Refuting the Judaizers

Transcript

GR 632
2/6/1983
Refuting the Judaizers
Philippians 3:4-7
Gil Rugh

In the Book of Philippians and the Third Chapter, focal point of songs that we have been singing that have been ministered to us today is on what Jesus Christ has done and the transformation that brings about in life. That’s the focal point of what Paul is talking about in Philippians Chapter 3; but in a very aggressive way he is challenging and condemning those who would be corrupting the message that what Jesus Christ has done is sufficient and complete, adequate in every way to bring final redemption for all who would believe.

We noted that Paul was continually having to deal with the issue of faith in Christ plus good works for salvation, and as Paul would travel and proclaim Jesus Christ and salvation by faith in him, often he would be followed by those who would come and say Paul has preached an incomplete message. It’s wonderful that you believe in Jesus Christ that is of tremendous significance and importance, but you must realize that, that is not enough. We must not only believe in Christ, you must keep certain aspects of the Mosaic Law, in particular you must observe the right of circumcision and when you believe in Jesus Christ plus keep these portions of the law then you will have full complete salvation and then you will have a life of blessing as a child of God.

Now that is the message that Paul is attacking in Philippians Chapter 3 and he reminds them that this is not new material. I was impressed again in my study this week how basic the information that we are covering in this section really is. Material we are going to talk about again this morning is so basic that you cannot be a Christian if you don’t understand it because it’s foundational to salvation. These are the basics of Christianity and a person who does not understand that salvation is by faith in Christ alone is not saved.

That’s all Paul is arguing here. But what often happens even to believers, what Paul is concerned about for the Philippians that even the basics that we have learned, that we have understood when we are bombarded by false teaching, we sometimes get confused, we lose our bearings and we begin to accept and practice things which are contrary to the word of God and contrary to good spiritual health.

And we noted when Paul comes to speak about false teachers; he speaks very harshly and very much to the point, verse 2 of Philippians Chapter 3; beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. The harshest language in scripture is reserved for false teachers, and false religious leaders and I think there is a difference in our attitude and the way we view unbelievers and in the way we view false religious leaders and teachers who are also unbelievers.

Jesus spoke with understanding regarding the sinners of his day, the harlots, the tax collectors and so on, confronted them about their sin but when he confronted the religious leaders; he was very directly and very harshly and Paul does that here. He calls them dogs, the miserable scavengers; the most despised of the animals by the Jews. They are evil workers, they are actively involved as workers, but in the promoting of evil because they are undermining the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ and they are workers of the mutilation called the false circumcision.

In the New American Standard Bible where they are mutilation as we noted because they have taken a physical rite and made it a necessity for acceptance before God and so it becomes an act of mutilation which was forbidden by God in the Old Testament scriptures. The true circumcision, those who really are set apart as belonging to God are those who worship in the spirit, glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Worship takes place in the realm of the spirit, it’s not a matter of physical activity, it’s the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God working in my spirit that enables me to worship God acceptably and any time worship is made a matter of external physical activities; you have a distortion.

Now external activity is often a part, as a result we come together to worship today. But worship will take place on an individual basis determined by whether the Holy Spirit of God is working in your spirit to enable you to worship God, not by virtue of you being assembled in this physical place. It’s those who glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh and those two statements are the positive and the negative, those who glory in Christ Jesus are those who have no confidence in the flesh. Their life is absorbed in Jesus Christ, he is the focal point and the center, he is everything and anyone who has a certain amount of confidence in Jesus Christ and a certain amount of confidence in physical activities for their salvation is not a child of God at all.

This group that Paul is attacking; we have identified as the Judaizers, they put the attention and emphasis on physical activity in addition the faith in Christ and particularly circumcision as a necessity. And I want to just, before we get into the text, we are going to look at this morning; overview a little bit with you. What God says about this issue of physical activity particularly circumcision. And I think it’s important to see that what the Judaizers did was take a truth of scripture. God had commanded physical circumcision for the Jews, Genesis 17.

It was to be the sign, the physical mark of the covenant between God and the people of Israel, so there is scriptural support for physical circumcision but the Judaizers have taken this physical activity and made it a necessity for acceptance before God and that was never the case with physical circumcision. God always demanded a heart that was set apart to him, that was the focal point, that because a person had faith in God and the revelation that God had given of himself, was trusting God alone for salvation.

He was marked off spiritually in his heart as one who was set apart to God. Now in the physical realm, he underwent circumcision or practiced that on the male children as an indication of the faith of the heart but it became a distortion when that physical activity was made a part of the salvation. Turn back to Deuteronomy, maybe I go to Genesis, maybe we have to read where circumcision begins, so we see the foundation for it. Genesis Chapter 17 verse 10; this is my covenant, God speaking to Abraham, which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you, every male among you shall be circumcised, you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, each shall be the sign of the covenant between me and between you. Every male among you who is 8 days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations and so forth.

So it’s a physical sign of God’s covenant with the descendants of Abraham, turn over to Deuteronomy Chapter 30, Deuteronomy Chapter 30, and let me just read you from Deuteronomy 10:16, as you waited Deuteronomy 30, circumcise then your heart and stiffing your neck no more. Over in Deuteronomy 30 verse 6; moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, note, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul in order that you may live.

You see here in the 5 books of Moses; the basic foundation of God’s instruction to Israel, is the emphasis on our heart being circumcised, love to God, now without that circumcised heart physical circumcision becomes what God calls a mutilation, something done to gain favor with him which is repulsive. Now circumcision as a result of faith in God and obedience to him was fine. Circumcision as an attempt to gain favor with God was repulsive to God.

Turn over to the Book of Romans, the danger is always that the physical replaces the spiritual, you see the transition even today, we come together to study the word of God as a fellowship of believers. We meet in this physical place but over the period of time people begin to associate coming to this physical place with being acceptable to God and given time soon people have lost sight of the word of God and the necessity of faith and begin to identify acceptance with God with doing a physical thing. That is what the Jews did, so over time they began to believe that as long as you experience physical circumcision you are acceptable to God.

They had put the emphasis on the physical, in the Book of Romans Chapter 2 verse 29; Paul writes; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter, not by the law and he is praised as not from men but from God. You see the emphasis there, the circumcision that God is basically concerned about is spiritual circumcision done by the Holy Spirit of God on the heart. Physical circumcision is not part of that salvation experience; it's to be a result of it.

Now when you come over to Chapter 3 and chapter 4 of Romans, I want to just focus a little bit of attention here, what Paul does is prove that circumcision cannot be, could never a part of our salvation. This is a crucial section because it demonstrates not only, could not circumcision be a part of our salvation but no physical external rites can be a part of our salvation. A basic passage so simple and yet it gets to what is the heart of the basic problem that we have among religious people today, they are trusting other things, physical matters as part of their salvation.

When Romans 3 and 4 make clear that they could never be part of our salvation. The end of Chapter 3 verse 29 -- verse 28; we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. In other words by faith alone, not by mixing faith with the Law, or is he God -- is God the God of Jews only, is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one and the statement here in verse 30 is; since God is one, since there is only one God he will justify Jews and Gentiles in exactly the same way.

If there is only one God there can only be one way of salvation, that is important, that answers the question. What about the Mohammedans, what about the Buddhists and so on. Aren’t they worshipping God in their own way, if there is only one God there can only be one way of salvation, that’s the argument; the end of Romans 3. So what Paul does in Romans 4 is logical, if we can find out how God saved one person in history; we will find out how God is going to save every person who has ever saved because we believe there is only one God, so there is only one way of salvation.

If we can find how one person was saved, we will know how this one God is going to save everyone who is ever going to be saved, and so he comes to Chapter 4 and he uses Abraham as the example. What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found, if Abraham was justified by works; he has something to boast about but not before God, what does the scripture say. Abraham believed God and was reckoned to him as righteousness, quoting from Genesis Chapter 15 and verse 6.

Jump down to verse 9; is this blessing then upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised also, for we say faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness, how then was it reckoned, while he was circumcised or uncircumcised, is the question. We are not Jews, we are not as familiar with the Old Testament as the Jews were but in Genesis 15:6; Abraham is declared righteous by God. We read in Genesis 17 where Abraham is circumcised according to the command of God.

Now, was Abraham circumcised in Genesis 15, no, that is the next statement, the end of verse 10, not while circumcised but while uncircumcised and he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised. There is at least 14 years between Genesis 15 and Genesis 17 that is not difficult to realize. In Genesis 17; Ishmael the child of Abraham by Hagar is 13 years old, we are told that, Genesis 17. In Genesis 15; when God declares Abraham righteous, Ishmael has not even been conceived yet.

So he hadn’t even been conceived in Genesis 15, in Genesis 17 when Abraham is circumcised Ishmael is 13. So he is at least 14 years of age, Jewish chronology put 29 years between Genesis 15 and Genesis 17, what is the conclusion of that. The conclusion very simply is; circumcision is not part of salvation. If you have to be circumcised to be saved God lied in Genesis 15 because he declared Abraham righteous when Abraham couldn’t be righteous because he hadn’t been circumcised.

You say; O boy this is rather boring because you know what, circumcision isn’t really the big issue, not being Jews, not being confronted by the Judaizers per se, no that is fine, but it sort of, must stand irrelevant. What is it, you know we replace circumcision with other things but the issue is still the same, let me ask you; was Abraham ever baptized, go back and read Genesis 15, did he get baptized, no. Read the whole life of Abraham, as far as we can tell; Abraham never got baptized and yet there are people today who are teaching; you must believe in Christ plus be baptized to be saved.

All you have to do is read Romans Chapter 4, had Abraham been baptized when God declared him righteous, can baptism be part of salvation, no. May I ask you; had Abraham joined the church, it didn’t come into existence, Acts Chapter 2; he missed it by 2000 years. Was he righteous in Genesis 15 when God declared him righteous, yes. Had he ever been confirmed, he didn’t even hear the word, ever taken the sacraments, none of these things. It’s rather simple, isn’t it, that is why I say that what you are studying in Philippians Chapter 3 is so simple that it goes on right on by.

Now I realize and there are passages we have to deal with, right but the basic is result, right. Ask all these questions about Abraham in Genesis 15; had he been circumcised, had he been baptized, had he joined the church, had he taken the sacraments, had he been confirmed and etcetera, etcetera. None of those things, what characterized Abraham, he believed the revelation of God and God declared him righteous, now how does that one God save people today, 3000 years, 4000 years after Abraham, same way; revelation he has given in his son Jesus Christ.

People come to believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God died to pay the penalty for their sin, that is the revelation God has given to us. He was raised from the dead because of their faith in that revelation God declares them righteous, that is it. They are permanently, completely, absolutely, permanently saved. You see there is only one God, I would save just the same way that Abraham was and these other activities are not part of my salvation, they are to be a result of it, a sign, if you will, even as circumcision was.

All right, come back to Philippians Chapter 3. Now what Paul is going to do in Philippians Chapter 3 is to progress along, the Judaizers had a certain pride in their Jewishness, in their circumcision and other Jewish practices. Paul is now going to demonstrate the fact that he has much reason humanly speaking to be proud of his physical condition as anyone does. Verse 4 of Philippians 3; although I myself might have confidence in the flesh, he said at the end of verse 3; we are those who put no confidence in the flesh but I myself by that confidence in the flesh.

I might have grounds for confidence in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh; I far more, the I here, I myself, he is emphatic, it gets the attention, he is pouring himself out now. It’s not we because this wouldn’t be true of every believer at Philippi. Paul is pouring himself out now as an example and what he is going to do is list his qualification, to speak as a full blooded Jew, a member of the aristocracy if you will.

He is going to challenge the Judaizers on their own ground, to show that he can not only boast in the things that they can boast of, he has more to boast about than they do. So in effect he is going to meet them on their ground, you want to talk about what you have done in the flesh, what you have physically, let me tell you about my life, and he will supersede them as we will see. What he does in verses 5 and 6 is list 7 advantages that he enjoyed as a Jew that show that he is not just talking because he is a little bit defensive, but he had reason if he wanted to, to boast in the very things that Judaizers held to be important.

Four of the things he mentions are his by birth; three of them are a result of his own accomplishments. So seven things that mark him off as a Jew of the most complete kind. He starts where the issue is, verse 5; circumcised the eighth day and it’s put directly here. As the circumcision, an eighth-dayer or an eighth day one; we read in Genesis 17, you take the male child, you circumcise him on the eighth day, you know what that does, that marks Paul off as a Jew from birth. I was born a Jew, I wasn’t a proselyte circumcised in my adult life, I’m an eighth-dayer, so I got my circumcision right down to the letter of the Law.

According to Genesis 17, Leviticus Chapter 12 verse 3; that the male child born into a believing Jewish family was to be circumcised the eighth day. So he is a Jew by birth, so circumcision, he is not running it down because he is a Johnny come lately, so to speak, he is an eighth dayer. Secondly of the nation of Israel and I think the names that Paul uses through this section, I don’t want to belabor them but it’s important we see how meticulously he is driving home the point, when he says of the nation of Israel; he selects out the name that is used of particular pride with the Jews.

Israel was the name given to Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the name given to Jacob in Genesis Chapter 32 and verse 28 after he successfully wrestled with God. Now others could trace their descent their lineage to Abraham, the Ishmaelites traced their ancestry back to Abraham through Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar, the Edomites traced their lineage back to Abraham through Esau, Jacob’s brother. But only the Jews could trace their lineage back to Abraham through Israel, Jacob.

So it becomes a name of pride, so when he says that I’m of the nation of Israel; he is marking himself off, is that special group that is a descendant of Abraham according to the chosen seed. He is of the tribe of Benjamin and let me just give you a little review of Benjamin since maybe you didn’t study him this last week. He is the only son of Jacob, remember Jacob had the 12 sons, become the 12 tribes of Israel, he is the only one of Jacob’s sons who was born in the promised land, we find out in Genesis 35, he was the son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel.

Saul, the first king of Israel after whom Paul as we know him received his name because he was called Saul before his conversion. So Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. When the kingdom split, in First Kings 12, under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, Benjamin remained faithful, allied with Judah. So you have the 10 kingdoms of the north and two of the south Judah and the Benjamin. So in effect what Paul is emphasizing here; I’m not only of the nation of Israel, I’m of the aristocracy of Israel, I’m of the tribe of Benjamin which is a special uniqueness.

He goes on to say, “I’m a Hebrew of Hebrews”, now the way we think of this; we think that is the same thing of being with the nation of Israel but there is a distinction between being of the nation Israel and being a Hebrew of Hebrews. To be considered a Hebrew; you have to have done two things, maintain the Hebrew language and continued the practice of Hebrew customs because many of the Jews had become Helenites, they had adopted the Greek language and the Greek culture. Paul had been born in a family and had continued himself; Hebrew language and Hebrew customs.

He is marking off here; I have been true, a true Jew, a true Hebrew born of Hebrew parents. The end of verse 5 he says; as to the law of Pharisee, now Paul made this claim several times; to be a Pharisee. The name Pharisee means separated one, the Pharisees by name meant the separated ones, the sect of the Pharisees came into existence in the inter-testament period between the close of the Old Testament in Malachi, the 400 years up till Christ, where the Jews were adopting the Greek spirit of the times.

The Pharisees became a sect who rebelled and reacted against the excessive involvement of the Greek world by Jews, they marked them off as the separatist, those who were given to the meticulous observance of the law, to the law they had, all their minute laws and practices, to be very scrupulous in observing the practices God had given them. Look back in Book of Acts Chapter 22; as Paul gives his testimony before the Jews, in Acts 22 verse 3.

First you note in verse 2; he gets a hearing when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect they became even more quite an indication that Paul continued to be able to speak the Hebrew language that gave him added respect among the Jews because it marked him off as one who was more committed to the Jewish practices and customs than the average Jew who had let his knowledge of Hebrew fall into disrepair and was unable to speak effectively with it.

Verse 3; I’m a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our Father, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Jump down to verse 6, he gives his testimony of what happened to him, it came about as I was on my way approaching noon day, a light flashed around about me and he goes on to give his conversion experience, so he is a strict Jew taught under Gamaliel, leading Pharisee of the day.

So no question about his position being educated as a Pharisee under this leading teacher Gamaliel. Over in Chapter 26 verse 5 -- verse 4; all the Jews know my manner of life from my youth upwards, from the beginning was spent among my own nation at Jerusalem and see; he from the very beginning was part of the Jewish family. Since they have known about me for long time previously if they are willing to testify that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.

The strictest sect of our religion, remember there are the Sadducees and the Pharisees. And the Pharisees were the supernaturalists. The Sadducees did not believe in bodily resurrection, did not believe in life after death and so forth, they were the liberal liberals; but Pharisees believed in all of these things, they were the strict sect of the Jews and were respected by the Jews for that. Come back to Philippians 3; so he was the strictest kind of a Jew a Pharisee.

All right verse 6; has the zeal, a persecutor of the Church and what Paul is saying here in effect that he had been part of Judaism in the most fanatical and intense way. No one could look at Paul and say; well he was just a hanger on, it’s no wonder he doesn’t have much heart for the practices that we believe are necessary for salvation. He never was very committed, he was fanatical in his commitment to Judaism, he persecuted the church and Paul refers to this fact again and again, that he was one who persecuted the church. You can read about this in Acts about the situations, you are familiar with them.

He was one standing there, giving his consent to the stoning of Stephen under persecution, so he had the zeal and enthusiasm for Judaism. Paul summarizes it very briefly at the end of verse 6; as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. That is a remarkable statement, in effect you could find nothing wrong with me when you measure me according to the law but that does not mean he kept all 613 commandments perfectly. That he had a true righteousness, what he is saying is; that no one in Judaism would find any problem with Paul, they didn’t look and say; O Paul isn’t observing this practice, he isn’t doing this like he should.

There would have been a general agreement that Paul was a leader among leaders in Judaism. He is without blame, if anybody could get saved by keeping the law; Paul could, that is what he is saying. If anyone could be righteous before God by keeping the Law; I could, do the Judaizers measure up to this. You go through the seven qualifications, do you measure up. The result would have been; most of the Judaizers would have been far below Paul.

The Pharisees were always a small sect in Judaism, never more than 6000 Pharisees. So Paul was of a unique group, you Judaizers who want to teach salvation by keeping the Law, you fall far short of the standard that I kept, in effect this is what he is saying. What does he do with all this, verse 7, crucial verse. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as a loss for the sake of Christ, whatever things were gained that were gained; is in the plural incidentally. Whatever were gains to me, all these individual things that humanly speaking, that from my perspective as a Jew were to my advantage that made me more acceptable to God that gave me an inn with God, all these things.

Whatever were gained I have counted as loss, as detrimental. Word; loss, damage, detrimental, the idea, for the sake of Christ. Now let me remind you of the things in verses 5 and 6, they are not bad in and out themselves, not bad to be circumcised the eighth day as a Jew, not bad to be part of the nation Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous and so on. That is not bad in and of itself, what was wrong with it was when these things are used in an attempt to gain favor before God they become detrimental.

Same today, there is nothing wrong with church membership, there is nothing wrong with baptism, there is nothing wrong with the communion service, what is wrong is when these things become means by which people attempt to gain favor with God, they become detrimental and damaging. Paul says I count all these things, all these gains as loss. That word “counted” is a good word; he didn’t do this just in the heat of emotion that word “counted” is an accounting term. It means you add up and come to a conclusion.

After careful consideration and value involved in the gains, I added them up and they came to loss, singular, where gains is in the plural the word loss is singular, because all these gains, plural, that I saw in Judaism, when I added them all up they amounted to a loss, singular, for me, why. They stood in the way of my coming to Jesus Christ because I wanted to trust them instead of trusting Christ. This word counted is in the perfect tense, remember it’s something you do in the past and it continues in the present. I have counted and I continue to count them as such, after all the years that have transpired, my accounting of the gains I had in Judaism was the same, they are loss.

They were as a -- seen as a disadvantage to me. It’s an overwhelmingly significant word. I truly believe, I think this word is involved in repentance, the change in mind. When a person is truly saved, they come to see their sinfulness, they come to see the gracious provision of God for salvation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, at that time they clearly see all their religious activity as loss. That is why I have serious question about the salvation of anyone, who is hanging on to their old religious practices and they claim salvation in Jesus Christ.

Crucial to salvation is a recognition of the finality of the work of Jesus Christ, Paul being the example of that. I considered all these gains and they were a loss. They stood in the way of Jesus Christ, now Paul still is a Jew, but that was not part of what he depended on. He has come to see the futility and hopelessness of the religious practices in which he have been trusting. Some people seem to have a gradual rollover but somehow they never get completely rolled over. So they talk about; yes I have trusted Christ but they are continuing to be involved in a religious system which ties them up in things that are offered as necessary for acceptance before God.

That’s the tragedy of these religious systems, protestant and catholic alike; which offer a system of salvation by works. Good deed, religious activities, hopeless; if you want to be saved you have to come and have God’s perspective on those things, they are a deterrent, they are a drawback, they hinder you in a relationship with Jesus Christ. That is why no one who is a believer in Jesus Christ ought to have any part in a system that mixes works with the teachings of Christ.

Does Paul continue in Judaism because he wants to have a testimony, is he say; oh boy what an influence he could have as a Pharisee. Think of that, if he had just remained a Christian and kept his mouth closed a little more and made all the ways, you could have Paul the most zealous Pharisee working in the gospel in subtle ways. Maybe converted all of Judaism, rubbish, you do it God’s way or you don’t do it at all, you got people in catholic churches who profess to be believers of system of works, salvation through baptism, through membership in the church, through the sacraments yet they profess faith in Jesus Christ, whose pattern are they following.

Not that of Jesus Christ, not that of the Apostle Paul, not that of the instructions in the scriptures, we have the same in Protestant Church, you may be doing that here, you may be sitting here, well of course I’m a believer, of course I’m a Christian. I trust Christ and I go to Indian Hills Church. And those things there, they will do anything -- two things can get you heaven, those two things can; wrong. All right # I was baptized and you know what I was baptized even in the days when Gil baptized, so he is the Pope, you are baptized by Gil. You are really baptized, not only that; I was married by him back in the Dark Age.

# do with salvation, salvation is by faith in Christ alone, isn’t that so basic. I mean it’s so simple, you sit here and say; you know I haven’t been told anything new today. Is it any wonder Paul had to start out this chapter by saying, “to write the same things again to you is no trouble to me, it’s not boring to me and it’s a safeguard for you.” What has happened to the Church of Jesus Christ, let me ask you if these truths are so basic and so simple how did the Church of Jesus Christ go so far astray with so many multitudes of millions of people who profess to believe the Bible, are trying to work their way to heaven but haven’t, they lost sight of the basics of the word of God.

That’s why it’s so important that we draw the line so clear, that’s why there is no tolerance for teachers, preachers who want to disseminate a false gospel, which corrupts the grace of Christ by mixing it with the efforts and attainments of men. Anyone who teaches salvation by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ plus anything is preaching a false gospel that only leads people to condemnation before God.

Let’s pray together. Father, we praise you for the simplicity of your word. Father, that you have taken the time to remind us again and again of these basic points. Lord, --

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