Philippians 3:2

‘Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision,'

The rapid change of subject without introduction was probably designed to wake up those who were hearing his words read out, as they were listening, and may possibly have begun to flag. It was a warning against the activities, either of the Jews, or of the Judaisers. The Jews may well have been seeking to win over the Philippian church on the grounds that Paul was a Jew, (although a little misguided), and that they were therefore bound to follow all Jewish customs, including circumcision. They probably saw the chance of making proselytes, as well as obtaining the ‘re-conversion' of people like Lydia. The Judaisers were those who, while believing that Christ was the Messiah, still sought to bind people to the full requirements of the ritual Law, seeing them as necessary for salvation.

It is an open question whether these were Jews who did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah, or whether they were Jews who did, but still considered that all the requirements of Judaism, including physical circumcision, still had to be followed. Either way the Philippians are warned to beware of them. They are to be seen as unfit to mix with (dogs were seen as unclean by Jews), their deeds (which were the foundation of their claim righteousness) were in fact evil (not springing from true faith in God), and their circumcision was now no longer valid, but was simply a bodily mutilation. The Jewish position was to be seen as no longer valid.

We should especially note the contrast between ‘the mutilated' in Philippians 3:2 and ‘the Circumcision' in Philippians 3:3. The Jews are no longer the Circumcision, and thus brought within the covenant. They are rather those who have been ‘cut off' from the true Israel (compare Romans 11:17). They are no longer Israel. They are the mutilated ones.

The description of them as ‘dogs' was not as offensive then as it is today. In those days dogs tended to gather outside the walls of cities, scavenging on what they could, and were thus seen by the Jews as an apt picture of the Gentiles who were outsiders and not within the Jewish community, and ate what was unclean. It was thus descriptive rather than insulting although certainly indicating that they were despised. Its application to Jews or Judaisers here was basically an indication that they were not truly of Israel (see Romans 9:6).