New Testament in a Year

Footnotes

1. Philippians 3:1 In a Letter that seemed to be coming to an end, a new subject is introduced. Paul is opposing the Jews or Jewish Christians who regard the practice of certain rites as indispensable, notably circumcision, even for those who believe in Christ. Christianity is total union with Christ in the greatest spiritual freedom. It cannot consist—like Judaism—in meticulous practices that lead to formalism. There is no salvation except in Jesus Christ, as the Letters to the Romans and to the Galatians demonstrate at length. Anything else is a human practice that pertains to the order of the flesh.
   If the word “circumcision” must be used, it can refer only to the circumcision of the heart; if there is need to speak of worship, it can only be a spiritual worship. Christ has now become the sole focus of Paul’s interest; his entire life will be dedicated to knowing Christ, the Lord and Savior of the world, and making him known to others.
2. Philippians 3:2 Dogs: this is the name given to Gentiles by Jews (see Mt 15:26); here it is applied ironically to the Judaizers (see Gal 5:12). Those who mutilate the flesh: i.e., the Judaizers who insist that the Gentile Christians must agree to submit to circumcision (see Gal 5:12).
3. Philippians 3:3 We are the circumcision: Christians are the true People of God and offspring of Abraham (see Gal 3:7, 29; 6:15).
4. Philippians 3:4 Paul had everything needed to forge for himself a brilliant career in Judaism, and he dreamed about it. He was a Jew of the most elite tribe and the most rigorous sect as well as a zealous advocate and defender of his religion. His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus—a Jesus who identified himself totally with his followers and who loved him unconditionally—turned everything upside down for Paul.
   Henceforth, Christ becomes his sole interest. His very existence will be the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, that is, communion in his Paschal Mystery of dying and rising to new life, and participation in his work for the salvation of the world. One thing is evident for Paul: human beings can become fully realized only by giving themselves to Christ without reservation.
5. Philippians 3:5 The tribe of Benjamin was descended from the one son of Jacob who was born in Palestine (Gen 35:16f), and it had always been faithful to the Davidic dynasty. The Jerusalem temple was in the territory of Benjamin.
6. Philippians 3:12 Grasped by Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul strains toward him with his whole being, and this aim of his life energizes all his forces. The Christian life is inner growth, deepening, and development, and Paul loves to describe it as a course to be run. Once anyone has begun the race, there cannot be any stopping: “If you say ‘Enough,’ you are already dead” (St. Augustine). Those who have already “reached perfection” are Christians whose faith can be termed “mature.”
7. Philippians 3:17 Paul stresses that the Christian life is carried along by a profound hope. We turn that hope away from its goal when we fix its fulfillment in the realities of earth and even more when we polarize it on failed religious practices. Paul was probably thinking of the Jewish dietary customs and the circumcision that some Jewish-Christian preachers wanted to impose on new communities.
8. Philippians 3:17 Join in imitating me: since Paul’s wholehearted imitation of Christ is well known to his readers (1 Cor 4:6; 11:1; Phil 4:9; 1 Thes 1:6; 2 Thes 3:7, 9), he encourages them to follow his example in that respect.
9. Philippians 3:20 Our citizenship is in heaven: Christians are, as it were, aliens in this world, for their real home is heaven. They are not of the world but fully involved in it (see Jn 17:14-16; 1 Cor 7:29-31; 1 Pet 2:11).