In Philippians 3:3, Paul said, “For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.” Here the apostle referred to service that is by the Spirit of God. According to the Greek, serve by the Spirit of God may also be translated as serve in the Spirit of God. This kind of service in the Spirit of God is service in Christ Jesus. Therefore, this verse also tells us that those who serve by the Spirit of God boast in Christ Jesus and not in the flesh. The first half of verse 7 reads, “But what things were gains to me.” From the context we know that the things that Paul referred to as gains to him were the items related to religion, because the items he criticized in the preceding verses were the items of religion. He was a real Jew, circumcised on the eighth day. He was also very zealous and was blameless according to the law. All these things pertained to the Jewish religion. Formerly he considered these things gain to him, but now he counted them as loss on account of Christ.
Concerning the matter of service, there is service according to religion, and there is also service according to revelation. What is service that is according to religion? Any service that is not in Christ, whether it is service that comes out of our natural being or service that comes from tradition, is service according to religion. Apart from Christ, we may have many thoughts and concepts that are evil, filthy, sinful, and against God. This is the bad side. However, there is also a good side that is apart from Christ. We may also have some good concepts. We may think about worshipping God and seeking after God, and we may also think about using different ways to serve God. This is the good side of our natural man. This good side includes things related to serving God and things related to human conduct. Serving God and human conduct constitute the two aspects of religion. To practice religion is to have certain beliefs related to these two aspects and to teach according to these beliefs. Hence, religion stresses worshipping God and teachings related to human conduct.
Religion is in man. If a person commits sin or does evil, he will not want to worship God. This is the evil side of the natural man. Nevertheless, the natural man also has a good side. When a person has the desire to do good, he spontaneously thinks about God and wants to worship and serve God. Since man has this thought regarding serving and worshipping God, he will automatically consider his living and think that he should conduct himself properly and do things well. All of this is religion. This is what we mean by service that is according to religion.
In terms of human conduct religion is good, admirable, and honorable, but in terms of God’s salvation and God’s revelation, even all these good things have to be put aside. They are hindrances to God’s salvation and opponents to God’s revelation. This matter is quite mysterious. If a person has no thought of God at all, that is, if he has no thought of religion at all, we will have no way to lead him to know God and worship God. In like manner, we cannot help a chicken or an ox to know God because they do not have the thought, the natural ability, or even the inclination to know God. They have no ideas about God and are not interested in God. When a person is living in sin, he may not have any interest in God. Yet when he feels miserable and depressed due to a certain situation, he will become interested in God because there is the thought of religion in him. It is because of this concept of religion that we are able to preach the gospel and lead people to know God. We can lead someone to God only when he has such a concept of religion. The mysterious thing is that a person must have this concept of religion for him to know God, but according to the Scriptures once he touches and knows God, he needs to put this concept of religion aside. Otherwise, this concept of religion will become a hindrance to his enjoyment of God’s salvation.
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