dangers which lay ahead, he straight away turns to serious warning. For the protection of

those under his charge, the Apostle frequently had to repeat himself. He assures the

Philippians that this was not "irksome" (R.V.) for him and it was certainly safe for them

that he did so. Evidently he had a hostile group of Judaizers in mind whom he describes

in three ways: (1) dogs, (2) evil workers, (3) the concision, or self-mutilators.  The

scornful term "dogs" was given by the Jews to the Gentiles, who were Israel's enemies

and refers to the scavenger dogs that roamed the streets (Matt. 15: 26, 27; Rev. 22: 15)

and were regarded as unclean. Paul hurls back the epithet against those of his own

nation, who so constantly opposed him and the gospel that he sought to make known.

They followed him wherever he went, seeking to bring Gentile converts under the

bondage of the Mosaic law, and in the epistle to the Galatians, he largely has them in

mind.  They were "malicious workers";  he calls them "deceitful workers" in

II Cor. 11: 13, and like the Lord Jesus Himself said of the opposing Pharisees, they would

"compass sea and land to make a proselyte, and when he is made . . . . . make him

twofold more a child of hell" than themselves.

The third term is a play on words. Katatome is a parody on the similar word for

circumcision, peritome. The putting away of types and shadows in the gospel message of

salvation, which found their realization in Christ and His finished work on the Cross, now

made circumcision merely self-mutilation and on a par with the pagan practices forbidden

in Lev. 21: 5 (compare I Kings 18: 28).

The physical rite that once upon a time put an Israelite into covenant relationship with

God had passed, and its spiritual equivalent could not be applied to all God's redeemed

people, whether Jew or Gentile. They are the real circumcision who have the inward

reality, not just the external rite (Phil. 3: 3; Rom. 2: 28, 29).

After warning the Philippian church of the activities of the "circumcision after the

flesh", the Judaizers, the Apostle Paul asserts "for we are the circumcision, who

worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the

flesh" (Phil. 3: 3 R.V.). The A.V. reads "in the spirit". The earliest manuscript witness,

the Chester Beatty papyrus, the word for "God" is omitted and the sense then is "who

worship in spirit", the new nature, as opposed to the flesh, the old nature of sin. This

accords with the important statement of the Lord in John 4: 24 R.S.V. "God is spirit,

and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth", that is to say, truly in

spirit, apart from the natural mind or the flesh.

This sweeping statement searches deeply into all worship, and that this is of great

importance from God's standpoint is seen by the following words: "The Father seeketh

such to worship Him . . . . ." As the Father continually seeks for such real worship, how