Philippians 3:3

θεοῦ. So א*ABCD2c, 17 37, and many other cursives, copt, Amb Aug. St Augustine says (de Trin. i. 13) that Græci codices omnes, aut pæne omnes, are for this reading, while in nonnullis … Latinis he finds spiritu Deo. אc D2*, syr (pesh) vulg goth arm æth, Orig Chr Vict read θεῷ. All modern Editors θεοῦ.

3. ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή. Cp. esp. Galatians 3:7; Galatians 3:29, εἰ ὑμεῖς Χριστοῦ, ἄρα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ σπέρμα ἐστέ, κατʼ ἐπαγγελίαν κληρόνομοι, and Ephesians 2:11; Ephesians 2:19, οἱ λεγόμενοι� … συμπολῖται [ἐστὲ] τῶν ἁγίων, κτλ.

οἱ πνεύματι θεοῦ λατρεύοντες. “Who worship by the Spirit of God” (R.V.). On the reading, see critical note. In this reading λατρεύειν is used without an expressed object, as in e.g. Luke 2:37, λατρεύουσα νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν. The verb originally means any sort of service (λάτρις, ancilla), domestic or otherwise; but in Biblical Greek usage gives it an almost invariable connexion (see Deuteronomy 28:48 for an exception) with the service of worship, and occasionally (e.g. Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 13:10) with the worship of priestly ritual. Probably this use is in view here. The Apostle claims the spiritual believer as the true priest of the true rite.

πνεύματι θεοῦ. For this phrase (πνεῦμα θεοῦ) in St Paul see Romans 8:9; Romans 8:14; 1 Corinthians 7:40; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 3:3. See 2 Corinthians 3 at large for the supremely significant place given by St Paul in the Gospel message to the gift and work of the Holy Spirit.

καυχώμενοι. “Exulting,” “glorying.” The verb occurs here only in the Epistle; καύχημα occurs Philippians 1:26; Philippians 2:16. The idea is a joy emphatically triumphant, the travesty of which would be boastfulness. Cp. Galatians 6:13, ἐμοὶ … μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ, κτλ.

What national and ritual privilege seemed to the Judaist, that CHRIST JESUS was to the Christian; pedestal and crown, righteousness and glory.

καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες. Lit., “and not in flesh confiding.” The words suggest, by their arrangement, that we Christians have a “confidence,” but that it is in something better than “the flesh.”

Σάρξ: the word has occurred twice already, Philippians 1:22; Philippians 1:24, obviously in the sense of bodily conditions of life. Here, in a moral context, it has to be illustrated by e.g. Romans 7:5, ὅτε ἦμεν ἐν τῇ σαρκί: Romans 8:9, οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκί, ἀλλὰ ἐν πνεύματι: Galatians 3:3, ἐναρξάμενοι πνεύματι, νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε: Galatians 5:19, τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός: Galatians 6:12, εὐπροσωπῆσαι ἐν σαρκί. Reviewing these and other like places in St Paul, we find that a fair practical equivalent for the word here is “self,” as used e.g. in the English of Lavater’s hymn (O Jesus Christus, wachs in mir):

“Make this poor self grow less and less,

Be Thou my life and aim.”

It denotes man as apart from God, and then at discord with God. Accordingly it often comes to stand for whatever in man is not subject to the Holy Spirit; and so reaches what is its practical meaning here—anything, other than God, taken by man for his trust and strength, e.g. religious observances, traditional privilege and position, personal religious reputation. From this whole region the Christian’s πεποίθησις is transferred to Christ and His Spirit.