Philippians 3:4b-14
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on October 8, 2017.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is also an effective method of discipleship. Throughout Philippians, Paul sets examples before his Philippian disciples for them to emulate. In chapter one, Paul models an attitude of thankfulness in the midst of suffering. He rejoices that his imprisonment has inspired others to proclaim Christ more boldly (1:12-14) and he sets a paradigm for Christ-focused sacrificial living as he announces that for him, “Living is Christ and dying is gain.” (1:21). Then, in chapter two, Paul encourages the Philippians to imitate Christ’s humility when he poetically describes Jesus as one who emptied himself and gave up his divine status to live as a human servant and die a criminal’s death. Chapter two ends with Paul’s desire to send two examples of servanthood to the church, Timothy, and Epaphroditus, disciples who would model sacrifice among the Philippian churches. In chapter three, Paul seems to take a detour in subjects, but his emphasis on imitation continues. Once again, Paul is going to use himself as an example of faithful discipleship so that the believers might find a firm foundation in the face of a looming threat to the community.
On the whole, Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi is one of encouragement and serves as an intimate picture of Paul’s affection for the Philippian Christians. However, Paul does not shy away from addressing the persisting problems plaguing the church, including the squabbling among church leaders, the lack of unity in the body, and the temptations and persecution these Christians experienced on a daily basis in their strongly pagan city. In this section of the letter, which begins in 3:1, Paul does not attack a problem that the Philippians are currently facing but shows deeper insight, warning the Philippians about a challenge that could be just around the corner for them. In 3:2, Paul’s three-part command to be aware (Beware the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware the mutilators of the flesh!) implies that the offenders in question are not yet in Philippi but may be coming soon and could be damaging for the church. Paul had probably already had dealings with these “evil workers” and had witnessed the consequences of their false teaching (perhaps in Galatia). The opponents he describes here could be Jews trying to win converts among the Gentiles or Jewish Christians, perhaps Judaizers, who tried to convince Gentile Christians to adhere to the whole Jewish law. In either case, Paul’s use of the insult “dogs” is sharply ironic. Jews commonly called Gentiles “dogs, ” but here Paul uses the slur against Jews who posed a threat to the Gentile Christian population in Philippi. His passionate language throughout this passage demonstrates how destructive he believed this potential problem could be to the unity and security of the Philippian house churches.
Paul uses a familiar rhetorical method for convincing the Philippians to resist the lure of the “dogs”—his look-at-me-and-do-what-I-do strategy. The purpose of 3:4-17 is paraenetic, and Paul teaches through example while encouraging imitation (3:17). This is why he launches into a brag list of his Jewish qualifications in 3:4-6. “Look at me,” he says, “if someone like me, a zealot who practiced Jewish law perfectly and had the highest credentials and Hebrew ancestry, laid aside all that honor to pursue Christ, then surely the way to righteousness comes in relinquishing advantage not in boasting of status and excelling at the law.” Paul beats the Jewish opponents at their own game with his super Jewish status and then asserts that they were all playing with the wrong deck in the first place.
It is important to note here that Paul is not denigrating his former way of life as if it were worthless. On the contrary, his heritage and history are of great value to him. Yet these are worth nothing when laid beside the life in Christ, the life of freedom and sacrifice, the life he now lives and models for other believers. In 3:8, when he weighs his lifetime of gains against the knowledge of Christ, Paul uses a curiously strong image to add force to the contrast. He considers all that he has lost in his journey to Christ as skubalon, a word that can be translated as rubbish or refuse, table scraps, or even excrement or dung. The graphic description here suggests that the achievements of his past, his life pursuits, are what is left after the food has been eaten, processed, and discarded. The efforts and artifacts of his pre-Christ life are of no use to him, are fetid and foul, in fact, and should not be pursued by anyone desiring God. The vehemence in his language serves to wake his audience up to the real threat that the “dogs” pose when they come preaching a gospel of self-righteousness rather than a righteous from God based on faith.
The concluding verse in this lectionary passage ties several themes from the letter together. Paul has finished his argument against the Jewish opponents. In the process, he has succeeded in putting yet another example of sacrificial humility before the Philippians…himself. Paul, in imitation of the Christ who “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,” set aside his own status earned through faithful observance of the law and humbled himself to take the form of a servant of Christ. In chapter one, Paul showed thankfulness in the midst of his suffering, and now we know why. In his pursuit of the knowledge and imitation of Christ, Paul has sacrificed everything. It is this “sharing in Christ’s sufferings by becoming like him in his death” that will help Paul attain resurrection from the dead. Paul wants the Philippian Christians to recognize the importance of sacrifice and submission in his life and imitate that in theirs. Imitation is certainly an effective method of discipleship for Paul.
Jennifer Garcia Bashaw, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Ministry
Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC
bashaw@campbell.edu
Tags: Paul, Imitation, Suffering, Judaizers, Opponents, Boasting