Charles Spurgeon Commentary Philippians 3

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1)

When you get to "finally," when you are very near the end of your journey, still rejoice in the Lord. "Finally," says Paul, as if this was the end of his epistle, the conclusion of all his teaching: Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. But never do it finally, never come to an end of it. Rejoice in the Lord, and yet again rejoice, and yet again rejoice; and as long as you live, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. (Philippians 3:1)

Some hearers are like the Athenian academicians; they want continually to hear something new. The apostle says, To have the same things written to you, is safe. So it is for you, dear friends; to have the same gospel, the same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit, made known to you, is safe. New doctrine is dangerous doctrine.

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,

They are like dogs. If they fawn upon you, they will sully you, if they do not bite you.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

It is as if to say, "If this were the last sentence that I should write to you, I would say, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." It is your privilege, it is your duty, to rejoice in God—not in your health, your wealth, your children, your prosperity, but in the Lord.

There is the unchanging and unbounded source of joy. It will do you no harm to rejoice in the Lord; the more you rejoice in him, the more spiritually-minded you will become. Finally, my brethren.

That is, even to the end (not the bitter end, in your case); but even to the end of life, rejoice in the Lord. Make this the conclusion of everything: the end of every day, the end of every year, the end of life. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Blessed is that religion in which it is a duty to be happy.

To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

Saying the same thing over and over again is Safe, for your minds do not catch the truth at the first hearing, and your memories are slippery.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

Let this be the end of everything; before you get to the end of it, and when you do get to the end of it, rejoice in the Lord. It is incumbent upon us, as Christians, to rise out of our despondencies.

Joy should be the normal state of the Christian. What a happy religion is ours in which it is a duty to be happy! Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe (Philippians 3:1).

To go over the same old truths again and again, to proclaim the same precepts, and teach the same doctrines, is not grievous to us, and it is safe for you to hear these things again and again. If they have not made their due impression upon you already, perhaps they will do so when they are repeated in your hearing. At any rate, it is safe for you to hear or read over and over again the old, old story with which you are already familiar.

Beware of dogs,—

Contentious persons,—persons of coarse and corrupt habits: Beware of dogs,—

Beware of evil workers,

However prettily they may talk, if they are workers of evil, beware of them. By their fruits you shall know them. Their speech may be clever, but if their lips are unclean, beware of them.

Beware of the concision.

Beware of the cutters off—those who excommunicate and cut off others because they happen not to agree with them fully in certain rites and ceremonies.