It Is We Who Worship By The Spirit

Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh! For 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— though I myself could have such confidence.
Philippians 3:1-4

In Philippians 3:3-4, Paul contrasts worship by the Spirit with putting no confidence in flesh.

Confidence in the flesh, in the original context, was to seek to relate to God (worship) through the law of Moses (human effort).

Entrance into the law of Moses was through circumcision.

Relating to God through the law of Moses was seeking to have a right standing before God (righteousness) through the law.

The law of Moses was based upon morality and religious activity.

The thought was that through morality and religious activity, one could gain a right standing with God (righteousness), enabling him to be close to God (worship).

Yet Paul in Philippians 3 says he once pursued righteousness through the law but now received righteousness through faith in Jesus apart from the law.

He now related to God by the Spirit of Jesus who lived him and not by the law of Moses.

During this time, the Judaizers (those who combined law and grace for righteousness) said that to be righteous before God, circumcision was required.

They were adding to the cross, saying the cross was not enough.

Paul called these Judaizers “mutilators of the flesh."

Paul’s point was that a righteous standing before God and a relationship with God was not achieved through morality and religious activity but through faith in Jesus.

Those who place their faith in Jesus are declared righteous by God and relate to God through the Spirit of Jesus in them.

Paul, in Philippians 3, as well as in letters he wrote to other churches, provides insight for us into what he meant by “worship by the Spirit.”

In Philippians 3, he writes that we do not relate to God through religious rituals or requirement but through the Spirit of God, which indwells our hearts.

Paul says in Philippians 3 that our religious works, heritage, traditions, rituals, and requirements have no power to make us righteous in God’s sight.

The only way we can become righteous before God is by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus.

Paul described all of his previous religious attempts at becoming righteous before God as worthless, saying that none of them compared to knowing Jesus.

As a result, he discarded all of his religious attempts for becoming righteous before God and embraced only what Jesus had done for him to make him righteous before God.

Paul now worshiped God, or related to God in a love relationship, by the Spirit of Jesus who lived in him.

The Spirit of Jesus in him brought Paul into a relationship with God where he called God his loving Father (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:4-6).

He no longer lived as a slave under the law of Moses, meaning the Ten Commandments, where he related to God as a judge, bringing fear, condemnation, and death.

Rather, as a dearly loved son of God, he now related to God in peace, liberty, and life through the Spirit of Jesus in him (see Romans 3-8; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

The Spirit of Jesus in the hearts of believers writes on the hearts of believers the eternal truths of the new covenant of grace.

The Spirit writes that God is not counting our sins against us, and that we are reconciled to God and righteous before him (2 Corinthians 3:1-6:2).

The Spirit does not write on our hearts the requirements of the law, which would bring fear and bondage.

Instead, the Spirit writes on our hearts the truths of God’s abundant provision of grace, which bring peace and liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

According to Paul, to worship the Spirit is relating to God in freedom through the new covenant of grace by the Spirit of Jesus who lives in us, rather than through the bondage of the old covenant of law which stood outside of us.

The Judaizers were mixing the covenants together.

By the Spirit, we relate to God in a love relationship rather than through a list of religious rules and requirements.

The Spirit of Jesus writes on the hearts of those whose eyes have been opened to see the revelation of God’s grace all that he has done for us through the new covenant of grace.

Through this revelation of the new covenant of grace by the Spirit of Jesus in us, we are able to discard all of the rituals, rules, and requirements of the religious system we were once in bondage to.

Now, by the Spirit of Jesus in us, we are enabled to enjoy all that God has freely, fully, and forever done for us in Christ as we relate to God in a love relationship.