Apostolic Admonitions IV ~ Rejoice and Beware: Philippians 3:1-8, especially vss. 1, 2: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.... Beware of dogs; beware of evil workers; beware of the mutilation!"
Often, as an army retreats before overpowering forces, it lays mines to impede and hamper those pressing upon it. The advancing forces are constrained to send specially equipped teams ahead to detect and destroy these mines and to create corridors through which their main forces may pass in safety.
The teams that open the safe ways through all the uncleared areas clearly mark these passages, lest the troops, which follow, be in danger. The image of a safe, cleared path, fringed with death, typifies the spiritual walk of the Christian life. Let us rejoice "in the Lord" knowing that in Him Who is the Way "all is safe" (vs. 1). At the same time, let us be keenly aware of the mutilation and evil that lies alongside the edge of the "narrow...way, which leadeth unto life" (Mt. 7:14). There are dogs and evil workers who intend us great harm.
Historically, the "evil workers" who were subverting the Apostle Paul's work were Judaizing Christians promoting Circumcision for all converts to the Faith. These Judaizers insisted on Circumcision, believing Christianity should continue as a sect within Judaism. Hence, they traveled the circuit of Gentile churches which St. Paul had planted, teaching that St. Paul's Gospel really was level-one Christianity, but that their message was the true and full Faith.
Meanwhile, the Apostle was in jail, unable to visit his churches such as Philippi, or to counteract the Judaizers' false teaching. The Council of Apostles already had repudiated the requirement of Circumcision for Gentile converts (Acts 15), and had established an Orthodox position concerning keeping the Mosaic Law. Observe: the Apostle tells the Philippians, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Jesus Christ, and have no confidence" in rites performed on the flesh to signify membership in the true Israel (Phil. 3:3).
"Confidence in the flesh" has proven to be a recurring temptation for Christians, though it no longer takes the form of demands for circumcision. For instance, compare the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov urging us to acquire the Holy Spirit, with St. Paul's message to the Philippians: "worship God in the Spirit [and] rejoice in Christ Jesus" (vs. 3). St. Seraphim says: "Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian activities, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.... only the good deed done for Christ's sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit."
The Apostle's and the Saint's position are identical, "by the power of the Spirit and of faith in Christ let us do good deeds and discipline the flesh, to express our rejoicing in Christ Jesus," for He saves us, not our good deeds. We may do works to "gain Christ" (vs. 8), but Jesus is our only goal, for He gives us the strength to do His will. All else is "counted loss for Christ...for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (vss. 7,8).
St. Paul reflected upon his own life and then held it up as an example to refute the appeals of the Judaizers: "I also might have confidence in the flesh" (vs. 4). He was "circumcised on the eighth day" as the Mosaic Law required, and he was therefore obviously a Jew, "of the stock of Israel" (vss. 4,5). He zealously tried to follow the path of "outward acts," but when he came to know Christ as his Lord, then he counted all those marks and achievements "as rubbish" (vs. 8).
O Lord Jesus, our Savior, Who didst send down the gift of Thy Most Holy Spirit, make us to be servants of Thy holy mysteries by the same Spirit, and have mercy on us.