“Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To keep writing the same things to you is not troublesome for me—but for you it is a safeguard. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship by the Ruach Elohim and glory in Messiah Yeshua and have not depended on the flesh—though I myself might have confidence in the flesh also.
If anyone else thinks he might depend on the flesh, I far more—circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel; from the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the Torah, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting Messiah’s community; as for Torah righteousness, found blameless.
But whatever things were gain to me, these I have considered as loss for the sake of the Messiah. More than that, I consider all things to be loss in comparison to the surpassing value of the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things; and I consider them garbage in order that I might gain Messiah and be found in Him not having my righteousness derived from Torah, but one that is through trusting in Messiah—the righteousness from God based on trust. My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death—if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.” Philippians 3:1-11
Paul was a respected Jewish teacher and believer in Yeshua that I have come to appreciate more as I have gotten older and life experiences increasingly showed me the value of his wisdom. He reminds us of the importance of maintaining a proper foundation of faith. It is not enough to identify a certain way or be part of a particular group. As believers in Yeshua, despite how often we claim to want to follow God and God alone it is actually pretty easy for us to end up following other people based on superficial identity markers. We can easily confused familiarity with safety. But just because we may share an ethnic background with someone or even profession of faith that doesn’t mean they are a safe guide for morality. And it doesn’t mean that we are either.
Paul tells us of how he persecuted others in the past, yet in regard to surface level obedience to Torah, he seemed faultless. In so doing he gave us an important reminder that it is very possible to claim to honor the law of God while still missing the point. And the point is to be like God. As strange as it may sound, we can end up using the Bible to avoid the Bible. When we treat the Torah like a mere checklist of outward behaviors to complete, we can pat ourselves on the back for obeying outwardly while not actually changing inwardly. The point of the law must remain the point. And the law points us toward godliness. If we are not becoming more loving and caring it doesn’t matter how much we read the Torah, or how flawlessly we observe the Sabbath if kind hearts cannot be observed in us.
