Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.
Summary: Paul’s use of name-calling serves a specific purpose, and it might not be what you expect.
There is a saying I remember from childhood when someone had harsh words to say about someone else — they would say, “Them’s fighting words!” If somebody were to call you a “dog,” you might feel inclined to defend your honor. If so, that is because “dog,” “evildoer,” and “mutilator of the flesh” all fall into the “fighting words” category.
Is Paul really looking for a fight?
I don’t think so.
It is not that Paul couldn’t defend himself if needed. Anybody who survives the kind of abuse he put up with had to be tough, so being able to take care of himself was not the issue.
Besides, remember what Paul said about who our enemy really is? In his letter to the Ephesians, he wrote:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
So why is Paul so derogatory?
If we could ask him, I think he would give us an answer similar to the instructions he gave Titus, who was on the Island of Crete. He explains that people need correction because they are “rebellious” and “full of meaningless talk and deception” (Titus 1:10). He particularly singles out the same people he is talking about in our passage for this meditation: the circumcision group.
His advice?
“[R]ebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.” (Titus 1:13-14)
Notice that he draws a distinction between judging someone’s fitness for heaven and judging what they say about the Gospel (Romans 14:10–12). He wants believers to be “sound in the faith,” so he does everything he can think of to warn believers away from false gospels.
Yes, these are harsh words, maybe even fighting words. Yet, if they are fighting words, it is because Paul is “fighting” to preserve the Gospel as it was revealed to him by Jesus. Paul uses them sparingly and very specifically.
Because they are so obvious, it is easy to copy Paul’s behavior and miss the nuance of how he used his words. Yet, even when they are misused, they serve God’s purposes. “For the word of God is alive and active… it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Application: Watch out for dogs! (Not the fuzzy kind, but the type that perverts the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)
Food for Thought: When is it okay for a believer to use strong words like Paul uses in this passage?
When is it okay for a believer to use strong words like Paul uses in this passage?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Begins with: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
In the Ephesians passages as well as the passages below, God has instructed the writers of His word to record the truth that there is a time for soft words of encouragement, and a time for louder, stronger words to very clearly express a specific point to those who simply do not want to listen or receive the truth.
John 2:15, And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, Jesus drove the money changers.
Thank you, Ron.
I wrote today’s meditation before the news hit yesterday that Charlie Kirk had been assassinated. There is much to say on this topic, but for now I would like to ask that people remember there is a difference between words and actions. To take someone’s life because of their words is … beyond comprehension to a civilized mind. Before our country lets civilization slip away, let us all pray that God’s Spirit will stay the violence in people’s hearts and awaken the love that God has shown us in the life and death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Thanks brother. I agree. There is a battle and we need to use a megaphone to lovingly and boldly speak truth. The truth is meant to be shouted, not whispered. We often whisper truth so as not to offend. Jesus didn’t whisper truth, neither should we.
The Cross Still Offends
By Pastor Rich Bitterman
The bullet tore the air in half.
A folding chair rattled. A Bible dropped. A young man slumped sideways beneath a white event tent, eyes wide with the weight of eternity.
It was supposed to be a conversation. A “prove me wrong” segment. But this time, rebuttal came not with words, but with a rifle.
Charlie Kirk didn’t get to finish his sentence.
I got the news just before prayer meeting. I contemplated this death as I prepared to lead the saints in prayer. But I didn’t feel like praying. Not tonight. My hands were still. My mouth was ready. But my soul was pacing. Angry. Grieving. Tempted.
Tempted to grow quiet.
Tempted to sit this one out.
Tempted to wonder if any of this, faith, boldness, public gospel witness, is still worth it.
Because hatred in this country isn’t simmering anymore. It is boiling.
Europe is trembling. Israel is burning. Rockets lit the sky over Gaza again. And now, here on American soil, the blood of a Christian apologist paints the pavement of a university quad.
What do you do with that?
What do you say when courage gets gunned down in daylight?
Charlie Kirk was no perfect man. None of us are.
But he had backbone where most of us don’t anymore. He was a believer. Unashamed. Unafraid. He understood that real conversations only happen when truth is welcome at the table. And the truth he carried most was Christ.
He brought the gospel into public space on purpose. Because the gospel isn’t supposed to stay in church basements and private Bible studies. It is meant to confront. It is supposed to offend. It was not made for safety.
The Word became flesh and they nailed Him to a tree.
So of course they came for Charlie.
Of course they reached for a gun.
This is what evil does when it runs out of arguments. It doesn’t reason. It kills.
That’s the part that catches in my throat. Not just the sadness, but the strategy of hell behind it.
The Enemy wants us afraid.
He wants us to see what happened to Charlie and backpedal.
He wants the rest of us to whisper, to soften the message, to believe the lie that faith should stay private.
But Christ never whispered.
He preached in temples, on hillsides, in courtrooms, at dinner tables.
And when they told Him to be quiet, He picked up His cross.
Not a symbolic one.
A real one.
Heavy. Bloody. Splintered.
When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He didn’t hand out maps. He handed out crosses.
That’s what I remembered tonight.
I sat in our prayer space, surrounded by saints who had brought prayer lists and worn Bibles. And I realized I didn’t want to lead them in mourning. I wanted to lead them into battle. Not with banners or fists, but with open Bibles and tear-stained prayers.
The kind of war that kneels in gravel beside the wounded, hands them living water, and refuses to leave. The kind that speaks both mercy and judgment without flinching. The kind Charlie died for.
This world is not a friend to grace. But grace isn’t fragile.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Paul didn’t leave that question unanswered.
“Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
—Romans 8:35
He piles up every fear you and I carry and then sets them on fire.
“No. In all these things we are more than conquerors.”
That means bullets don’t win. Slander doesn’t win. Prison bars don’t win. Death doesn’t win.
You can lose everything in this world and still walk into glory with your head lifted high. Because the love of God in Christ Jesus isn’t suspended by headlines or gunfire.
There are two worlds unfolding right now.
The one you see.
And the one you don’t.
One is filled with chaos. The other is filled with crowns.
I believe that when Charlie Kirk’s body slumped to the concrete, his soul stood upright in heaven. Not limping. Not silenced. Not stunned. But crowned.
He didn’t fall.
He crossed.
The great cloud of witnesses gained another voice.
And I wonder if Stephen met him there.
The first martyr.
The man who got stoned for preaching what the crowd didn’t want to hear.
The man who, in his final breath, saw the heavens open.
The only time in all of Scripture we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, rising to receive one of His own.
I like to believe He stood again.
Are you afraid?
Do you feel the tremble in your spirit?
Do you wonder if it’s still worth it to speak boldly, to carry your Bible, to preach the gospel in a world that doesn’t just disagree but wants you gone?
You’re not alone.
You’re not weak for feeling that.
But you are called to something stronger than silence.
Don’t let fear become your theology.
The cost is high. But the reward?
The reward is Christ. And He’s not a concept. He’s a King.
Heaven is not empty.
It is filled with scarred saints who refused to bow to fear.
Men who were stoned.
Women who were burned.
Children who sang while the flames climbed.
And every last one of them arrived.
There is no difficulty that can cancel the promise of God.
There is no persecution that can derail your destination.
There is no sniper’s bullet that can separate a soul from Christ.
Your life is not measured by how long you live on earth, but by how much of it was spent pointing to heaven.
Paul said, “I have fought the good fight… I have kept the faith.”
Then he looked toward the reward.
Not a monument. Not a mention in history books.
But a crown.
Handed to him by the One with nail marks still in His hands.
So let me say this clearly.
We do not mourn like the world mourns.
We do not write eulogies dripping with sentiment.
We sing songs of resurrection.
We carry the banner of a Kingdom that does not tremble.
Charlie Kirk did not die for nothing.
He died carrying the same message you and I must now carry forward.
The cross stands tall.
The tomb is still empty.
And the gospel has not lost one ounce of power.
So pick up your cross.
Wipe your eyes.
And keep going.
The crown is worth it.
The King is coming.
And there’s still time to speak.
Even if they shoot.
Lord, give us courage.
And if not safety, give us joy.
For we carry not just the message, but the marks.
And You are worth every bruise.
Thank you, Rich.
Good words for sad times.
I am proud of our pastor, thanks pastor Rich
Thank you, Paul!
— I agree. 🙂
Thank you Paul. I am humbled my friend.
I think it is important to remember that the rebuke is never based on personal feelings or an attempt to place oneself above another. The rebuke is based on truth, counters the lie, and the words are meant to shine light on the lie.
If I look at the example Jesus gave, He spoke to the Pharisees many times in an effort to expose the motivations of their heart, in an effort to get them to turn from their sin, but they refused to listen to Him. They refused to even consider what He said to them. He gave them this rebuke in Matthew 12:
Matthew 12:34-36 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
When is it okay for a believer to use strong words like Paul uses in this passage?
When the rebuke serves to expose the lie for what it is, and to pierce another’s heart with God’s truth. But as Jesus said in Matthew 12 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.” That tells me that this rebuke should be done prayerfully and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit or not at all.
Well said, Chris.
Thank you!
“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
— So true!
When is it okay for a believer to use strong words like Paul uses in this passage?
Whenever they are true.
Thank you, Angela!
Well said!!
i often ponder how we fit into god’s plan on the spectrum of “turn the other cheek ” and ” pick up a sword ” (luke 22) .
Believers have been persecuted since day 1, and were nearly eliminated altogether from Europe during the Muslim invasion.
Persecution continued during WW1 with millions of Greeks & Armenian victims of genocide.
Were it not for our ancestors courage, none of us would be here to evangelize.
Thanks Tmi,
I appreciate you sharing your pondering. Your historical perspective is interesting, too. Now it’s my turn to ponder!