Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. (Philippians 3:2)
When Jewish people, like Paul, used the term dogs, it means someone who was not in covenant with God. The term was often used to describe Gentiles.
However, in Philippians 3:2, Paul was warning his readers about a particular group within the church that didn't understand their New Covenant in Jesus' blood. The evil workers were the Judaizers. These were Christians who believed that accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord was not enough to be in covenant with God. They thought Christians had to keep the Law of Moses as well, which was sealed in Genesis 17 through the shedding of blood in the ceremony of circumcision. “And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:9-11).
Paul warned the Philippians to watch out for people who sounded spiritual, but their foundation was wrong. The dogs Paul wrote about believed every male had to be circumcised to fulfill righteousness, but the New Covenant isn’t based on the shedding of our blood. It was sealed once and for all in the shedding of Jesus’ blood. Hebrews 12:24 says, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” We are in covenant with God because of what Jesus did.
I am thankful to be a covenant partner with the God of all creation. Do you realize what it means to be in covenant? Covenant partners hold no good thing back from one another. Everything that belongs to one is freely available to the other.
Practical Application – Jesus' blood was shed so we could be in covenant with Almighty God. As covenant partners, He makes everything available to me, and I offer my all to Him.
Galatians 3:1; Galatians 3:11