Philippians 3:2-4 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“2Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh! 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself could have such confidence.”

Who are The Dogs?

Who are the “dogs” being spoken of here? In context, I believe they are referring to the Judaizers who were trying to convince the Gentile Christians that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved, which is a lie. But this is not limited just to the Judaizers, is it? What is the broader picture here? They are spiritual predators who feed off of others. So, what does that look like? They are the spiritually unclean, unholy, idolatrous, unfaithful, and adulterous, who are evil workers of the flesh opposed to God’s commands.

They may give off the appearance of being Christians, and they may be charming and winsome people who appear good on the outside, but inside they are full of wickedness. Inside they are plotting evil against other humans. They are thieves and robbers and liars spoken of in John 10:1-13 who give an outward appearance of being “good guys” while inwardly they are ravenous wolves out to destroy the church. They can be winsome, but be deceptive, and they may lead God’s people into sin instead of out of it.

So, we need to be people of God who are people of discernment who are students of the Scriptures who are following the Lord in obedience to His commands so that we do not fall into the devil’s traps, i.e. the traps set by these “dogs,” i.e. these workers of evil who may appear good on the outside. And we need to be those who are testing the spirits to see whether or not they are of God or of human flesh, and we need to test them against the Scriptures, but within the appropriate biblical context and not out of context.

For many lies are being spread by liars and deceivers who are teaching the Scriptures out of context. They pick verses out of the Scriptures, remove them from their context, and then they make them say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. And from those they teach false doctrines of salvation, convincing the sinners that they do not have to put sin to death in their lives but that God will still receive them. And they teach that we don’t have to obey God, for they call that “works salvation.”

So, be students of the Scriptures who study them in their context who test what you are hearing to make certain that it is of God and not of flesh.

Philippians 3:10-16 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

“12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

“15All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. 16Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.”

Progressive Salvation

Our faith and our salvation is not a one-time thing which happens in our life, done deal, and now we are good to go to heaven regardless of how we live. The Scriptures teach our faith and salvation as progressive, as something that has a beginning but that is active and ongoing in our lives and which must continue to the very end if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And NO, this is NOT “works salvation.” This is what Jesus Christ and His New Testament apostles taught as the gospel of Christ.

For Jesus Christ gave His life up for us on that cross to deliver us out of bondage (addiction) to sin so we will now serve the Lord with our lives. And, yes, it is possible that we might still sin sometimes, but sin should no longer be our practice, our habit, our addiction. For by faith in Jesus Christ we must deny self, die to sin daily, and walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands in life practice. Lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other people.

As followers of Christ we should be daily growing in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord and to His commands. Sin and disobedience to God should no longer be our habit, what we keep going back to over and over again. And in order for us to truly forget what is behind us, it has to be literally behind us. We are not to forget and ignore sinful patterns of behavior (addiction) in our lives if they still exist. Those patterns of behavior need to be examined for what they are and they need to be dealt with.

For we cannot move forward if what we think is behind us is still with us, i.e. still our “go to.” So if you are someone who keeps repeating the same sins over and over, and this goes on for many years (20,30,40,50,60), you need to have a heart examination to determine the source. For the Scriptures teach us “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (See Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 6:45). So put these things behind you.

And then you can press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of our lives, which was to deliver us out of slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now serve and obey Him with our lives. And then we can press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. And then we can live up to what we have already attained. Then we are no longer walking in circles, repeating the same sins over again, but now we are moving forward by the grace of God living up to what has been attained.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Watch Out for Those Workers of Evil
An Original Work / September 16, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Open My Heart

An Original Work / July 2, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” (Rm. 16:19b).

Open my heart. Let Your truth in.
Make of me a servant, pure within;
Sing of Your praise all of my days.
Let Your Spirit transform all my ways.
Jesus Christ died on a cross to
Save me from my sin.
“Repent of sin. Be cleansed within.
Obey all of His commands today.”

“Why do you doubt? Why do you fear?
Jesus Christ will wipe away your tears.
He cares for you. He feels your pain.
Die to sin, and life with Him you’ll gain.
Follow Him where’er He leads you.
Talk with Him each day.
Then you will know what He has planned
For your life before your world began.”

“Come unto Me, weary in heart.
Let My love and grace to you impart.
Believe in Me. Trust in My care.
Take your burdens to the Lord in prayer.
He will meet all of your needs,
And give you peace within.
Rejoice in Him! Tell of His love.
He will give you comfort from above.”