{"id":55916,"date":"2025-05-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/?p=55916"},"modified":"2025-04-28T15:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:00:09","slug":"the-true-circumcision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/the-true-circumcision\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Circumcision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How would you define the people of God today? What descriptors would you choose to use? Well, Paul provides his own answer to that question in his letter to the Philippians. He describes the people of God, the circumcision,<\/em> as serving God by his Spirit, boasting in Christ Jesus, and putting no confidence in the flesh (Phil 3:3<\/a>). Let\u2019s look at what NT scholar Gordan Fee has to say about this verse in his volume on Philippians<\/a> in the New International Commentary<\/a> series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Appeal \u2013 Against Circumcision<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As immediate response to the ironic \u201cmutilation,\u201d Paul asserts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cFor we [in contrast to what they are trying to get Gentiles to do] are the circumcision [hence you do not need literal circumcision], who serve by the Spirit of God and \u2018boast\u2019 in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.\u201d<\/p>\nPhilippians 3:3, author’s translation<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here is a sentence at once full of rhetorical power and theological grist. The rhetorical power lies partly in the paronomasia and partly in his choice of a verb from the temple cultus to describe what \u201cwe\u201d do (see \u201cc\u201d below). The theological grist is to be found in every phrase. This verse, not v. 2<\/a>, is the principal sentence in the present appeal, whose theology is going to be explicated by means of Paul\u2019s own story in vv. 4\u201314<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. The emphatic \u201cwe\u201d\u2014not they\u2014by which the sentence begins is the first occurrence of this theological phenomenon in the letter.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is Paul\u2019s regular habit in the middle of an argument to shift from the second or third person to the inclusive first person plural whenever the point shifts to some soteriological reality that includes him as well as his readers. Thus, rather than \u201cyou\u201d Philippians are the true circumcision, it is \u201cwe\u201d\u2014you and us, Gentiles and Jews together\u2014who are such. In this case, of course, the shift in person paves the way toward the \u201cI\u201d of vv. 4\u201314<\/a>; but the recurrence of this phenomenon in vv. 15\u201316<\/a> and (especially) vv. 20\u201321<\/a> indicates that it is not simply preparatory here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. In saying that \u201cwe,\u201d both Jews and Gentiles together who have put our trust in Christ, \u201care the circumcision,\u201d Paul indicates that the primary issue is not the Philippians\u2019 salvation, but rather the identification of the people of God under the new covenant.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lying behind this usage is the theology and intertextuality of a passage like Rom 2:28\u201329<\/a>, where Paul takes up the promise of Deut 30:6<\/a> and turns \u201cJew\u201d and \u201cGentile\u201d end for end\u2014in terms of \u201ccircumcision of the heart\u201d by the Spirit. Now the reason for the rich imagery in Phil 2:14\u201316<\/a> comes into focus, where by a similar reversal the Philippians are seen as \u201cthe blameless children of God.\u201d Paul, it needs to be emphasized, knows nothing of a \u201cnew\u201d Israel; for him there is only one people of God, who are now newly constituted\u2014quite in keeping with OT promises\u2014on the basis of Christ and the Spirit; and it is by the Spirit in particular that Gentiles have entered into their inheritance of the blessings promised to Abraham (Gal 3:14<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. Paul first describes the true circumcision as \u201cwe who \u2018minister\u2019 by the Spirit of God.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The crucial term here is the verb rendered \u201cworship,\u201d which rendering in this case can be quite misleading. Paul\u2019s usage is determined by the LXX, where it is used almost exclusively to denote the Levitical \u201cservice\u201d in the temple cultus. Here it stands in ironical contrast to v. 2<\/a>. \u201cMutilation\u201d is what those who \u201cserved\u201d in the temple cultus were forbidden to do. Now, in contrast to the \u201cworkers of iniquity\u201d who are engaged in such illegitimate \u201cservice,\u201d Paul says we are the true circumcision, who \u201cserve\u201d by the Spirit, over against serving by the flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verb, therefore, is not the one for \u201cworship\u201d in the sense of what the congregation does together as a gathered people, but represents the \u201cservice\u201d of God\u2019s people in terms of their devotion to him as evidenced in the way they live before him. Rather than offer such service by \u201ccutting away the flesh,\u201d so as to be identified with the people of God under the former covenant, the true circumcision live (= \u201cserve\u201d) in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Thus Paul has in view not external rite over against internal \u201cspiritual\u201d service, but two ways of existing\u2014in the \u201cflesh,\u201d which he understands as life centered in the creature as over against God, or as the eschatological people of God, evidenced to be so by the Spirit of God, through whom all life in the present is now service and devotion to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the Spirit of God<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thus, \u201cserve\u201d has to do with \u201crighteousness\u201d\u2014the real thing, which reflects God\u2019s likeness and character in Christian behavior (e.g., looking out for the interests of others, 2:3\u20134<\/a>, as modeled by him who revealed God-likeness in emptying himself by taking on the form of a slave, 2:5\u20137<\/a>); and such \u201cservice,\u201d which is effected in the life of the believer and believing community by God\u2019s own indwelling Spirit, is a million miles removed from \u201cservice\u201d in the form of Torah observance. In turning Torah into \u201claws to be observed\u201d God\u2019s people thus turned them into merely human regulations, missing their intent as revelation of God\u2019s likeness to be lived out among God\u2019s people; hence the need for a circumcision of the heart, effected by the Spirit, to replace that of the \u201cflesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significantly, Paul qualifies \u201cSpirit\u201d by the genitive \u201cof God.\u201d This designation occurs often enough that one should perhaps not make too much of it here\u2014this is who the Spirit is, after all. Nonetheless, since Paul does not often use this qualifier in this construction, there is probably more emphasis here than at first meets the eye. Very likely this is a pointed contrast to those who think of themselves as rendering service to the one God both by their own circumcision and by insisting that believing Gentiles offer themselves to God in the same way. True service to God is that which has been engendered by the Spirit of God, where through life in the Spirit the believer thus \u201cboasts in Christ,\u201d who has brought an end to the time of \u201cthe flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d. But if one begins Christian life as an experienced reality of the Spirit, the basis of that life is Christ himself, which in this sentence is expressed in terms recalling Jer 9:23\u201324<\/a>: \u201cwho boast\/glory in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On the meaning of this word see on 1:26<\/a> above. Here again it carries the nuance of \u201cboasting\u201d in the sense of putting one\u2019s full trust and confidence in, and thus to \u201cglory\u201d in. Although the presence of the Spirit functions as Paul\u2019s primary contrast both to \u201cworks of Law\u201d and to \u201cthe flesh,\u201d in this letter in particular he can scarcely bring himself to speak of Christian existence without mentioning Christ. In the personal word that follows, this is the theme to which he returns in grand style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s new covenant people, therefore, do not need to become Torah observant, precisely because they \u201cboast in Christ Jesus\u201d; they have put their trust in him who has effected God\u2019s true righteousness for them. Thus, Christ Jesus, by death on the cross, has brought them into relationship with God through sheer grace; and the goal of Torah is realized not in their becoming observant but in their walking by God\u2019s Spirit who now indwells them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e. Finally, and now in contrast both to \u201cboasting in Christ Jesus\u201d and to \u201cserving by the Spirit of God,\u201d he adds the telling blow: \u201cand who put no confidence in the flesh.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This clause is full of irony, Paul\u2019s way of moving from their specific expression of Torah observance (the circumcision of the flesh) to what he recognizes to be the theological implications of Gentiles\u2019 yielding to circumcision. It reflects the similar argument in Gal 3:2\u20133<\/a>, where Paul uses \u201cflesh\u201d exactly as here, referring first to the actual \u201cflesh\u201d cut away in circumcision, but at the same time as the primary descriptive word of life before and outside of Christ. Thus, as in that passage, \u201cSpirit\u201d and \u201cflesh\u201d stand juxtaposed as eschatological realities that describe existence in the overlap of the ages. One lives either \u201caccording to the Spirit\u201d or \u201caccording to the flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are mutually incompatible kinds of existence; to be in the one and then to revert to the former is spiritual suicide from Paul\u2019s point of view. And this is where the Judaizers have gone astray; they reject \u201cboasting in the Lord\u201d for \u201cconfidence in the flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus with this full description of those who belong to the Israel of God as newly constituted by Christ and the Spirit, Paul sets the Philippians in sharp contrast to what the \u201cmutilation\u201d would do for them. As he will go on to argue by way of personal narrative, there is absolutely no future of any kind in reverting to what is now past, which Christ and the Spirit have brought to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We should note finally the implicit Trinitarianism of this sentence. The true circumcision, thus true righteousness (both one\u2019s relationship with God and behavior that reflects his character), comes from God (v. 9<\/a>), by whose indwelling Spirit believers now serve him in \u201crighteousness,\u201d who have first of all put their trust in Christ Jesus, who has effected \u201crighteousness\u201d for them. \u201cRighteousness,\u201d of course, is not mentioned in this opening theological sentence; but it is implied in the first clause, \u201cwe are the circumcision,\u201d as is evidenced by vv. 6<\/a> and 9<\/a>. The key to that righteousness is here set forth by means of its primary new covenant components\u2014Christ and the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep Reading the New International Commentary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The New International Commentary<\/a> is a widely acclaimed commentary that faithfully combines superior scholarship, an evangelical view of Scripture as the Word of God, and concern for the life of faith today. Start reading any of the volumes in this series or get the entire set today through our store at the link below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How would you define the people of God today? What descriptors would you choose to use? Well, Paul provides his own answer to that question in his letter to the Philippians. He describes the people of God, the circumcision, as serving God by his Spirit, boasting in Christ Jesus, and putting no confidence in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":55922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7849],"tags":[5930],"class_list":{"0":"post-55916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentaries","8":"tag-new-international-commentary"},"yoast_head":"\nThe True Circumcision - Olive Tree Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's see how Paul describes the people of God, the true circumcision, in the Philippians volume of the New International Commentary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/the-true-circumcision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The True Circumcision\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How would you define the people of God today? What descriptors would you choose to use? Well, Paul provides his own answer to that question in his letter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/the-true-circumcision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Olive Tree Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OliveTreeBible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-06T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jon-tyson-0o9dgxEu5Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Hoffman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OliveTreeBible\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OliveTreeBible\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad Hoffman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brad Hoffman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging-blog.olivetree.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a5aa5788c774e9c21340b24cb3f5091b\"},\"headline\":\"The True Circumcision\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-06T14:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1703,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/jon-tyson-0o9dgxEu5Q-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"New International Commentary\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.olivetree.com\\\/blog\\\/the-true-circumcision\\\/\",\"name\":\"The True Circumcision - 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