Apostle Malm has been attempting to give his interpretation of Philippians on his blog. I will quote his interpretation of a verse and then show what well researched and established commentaries have to say about it. You will see that apostle Malm is full of hot air once again.
He writes:
Phillipians 3:2, Beware of dogs Now in
1611, King James English the word “dog” referred to a homosexual and
that is because a dog will try and mount anything, including your leg,
if it can get away with it. And because dogs, or many dogs, have an
uncontrolled sexual drive, those human beings who have an uncontrolled
sexual drive or lust, are referred to as dogs.
This is not a modern saying. It’s not something I invented. It’s the
language that was used in 1611. And the term dogs here refer to
homosexuals. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. That is the circumcision.
For we are the [true spiritually circumcised] circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh,
[who have no confidence in the things of man, who have no confidence in
carnal things or physical things. Our confidence is in God. We rejoice
in God and we are circumcised in heart.]
Here is what the Matthew Henry Commentary says. You can see why apostle Malm conveniently ignores these interpretations since it blatantly calls him a "dog" because of his false teaching and false prophecies.
I. He exhorts them to rejoice in the Lord
(Philippians 3:1),
to rest satisfied in the interest they had in him and the benefit they
hoped for by him. It is the character and temper of sincere Christians
to rejoice in Christ Jesus. The more we take of the comfort of our
religion the more closely we shall cleave to it: the more we rejoice in
Christ the more willing we shall be to do and suffer for him, and the
less danger we shalt be in of being drawn away from him. The joy of
the Lord is our strength,
Nehemiah 8:10.
II. He cautions them to take heed of those false teachers: To write
the same thing to you to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is
safe; that is, the same things which I have already preached to
you; as if he had said, "What has been presented to your ears shall be
presented to your eyes: what I have spoken formerly shall now be
written; to show that I am still of the same mind." To me indeed is
not grievous. Observe,
1. Ministers must not think any thing grievous to themselves which they
have reason to believe is safe and edifying to the people.
2. It is good for us often to hear the same truths, to revive the
remembrance and strengthen the impression of things of importance. It
is a wanton curiosity to desire always to hear some new thing. It is a
needful caution he here gives: Beware of dogs,
Philippians 3:2.
The prophet calls the false prophets dumb dogs
(Isaiah 56:10),
to which the apostle here seems to refer. Dogs, for their malice
against the faithful professors of the gospel of Christ, barking at
them and biting them. They cried up good works in opposition to the
faith of Christ; but Paul calls them evil workers: they boasted
themselves to be of the circumcision; but he calls them the concision:
they rent and tore the church of Christ, and cut it to pieces; or
contended for an abolished rite, a mere insignificant cutting of the
flesh.
The Bible Gateway has this to add about the "dogs"
First, watch out for those dogs. This metaphor is full of
"bite," since dogs were zoological low life, scavengers that were
generally detested by Greco-Roman society and considered unclean by
Jews, who sometimes used "dog" to designate Gentiles. Paul thus reverses
the epithet; by trying to make Gentiles "clean" through circumcision,
the Judaizers are unclean dogs.
Second, they are evildoers.
The clue to this usage lies in its position between "dogs" and "the
mutilation." Since both of these terms express reversals, it is arguable
that this one does as well. If so, then the irony derives from the
Psalter's repeated designation of the wicked as "those who work
iniquity." In trying to make Gentiles submit to Torah observance,
Judaizers (and their contemporary counterparts, the legalists) do not
work "righteousness" at all but evil, just as those in the Psalter work
iniquity because they have rejected God's righteousness.
Third,
and changing from the masculine plural to a pejorative description of
the Judaizers' activity, Paul warns, "Beware the mutilation," an ironic
reference to Gentile circumcision. The Greek word for circumcision is
peritome ( "to cut around"); katatome, used here, denotes "cutting to
pieces," hence "mutilate." This wordplay, especially the emphatic For it is we who are the circumcision
(v. 3), makes it certain this is the primary issue between Paul and
them. This is the most "cutting" epithet of all, the ultimate derogation
of circumcision, since the cognate verb occurs in Leviticus 21:5 (LXX)
prohibiting priests (who serve God) from cutting their flesh as pagan
priests did (cf. 1 Kings 18:28).
Then there is this from the Allen Turner Commentary:
2. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!. These
are very strong words addressed toward the Judaizers. The Jews referred
to the Gentiles as “dogs” and Paul hurls this name back at them. As evil
workers, their motives and actions are base. They are the kind of people
who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). Furthermore,
their circumcision (peritome), something the Judaizers took great pride
in and were trying to bind on the Gentiles, was nothing other than mutilation
(katatome). Changing the prefix of their favorite word, Paul stigmatized
these people as the “mutilation party.” They were not the true circumcision
at all!
The Easy English Bible Version Commentary states:
3 What he will say
next. He is now going to warn them about *Jewish Christians who were a danger
to the truth of the *gospel. This seems the most likely explanation. Those
*Jews denied that *salvation came only from God’s *grace. They said that
*Gentiles would not receive *salvation unless they first became *Jews by
*circumcision. *Gentiles must also obey all the *Jewish laws. Paul had spoken
against these ideas when the *Judaisers had first come to Antioch (Acts 15:1).
He had written to the Christians in Galatia. In that letter, he emphasised how
wrong this *doctrine was. Philippi had few *Jews. But it was on a major *Roman
road, the Egnatian Way. So these *Jews could easily travel from church to
church. They were enemies of the true *faith.
Verse 2 Paul warns the Christians at Philippi three times. He
describes the *Judaisers in three ways. He uses three *Greek words that begin
with the letter ‘k’. These words show the depth of Paul’s feelings. And the
three initial letters would help Christians at Philippi to remember them.
1 ‘dogs’. These
were not family pets but wild dirty animals. The name ‘dogs’ described everyone
who was miserable and without value. It was the name by which *Jews spoke about
*Gentiles. Paul gave the name back to the *Jews in order to describe them and
their *doctrine as dirty and dangerous.
The John Gill Commentary states;
Philippians 3:2
Beware of dogs
By whom are meant the "judaizing" teachers, who were for imposing the
works and ceremonies of the law upon the Gentiles, as necessary to
salvation; and they have the name retorted on them they used to give to
the Gentiles; see ( Matthew 15:26 Matthew 15:27 ) ; nor should they think it too severe, since the Jews themselves say F16,
``the face of that generation (in which the Messiah shall come) shall he, (blkh ynpk) , "as the face of a dog".''
The apostle calls them so, because they returned to Judaism, as the dog to its vomit, ( 2 Peter 2:22
) ; and because of the uncleanness in which many of them lived, and the
impudence they were guilty of in transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ, and putting themselves upon an equal foot with them;
as also for their calumny and detraction, their wrangling with the
apostles, snarling at their doctrines, and biting them with the
devouring words of reproach and scandal: likewise, they may be styled
dogs for their covetousness, being such greedy ones as in ( Isaiah 56:10
) , with feigned words making merchandise of men; and for their love of
their, bellies, which they served, and not Christ, and made a god of, (
Philippians 3:19 ) . Moreover, because they were without, as dogs are, ( Revelation 22:15
) ; having gone out from the communion of the saints, because they were
not of them; or if among them, yet not true members of Christ, nor of
his mystical body; all which are so many arguments why the saints should
beware of them, and why their persons, conversation, and doctrine
should be avoided.
And finally, the Clarke Commentary that Armstrongism holds as authoritative
Clarke's Commentary on the Bible
Beware
of dogs - The Jews, who have here the same appellative which they
formerly gave to the Gentiles: because the Gentiles were not included in
the covenant, they called them Dogs; and themselves, the children of
the Most High. Now, they are cast out of the covenant and the Gentiles
taken in; therefore they are the dogs, and the Gentiles the children.
Evil workers - Judaizing teachers, who endeavored to pervert the Gospel.
The
concision - Κατατομην· The cutting or excision; not περιτομην, the
circumcision: the word is used by the apostle to degrade the pretensions
which the Jews made to sanctity by the cutting in their flesh.
Circumcision was an honorable thing, for it was a sign of the covenant;
but as they now had rejected the new covenant, their circumcision was
rendered uncircumcision, and is termed a cutting, by way of degradation.
All of these are only on the first page of a Google search that apparently apostle Malm failed to do. Instead he opened his mouth and made another inaccurate teaching making a total ass of himself again. Is he running from the fact that he has been labeled a "dog" by the very Bible he claims to follow?
