When
pastors serve for a long time with the same congregation, sooner or
later they realize they are probably repeating themselves. “As you
have heard me say before . . .” can become a common
refrain after some years.
As
Philippians 3 opens, Paul notes that he is repeating some
instructions that are very important. “I know I have mentioned this
before, but it bears repeating,” he says, in effect: “Stay true
to God! Watch out for those who detract from God’s grace by making
you think you have to contribute to your salvation!” When the
matters at hand are important, reminders are a good idea.
Paul
knew that the situation required repetitions to warn about false
teachers who promoted things like circumcision as a way to make sure
you had salvation. Apparently teachers like this followed Paul around
and waited till he left town before sneaking in with false teachings.
We see evidence of this in Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the
Corinthians as well.
Some
people could not accept that salvation is by grace alone. They
figured they had to do something to seal the deal. But Paul’s
response was always “No!” As we have seen in this letter, being
saved by grace does change us into people who begin to act
differently. But those actions are a fruit of salvation, not the
root. Paul could not remind people of that idea often enough! And we
need constant reminders of it too.