Friends Suffering To gether for the Gospel continued from page 7
Read 3:2-4. He starts with a warning then empha sizes the greatness of being a Christian. If you'd rather not rejoice in Christ, you have the option of being a worthless dog, doing evil, and mutilating your body. Avoiding Christ means abandoning joy and pursuing self-deprecation and destruction. “Look out, look out, look out” for people who think they're religiously superior but really are inferior (“dogs”), who think they're doing everything right but really have it all wrong (“evildoers”), who think the way they mark their bodies makes them spiritually special but really just ruins their bodies (“mutilate the flesh”). Paul has local Jews in mind. Jews considered non-Jews to be “dogs”, scavengers, scum, unclean, but Paul calls the Jews the outsiders. Jews thought they were religiously righteous, doing all the right things, but Paul thinks they are actually doing evil when they think they're doing good. This happens when people do good things for bad motives or just plain do bad things. Jews thought when they circumcised themselves they were making a physical mark which distinguished them from gross people, but Paul says they're just mutilating their bodies. Watch out for people who have religious ideas but have no clue about real spirituality. Real spirituality comes through knowing Jesus (3). Spirituality isn't some vague, formless, content-less mystery you jump into. It involves worshiping Jesus through the Holy Spirit, knowing that only Christ can save you, clean you, and empower you. Real circumcision, true religion, God-based spirituality has always been a matter of the heart (Deut 10:16; 30:6; Rom 2:29). Christians, with faith in their hearts and a transformed inner nature, are the “real circumcision.” That is, faith-based worshipers of Jesus are the true 10
people of God, not groups who only have outward religious rituals. “Worship” is “service”, spiritual life, Christian service; a Holy Spirit inspired and em powered lifestyle. Our “glory” or “boast” or “confidence” is in Jesus. We don't put confidence in our flesh; we don't trust our human ability to transform our minds and hearts or to perfectly change our ways. We put confidence in the Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus to transform us from the inside out. This verse is the turning point of the whole paragraph and the crux of how Paul thinks. The true people of God, filled by the Holy Spirit and following his lead in service, trust Christ for salvation and transformation. Paul's final disclaimer, “though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh”, sets up the next stage of his argument. He says, “if anyone could be proud of who he is, proud of his religious heritage, confident that he's on good terms with God because of his family or caste; if anyone has played the religious game so well that everyone looked up to him; if anyone, as far as outward appearance is concerned, was without flaw, it would be me.” If it was possible to please God by human nature or ability, then Paul would have pleased God. But he didn't please God, because it's impossible to please God that way. True religion is knowing Jesus and serving him. Religious people will tell you that Christianity is not “religious enough”, “it does not have enough rituals and clothing and special body markings.” But we know that our God is Spirit and he desires for us to worship him in Spirit and in truth. We do not need external religion when we have God's Spirit inside of us and in our Christian fellowship.
April 2012