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BEWARE!
MONDAY, MAY 22
Philippians 3:1-2

Galatians 3:1-14

 

“…beware of evil workers,

beware of the concision.”

 

BEWARE!
 
In Philippians 3, Paul then shifted to warn the Philippians of a potential danger that they were facing. There were false teachers who were threatening to take their focus away from Christ, and to cause them to revert to the old ways to trust in their works. These were the Judaizers who insisted on an adherence to the law as a prerequisite of salvation. Paul spoke up strongly against them and reminded the Philippians that their confidence must be in Christ alone and not in the flesh.
 
He called upon them to rejoice in the Lord, but at the same time to be vigilant to the dangers that abound. He explained that the concerns he wrote of were not new, for they had heard it before. Yet it was “not grievous,” meaning it was not inconvenient or troublesome for him, though he be imprisoned in Rome with multiple burdens and cares. It was an issue important enough for him to write to warn them about as it was for their safety, for their own good!
 
Paul was very direct in his warning, denouncing the false teachers. He used strong words calling them to beware of dogs, evil workers and the concision. These three terms describe the single group that Paul was warning against – the Judaizers who preached confidence in the flesh.
 
“Dogs”: This was a grave insult to the Jews, describing them as unclean beasts who were detested by both the Greeks and the Jews.
 
“Evil workers”: Their deeds were evil works, sinful against God.
 
“Concision”: More specifically, the works that they did, was that of practising “self-mutilation.” This was a sort of a word play, to say that when these Judaizers who claimed that circumcision was still necessary for salvation and insisted on cutting the flesh, they were really practising self-mutilation for no reason other than their own sinful errors.
 
Vigilance and discernment are needed in every generation. Just as Paul warned the Christians to beware of the dangers then, so must we continually beware of Satan’s devices today.
 
THOUGHT: Who are the evil workers of today?

PRAYER: Father, help me to always be vigilant against false teachings.

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