Philippians 3:2

Beware of those people who are dangerous [MET] like wild dogs. They are dangerous evildoers [DOU]. Beware of them since they are like people who cut other people’s bodies [MET]. They will harm you spiritually by insisting that you must let someone circumcise you in order for you to become God’s people [MTY, MET].

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

In Context

1Now there are other things that I want to write about. My fellow believers, continue to rejoice because you belong to the Lord. Though I will now write to you about those same matters that I mentioned to you before, this is not tiresome for me, and it will protect you from those who would harm you spiritually.

3Those people think that they are God’s people because someone has circumcised them. But we, not they, are truly God’s people [MET], whether or not someone has circumcised us. God’s Spirit enables us to [MTY] worship God; we praise Christ Jesus because he has enabled us to become the people of God. We do not believe that God will consider/make us his people as a result of what someone has done to our bodies [MTY, SYN].

Read all of Philippians 3

Cross References

Psalms 22:16My enemies [MET] surround me like a pack/group of wild dogs. A group of evil men has encircled me, ready to attack me. They have already smashed my hands and my feet.

Psalms 119:115You evil people, stay away from me in order than I may obey ◄my God’s commands/what my God has commanded►!

Isaiah 56:10The Israeli leaders should be like watchdogs to protect the people, but it is as though they are blind. They are stupid. They are all like [MET] dogs that cannot bark. Good watchdogs bark when strangers approach, but the Israeli leaders do not warn the people that their enemies are coming. Instead, they just want to lie down and sleep and dream.

Matthew 7:15“Beware of people who come to you and say falsely that they are telling you what God has said. They seem to be harmless, but they are extremely harmful. They are like wolves that have covered themselves with sheepskins to make people believe that they are sheep [MET], but they actually are wolves that attack people [MET].

Matthew 24:10Also, many people will stop believing in me because of the way they will suffer. They will betray each other and will hate each other.

2 Corinthians 11:13Those men are lying when they say that they are apostles. They work deceitfully. Even though they say that they work for God, they are working only for themselves. They try to make people think that Christ sent them as his apostles, but they do not truly represent him.

Matthew Henry on Philippians 3:2-4

Description of True Christians. ( a. d. 62.) 1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. It seems the church of the Philippians, though a faithful and flourishing church, was disturbed by the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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