Sometimes I sit with eyes wide at the harshness of Paul’s words to his beloved churches as he writes his letters.
Often, what he says, or the way he says it, gets lost in our English translation; and, yet, these particular words, do not.
So, this past week, I spent some time in that wide-eyed-posture as I began reading his words of warning to the Philippian church, the brothers and sisters he calls beloved, ” his joy and crown.”
Because Paul loved these folks so much, he was willing to warn them of ANYTHING, or ANYONE, that might steal away their joy.
There were “dogs” creeping into the camp, and those mutilators of the gospel cared nothing for their spiritual well-being, not like he did!
Here’s the thing about the metaphor he uses.
Zoologically, dogs were the low-life: scavengers.
Among the Greco-Roman world of the time, they were as “unclean,” by Jewish standards, as someone with leprosy and should be avoided at all costs.
Everybody knew this.
Paul wasn’t just saying “look out,” he was saying, “STAY AWAY!”
(Oh goodness, there is so much to talk about with this verse, but I must stay on point with what the Lord showed me this week. Sigh!)
The dogs, who were causing no small problems, among the church at Philippi were the Judaizers.
Judaizers wanted to adjust the gospel, make it about Jesus + something else (in this case, the Old Testament Law, particularly regarding circumcision) to equal salvation.
Paul sticks to his guns, his convictions, and tells the church:
“DO NOT CHANGE, ADD TO, SUBTRACT FROM THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.”
The gospel, praise the Lord (!) is by grace, through faith, in CHRIST ALONE!
WE DON’T DO ANYTHING TO DESERVE SALVATION.
As I type the words, I think to myself with wonder, “The gospel is not difficult to understand. Why would we want to add to it? Why make it more complicated?”
This is where my pondering zigged-and-zagged throughout the week, until I think I heard a whisper from the Lord (which sounded like the Lord, at any rate).
Here is what was happening within the church: persecution from these folks who were pushing their gospel…
…and, by looking “more Jewish” (which was acceptable to Nero, who was fearfully worried about this new, as yet, unknown religion called Christianity), they, then, could escape persecution from without.
Therefore, to escape the persecution, even though they believed otherwise, many were giving in to these “evil-workers” (the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh) just to get them off their back.
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Oh, how often do I, for the sake of escaping notice, or someone thinking I’m a fanatic, or to not have to stand alone in a crowd, do the very same thing!?!
Instead of being in the world, but not of it, I allow myself the permission to look a whole lot like the world, just to be comfortable…just to indulge in my want-to’s that aren’t necessarily “bad” things, but they keep me playing it safe…
AND DON’T WE ALL PREFER SAFE?
The problem is safe is joy-less.
SAFE IS JOY-LESS!
That’s why Paul was writing this book – his “happy-book” –
WE CANNOT REJOICE-ALWAYS WHEN WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE BIT BY THE DOGS!
LOOK OUT!
