward the purity of God's covenant community, and only those who had such zeal were truly considered servants of God (cf. v. Num. 25:1-18; Ps. 106:30, 31). And the word "persecuted" here is a word used by the army to fight the enemy by chasing the enemy, or to describe a hunter pursuing his prey. Indeed, Saul (Paul), who was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1) pursued them and chased them who were following Jesus Christ. And he ravaged the church by entering house after house and dragged off men and women believers and put them in prison (8:3, 9:1, 22:4-5, 26:9-11) (Martin).
There are two kinds of zeal in the Bible. They are the zeal that Paul had before he believed in Jesus, and the zeal of Phinehas, who was jealous of God's zeal in the Old Testament. First, in the Old Testament, Numbers 25:11, there is a man who has turned the anger of God with rightful zeal. His name is Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest. When the whole assembly of Israel were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (v. 6), an Israelite man (v. 6) Zimri son of Salue, the leader of a Simeonite family (v. 14) brought to his family a Midianite woman (v. 6) Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family (v. 15). When Phinehas saw this, he took a spear in his hand (v. 7) and followed Zimri into the tent and droved spear through both of them (v. 8) with God’s zeal (v. 11). By doing so, Phinehas turned God’s anger away from the Israelites (v. 11) and then the plague against them was stopped (v. 8). This zeal of Phinehas was righteous zeal in God’s view. The Phinehas' zeal was based on the Word of God. In other words, the Phinehas' right zeal was' the zeal of God '. This is eager zeal and correct zeal. Then what is wrong zeal? It was the zeal that Paul had toward God before he believed in Jesus. His zeal was not according to true knowledge (Rom. 10:2). In other words, Saul's (Paul’s) zeal was not zeal based on correct knowledge. Look at Acts 22:3 – “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.” Look at Galatians 1:14 – “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” Saul's wrongful zeal was based on false biblical knowledge. Saul, who served the Old Testament God with zeal, didn’t know the New Testament Jesus as the Messiah, Christ, who was prophesied in the Old Testament. In other words, Saul persecuted the church with false zeal because of his ignorance and false assurance.
Saul had no knowledge of Jesus Christ. As a result, he didn’t believe that Jesus was the Christ. In short, the reason that Saul persecuted the Lord’s Church was because of his disbelief. He persecuted Christians who preached "Jesus is the Christ" because he didn’t believe that Jesus was the Christ. The reason was that he hated anything that threatened Judaism because he loved Judaism (cf. Acts 8:3, 9:1) (MacArthur). This is the work of God with the man’s zeal. Dong the work of God with this kind of zeal is not based on the true knowledge. In other words, doing the work of God with the man’s zeal is not the zeal based on the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Also, it is not zeal based on true belief. Because we don’t have the right knowledge of Jesus Christ, we are working hard on God's work without the right faith. Saul, who had done the God’s work very hard with false knowledge and false beliefs, was thought that persecuting the Christians was “offering a service to God” (Jn. 16:2).
(3) Third, "as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless" (κατὰ δικαιοσύνην) (Phil. 3:6).
This was Saul's (Paul’s) third achievement that he could put confidence in himself and boast about it. It was as to the righteousness which was in the Law, Saul was found blameless. Here, "the righteousness which was in the Law" refers to the righteousness that a man could achieve by obeying the Law and thus be justified before God by human merit. Like the rich man in Luke 18:21, Saul obeyed all the commandments. In order to be justified based on the Law, he lived according to all the standards that the Law required (Martin). So when he saw himself in his own eyes, he was blameless as to the righteousness of the Law. However, Scripture Romans 3:20 clearly states: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Before Paul (Saul) believed in Jesus, he pursued a blameless life as to the righteousness of the Law. However, after he believed in Jesus, he realized that no one would be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law. The reason was because we become conscious of sin through the law. That’s why the more we live our Christian life, the more we become aware of our sins in depth. And this is extremely normal (1Tim. 1:15). What Paul realized after he believed in Jesus Christ was that there was “a righteousness from God, apart from the law” (Rom. 3:21) and this “comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (v. 22) “and are justified freely by his grace” (v. 24). Therefore it is inevitable that more we live our Christian life of faith more we have the consciousness of grace and not the consciousness of merit. This is very natural (1 Cor. 15:10, Lk. 17:10). Therefore, the more we live our faith, the more we will be humble. Apostle Paul said: (1) "I am the least of the apostles" (1 Cor. 15:9), (2) "I am less than the least of all God’s people" (Eph. 3:8) and (3) “sinners--of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15).
There is evidence that we are doing wrong in our faith life by looking at these three things: (1) I am becoming increasingly insensitive to sin (or seems to be) (Eph. 4:19). I don’t regard sin as sin (Rom. 5:13). (2) I am more and more attached to consciousness of merit (Lk. 18:11-12). I am thinking more about what I do for the Lord and for the church rather than what the Lord does for me (Mt. 25:44). (3) I am becoming more and more proud (Prov. 21:4, Ezek. 28:5). I like to reveal my glory over the glory of God (Jn. 12:43). We must live our Christian life properly in God's sight. The more we live our Christian life, the more we should be sensitive to our sins. We must be able to recognize our sins that we have committed to God more and more as we live our Christian life. Also, the more we live our Christian life, the more we must be filled with gracious consciousness. We don’t have any merit to boast about. We only have the merit of Jesus. Our sins are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross and we became righteous because He was resurrected (Rom. 4:25). Therefore, the more we practice our faith, the more humility we must have before God and people. And whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we must do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). We must pray to God: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory” (Ps. 115:1). In order for us to glorify God, we must first worship God with the Spirit of God. Remembering the grace of salvation that God has given us through faith in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, we must give thanks to God and praise and worship Him. We should also boast Jesus Christ alone. We should boast the cross of Jesus Christ. We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must never put confidence in our flesh!