Paul is saying, listen, don't listen to them. Those things that they are trying to get you to do are only going to be dead works. And Paul himself, being a man who has experienced this exact same thing, I was burdened down with dead works, but that which I thought was gained to me, I now count as loss. Those dead works in my mind, I have mortified the deeds of the flesh. I put to death The deeds of the flesh. Because the deeds of the flesh cannot please God.