The Meaning of Philippians 3:2 Explained

Philippians 3:2

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

YLT: look to the dogs, look to the evil-workers, look to the concision;

Darby: See to dogs, see to evil workmen, see to the concision.

ASV: Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Philippians 3:2 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Jesus and other prophets used the term "dogs" to refer to opponents of God"s truth ( Matthew 7:6; cf. Deuteronomy 23:18; 1 Samuel 17:43; 1 Samuel 24:14; Proverbs 26:11; Isaiah 56:10-11). The Jews habitually referred to Gentiles contemptuously as dogs (cf. Matthew 15:21-28). In ancient times many dogs were unclean, wild, vicious animals that threatened the safety of everyone.
"Paul now hurls this term of contempt back "on the heads of its authors" ..., for to Paul the Jews were the real pariahs that defile the holy community, the Christian church, with their erroneous teaching." [1]
"This metaphor is full of "bite," ... Paul thus reverses the epithet; by trying to make Gentiles "clean" through circumcision, the Judaizers are unclean "dogs."" [2]
The phrase "evil workers" (NABS) stresses the evil character of their labors. However "false circumcision" (NASB) or "mutilators of the flesh" (NIV, cf. Galatians 5:12) gives us the most insight into exactly whom Paul had in mind. [3]
These were evidently the Judaizers that plagued Paul and his converts throughout his ministry. O"Brien gave six options that scholars have suggested concerning the identity of this group, and he defended their being different from the opponents whom Paul mentioned in Philippians 1:14-17. [4] They taught that people could only enter the church through the vestibule of Judaism, and that once inside they needed to submit to the Mosaic Law. This was the Song of Solomon -called "Galatian heresy" that Paul dealt with extensively in his epistle to the Galatians. They emphasized circumcision because it was the rite that brought a person into Judaism, which they viewed as a prerequisite to justification (cf. Acts 15:1). False circumcision refers to circumcision for the wrong reasons, namely, circumcision contrary to the revelation of God in Scripture.

Context Summary

Philippians 3:1-12 - Losing All To Know Christ
Precept must be on precept, line on line. The false teachers who dogged Paul's steps insisted on rigid conformity to Judaism, with its rabbinical accretions, as the condition of being saved by Christ. Paul's answer was that he had gone through all the requirements of Judaism, but had found it absolutely unsatisfactory and inefficient to subdue the sin of his soul. But in Christ he had found everything he needed. What had been gain to him now seemed but dross. He had found the pearl of great price, and was only too glad to sacrifice all else to purchase and keep it, as the talisman of complete victory.
The essence of Judaism was not external but within. True circumcision was deliverance from the self-life, and that could only be gained by the Cross of Christ. The "Israelite indeed," like Nathanael, had three traits of character-his worship was spiritual, he gloried in the Crucified, and he was delivered from reliance upon the self-life. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to know Jesus in the intimacy of personal fellowship, to feel the pulse of His resurrection life, to experience the power of His death, and to realize the whole of His divine program. For this we might be more than content to trample on our boasted pride. [source]

Chapter Summary: Philippians 3

1  He warns them to beware of the false teachers;
4  showing that himself has greater cause than they to trust in the righteousness of the law;
7  which he counts as loss, to gain Christ and his righteousness;
12  acknowledging his own imperfection and pressing on toward the goal;
15  He exhorts them to be thus minded;
17  and to imitate him,
18  and to decline carnal ways

Greek Commentary for Philippians 3:2

Beware [βλεπετε]
Three times for urgency and with different epithet for the Judaizers each time. [source]
The dogs [τους κυνας]
The Jews so termed the Gentiles which Jesus uses in a playful mood Paul here turns the phrase on the Judaizers themselves. The evil workers (τους κακους εργατας — tous kakous ergatas). He had already called the Judaizers “deceitful workers” (εργαται δολιοι — ergatai dolioi) in 2 Corinthians 11:13. The concision Late word for incision, mutilation (in contrast with περιτομη — peritomē circumcision). In Symmachus and an inscription. The verb κατατεμνω — katatemnō is used in the lxx only of mutilations (Leviticus 21:5; 1 Kings 18:28). [source]
The evil workers [τους κακους εργατας]
He had already called the Judaizers “deceitful workers” (εργαται δολιοι — ergatai dolioi) in 2 Corinthians 11:13. [source]
The concision [την κατατομην]
Late word for incision, mutilation (in contrast with περιτομη — peritomē circumcision). In Symmachus and an inscription. The verb κατατεμνω — katatemnō is used in the lxx only of mutilations (Leviticus 21:5; 1 Kings 18:28). [source]
Beware [βλέπετε]
Lit., look to. Compare Mark 4:24; Mark 8:15; Luke 21:8. [source]
Dogs []
Rev., correctly, the dogs, referring to a well-known party - the Judaizers. These were nominally Christians who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but as the Savior of Israel only. They insisted that Christ's kingdom could be entered only through the gate of Judaism. Only circumcised converts were fully accepted by God. They appeared quite early in the history of the Church, and are those referred to in Acts 15:1. Paul was the object of their special hatred and abuse. They challenged his birth, his authority, and his motives. “'Paul must be destroyed,' was as truly their watchword as the cry for the destruction of Carthage had been of old to the Roman senator” (Stanley, “Sermons and Lectures on the Apostolic Age”). These are referred to in Phlippians 1:16; and the whole passage in the present chapter, from Phlippians 3:3to Phlippians 3:11, is worthy of study, being full of incidental hints lurking in single words, and not always apparent in our versions; hints which, while they illustrate the main point of the discussion, are also aimed at the assertions of the Judaizers. Dogs was a term of reproach among both Greeks and Jews. Homer uses it of both women and men, implying shamelessness in the one, and recklessness in the other. Thus Helen: “Brother-in-law of me, a mischief devising dog” (“Iliad,” vi., 344). Teucer of Hector: “I cannot hit this raging dog” (“Iliad,” viii., 298). Dr. Thomson says of the dogs in oriental towns: “They lie about the streets in such numbers as to render it difficult and often dangerous to pick one's way over and amongst them - a lean, hungry, and sinister brood. They have no owners, but upon some principle known only to themselves, they combine into gangs, each of which assumes jurisdiction over a particular street; and they attack with the utmost ferocity all canine intruders into their territory. In those contests, and especially during the night, they keep up an incessant barking and howling, such as is rarely heard in any European city. The imprecations of David upon his enemies derive their significance, therefore, from this reference to one of the most odious of oriental annoyances” (“Land and Book,” Central palestine and Phoenicia, 593). See Psalm 59:6; Psalm 22:16. Being unclean animals, dogs were used to denote what was unholy or profane. So Matthew 7:6; Revelation 22:15. The Israelites are forbidden in Deuteronomy to bring the price of a dog into the house of God for any vow: Deuteronomy 23:18. The Gentiles of the Christian era were denominated “dogs” by the Jews, see Matthew 15:26. Paul here retorts upon them their own epithet. [source]
Evil workers []
Compare deceitful workers, 2 Corinthians 11:13. [source]
Concision [κατατομήν]
Only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb occurs in the Septuagint only, of mutilations forbidden by the Mosaic law. See Leviticus 21:5. The noun here is a play upon περιτομή circumcisionIt means mutilation. Paul bitterly characterizes those who were not of the true circumcision (Romans 2:28, Romans 2:29; Colossians 2:11; Ephesians 2:11) as merely mutilated. Compare Galatians 5:12, where he uses ἀποκόπτειν tocut off, of those who would impose circumcision upon the Christian converts: “I would they would cut themselves off who trouble you;” that is, not merely circumcise, but mutilate themselves like the priests of Cybele. [source]

What do the individual words in Philippians 3:2 mean?

Beware of the dogs evil workers the false circumcision
Βλέπετε τοὺς κύνας κακοὺς ἐργάτας τὴν κατατομήν

Βλέπετε  Beware  of 
Parse: Verb, Present Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: βλέπω  
Sense: to see, discern, of the bodily eye.
κύνας  dogs 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: κύων  
Sense: a dog.
κακοὺς  evil 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: κακός  
Sense: of a bad nature.
ἐργάτας  workers 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: ἐργάτης  
Sense: a workman, a labourer.
κατατομήν  false  circumcision 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: κατατομή  
Sense: to cut up, mutilation.