Warning

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.” (Philippians 3:2)

Paul’s warning about “dogs” was not the cute little critters many folks keep around the house as a pet. The word “dogs” in the Bible is sometimes a reference to male Sodomite cult prostitutes. It can be a reference to the dogs referred to in Psalms 22:16 where in the prophecy of Christ on the cross it is said, “For dogs have compassed me.”  The reference to dogs in our text is perhaps a reference to wild, vicious, marauding dogs which would sometimes get in a flock of sheep and kill or scatter them.

Evil workers are those who are given to sinful ways. They have nothing to do with God or God’s people. They are like those before the flood in Noah’s day; “the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

And finally, there were the Judaizers, called the concision, like those in Acts fifteen who insisted that one must become a Jew before he could be saved.

These warnings were necessary then and are still necessary today as false prophets abound, as well as the evil workers and those who make salvation a thing to be earned by good deeds, religious rites and ceremonies.