This chapter begins as though Paul was thinking about concluding his letter. But he was diverted, and we are very glad that he was. It appears that he wanted to make one more exhortation and warning: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision – (men promoting circumcision).” But why should we beware of such people? Because we are the children of God, who worship the Lord in the Spirit and in Truth. Because we are the true people of God, rejoicing in Christ Jesus. If someone’s rejoicing is not in the Lord Jesus, he living in the flesh. The true saints of God have no confidence in the flesh.
When Paul made that last statement, it was as if he was poking a stick in the ground. Without really intending to do so, he broke through into an aquifer of theology. He struck the rock and out poured a raging river of fresh water. Like Jed Clampett, he was out shooting food, and up came a bubbling the finest crude – oil, that is. Paul touched upon one of his deeper thoughts on the nature of the Gospel and the Christian life. Getting side-tracked for a moment, it might be an interesting study of ourselves: What subjects, casually mentioned in passing, get you all excited? I know people that if you mention Hillary or Donald Trump, there can in an instant tirade. For others it is their grandchildren, and for others it is their businesses that get them going. Like a new filling in the tooth, and you bite down on a cheep aluminum fork and “pow.” Paul says, “Confidence in the flesh, confidence in the flesh, Let me tell you about confidence in the flesh.”
Sometimes Paul sounds just a bit egotistical, talking about his experiences and his delights. It’s one of the problems which every preacher has to face. But in his case there isn’t the slightest bit of pride in his testimony. He talks about himself – it makes a good point of reference; a place to begin. And those Apostles had more right to begin there than anyone else – led of the Spirit to do so. But there are times when even you and I can use ourselves as examples – good or bad. Paul had a well-designed and planned-out life, when he was struck by lightning on the Road to Damascus. There was a revolution which turned his life upside down. The things he loved, he discovered, were poisoning him. The things which he had hated to that point in his life were the most important things in the universe. No one has been more radically converted than Paul – but many have come close. Perhaps not as dramatically as Paul, we need to see the need to forsake our self-confidence. If we want a Christianity as fervent as Paul’s, we need to see what our true treasures are.
Consider some of the kinds of treasures that are worthless.
When Paul speaks about “the flesh,” he is referring those things which are independent from God. The “flesh” is the antithesis to the “spirit.” The flesh refers to “self” – body, affections, emotions, thoughts and self-will. The flesh is worthless before God. There is nothing fleshly in which we can boast before the Lord. “The world, the flesh, and the devil” are our three greatest enemies.
Paul says, “I am a Jew, circumcised on the eighth day.” This was a privilege confined only to those of pure Jewish blood. Proselytes might be circumcised in later life, but only one of the “stock of Israel” would be circumcised on the eighth day of his life. I can visualize Paul’s family, living so many miles from their homeland – and from the temple. Perhaps they were even more meticulous than home-bound Jews to preserve every shred of their fleshly religion, simply because of the competition from the culture that surrounded them. I have noticed a tendency among English citizens and Canadians, to be more Anglo while in other countries than they were back home. It was true of my own family once they moved to the United States. And its probably true of Americans overseas. Paul was an “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” not only hinting at his intense chauvinism, but this literally refers to fact that on both sides of his family, there been a careful attention to racial purity. Paul may have even held to a purer form of the Hebrew language than his Judean cousins. Then he was a member of the tribe of Benjamin and was named after that tribe’s most famous ancestor.
After implying that his racial heritage was merely fleshly baggage he moved on to his religious character. He had been raised as a Pharisee, the straitest of the various sects among the Jews. His group were the champions of the law. They had divided and subdivided the law until it was 20-times more complicated than it been intended. Maybe I should say it became twenty-times more diluted and useless than God intended. Growing out of that Pharisaism was Paul’s zeal for persecuting the genuine people of God. For a time he was “breathing out threatings and slaughter” against the disciples. And then as touching the righteousness of the law, he proclaimed himself blameless. When it came to the minute subdivisions of the originally perfect law of God, Paul dotted his “I”s and crossed his “T”s. He tithed on his mint, anize and cummin – and probably salt and pepper. He baptized his arms before every meal, and never ate a warm meal on the Sabbath. He was the quintessence of Judaism – the perfect example. And among his peers he was peerless. He was praised and promoted for his religious professionalism. He felt that every item he listed was another piece of armor protecting him against all his opponents. But – even though these things were religious and in some cases not even bad, they were all of the flesh.
Are there any modern Baptist parallels to these things? How about attendance in one of the Lord’s churches since the days before our birth? What about membership in a church which is one of the pillars and grounds of the truth? In a very fleshly manner we can become as judicial and forensic about our religion as any ten Pharisees. “If you don’t agree with me in these 29 points then you are not a Baptist, and probably not even saved.” I am, as touching the law, blameless. My baptism was performed by John the Baptist, in the Jordan river on the Day of Atonement. My pastor baptized me in a river – not a baptistry, or even a lake. The water was so cold when I was baptized I got pneumonia, and nearly died. If you didn’t come close to death when you are buried, then you probably didn’t really get baptized. These are the things that make me a better Christian than you, if indeed you are a Christian at all. Oh, is that so?
Notice Paul’s journey of discovery – he came to see their worthlessness.
But be careful not to take Paul’s words beyond their intention. The things which had been gain to him, really were, in many ways, better than their opposites. It was far better to be a Pharisee than to be a Galatian Barbarian or a Roman idolator – a Sadducee. It is better to be blameless in the sight of the law than to fill our bodies with venereal disease or dope. But these gains were actually losses and disadvantages in that they mislead him. As a child, my family visited the Black Hills of South Dakota several times. I remember one mountain which seemed to me to be covered with gold. Every rock, and every spade full of dirt sparkled with color. But it was the color of pyrite – “fools gold.” A thousand tons of that stuff is absolutely worthless. And so was all the childish gain that Paul had just been describing.
But what changed his opinion about this stuff? First, he says in verse 7 – “Christ” – and then he enlarges on the point. “For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” In its simplest form, what changed Paul’s opinion about these things which had been gain to him was his revolutionary conversion. But that just started a journey which was still unfinished. “I am still learning about my Saviour, and the more I know, the more useless the things of flesh are proven to be.”
It’s important to understand that Paul’s growing knowledge of Christ is not something intellectual. Biblical knowledge can be as much a thing of the flesh as baptism or circumcision. Paul was talking about experiential knowledge – given through the ministry of the Spirit. Yes, it came with church attendance and Bible study. It was purified by prayer and fasting. It was as much a gift of grace as salvation itself, but it was something fo which Paul yearned and received. But like a glass filled with mud, the pure water of Spirit was given only when the mud of the flesh was dumped out. As more of the pure was poured in, there was more of a desire to get rid of the mud. It is impossible to have either a complete emptying or a complete filling. But hopefully there will be a constantly growing possession of our souls by the Lord. Hopefully there will be a continual desire for less flesh and more of the Spirit. And where there is a heart filled with love to Christ, there is no sense of “loss” – only of “exceeding gain.” Why should we feel any pain casting away old rotten clothes, when we are given beautiful, new garments?
So Paul expresses a continuous journey of discovery
How many of us have had the kind of conversion that Paul has had? How many of us have heard the voice of God speaking out of Heaven? How many have been blinded by light from Heaven above the brightness of the noon-day sun? How many of us have been completely turned inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit?
Very few have even come close. So, even though we have been convicted of our self-righteousness, and self in general… We don’t have the same history to look back on, reminding us of our former selves. And perhaps, as a result we have more of a tendency to return to the flesh than Paul might have had. It is very difficult to keep away from building our own blamelessness once again. We must constantly keep throwing down all our imaginations and high thoughts of ourselves.
Perhaps we can call our worst days of drug abuse, false religion, immorality, and greed – “dung.” But we have to learn to call anything fleshly and spirit-quenching dung as well. And how do we accomplish that? By striving for more of Christ. And by taking the pains to give earnest heed to the initial, revolutionary estimate that we had of ourselves in the hour in which we first believed and were converted to Christ. By listening when our brethren quietly tell us that they see some sin or fleshliness creeping into our life. It is a good exchange when we “count all things but loss for the excellency of knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is not only a good thing, it was an exciting thing that set Paul’s heart pounding and increased his pulse. But for us – does it even raise and eyebrow?