Acts 6:1 tells us that there was a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were overlooked in the daily dispensing. This indicates that the failure in being overcome by racial differences was in the matter of eating.
The problem in Acts 6 in the matter of eating caused the practice of having all things common (Acts 2:44-45) to wane. Eventually, that practice was discontinued because it did not work well. The reason the practice of having all things common did not work well was mainly the racial difference. The Hellenistic Jews were somehow despised and mistreated by the typical Jews. As a result, there was murmuring concerning the daily dispensing. This led to the waning of the practice of having all things common.
Another failure was that of bringing in the legal practices of the Old Testament (Acts 15:1-2). This damaged the church life in the first century during the lifetime of the first group of apostles.
Acts 15:1 says, “Certain men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” The men who came down from Judea had a strong purpose to exercise Judaic influence on the Gentile believers. The claim that unless one is circumcised according to the custom of Moses he cannot be saved is an annulling of the faith in God’s New Testament economy, and it is a real heresy.
Circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and a particular diet are the three strongest ordinances according to the law of Moses that caused the Jews to be distinct and separate from the Gentiles, who are regarded by them as unclean. All these scriptural ordinances of the Old Testament dispensation became an obstacle to the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles according to God’s New Testament dispensation (Col. 2:16). Acts 15:1 speaks of the custom of Moses. To keep the custom of Moses, that is, to practice the outward ordinances of the law, is not only to nullify the grace of God and make Christ’s death of no effect (Gal. 2:21), but also to bring the believers, whom Christ has set free, back to the slavery of law (Gal. 5:1; 2:4).
Circumcision was an outward ordinance inherited by the Jews from their forefathers, beginning from Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). This ordinance made the Jews distinct and separate from the Gentiles. Circumcision became a dead, traditional formality, a mere mark on the flesh without any spiritual significance, and it became a great obstacle to the spread of God’s gospel according to His New Testament economy (Gal. 2:3-4; 6:12-13; Phil. 3:2). To be circumcised in God’s New Testament economy is to make Christ of no profit to the believers (Gal. 5:2).
The teaching that one must be circumcised in order to be saved annuls Christ’s redemption, God’s grace, and the entire New Testament economy of God. Therefore, in Acts 15 Paul and Barnabas could not tolerate this heresy, and they “had no little dissension and discussion” (v. 2) with those who had come down from Judea and taught it to the Christian brothers. Here Paul and Barnabas were contending for the faith (Jude 3) against one of the greatest heresies so that the truth of the gospel might remain with the believers (Gal. 2:5).
In Philippians 3:2 Paul uses the word “concision,” meaning “mutilation”; it is a contemptuous term for circumcision. Originally the word “circumcision” was a term of honor among Jews. But when the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, fleshly circumcision was no longer honorable but dishonorable. Therefore, he used the word concision, a term of despite.
In Philippians 3:2 Paul was very bold, saying, “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.” Since there is no conjunction used in this verse between these three clauses, they must refer to the same class of people. Dogs are unclean (Lev. 11:4-8), the workers are evil, and the concision are those deserving contempt. The “dogs” refer to the Judaizers. In nature they are unclean dogs, in behavior they are evil workers, and in religion they are the concision, people of shame. Paul certainly is very strong in charging the Philippians to beware of the dogs, the evil workers, the concision. Here Paul is saying that the Judaizers, those who promote circumcision, are dogs.
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