Philippians 3:5

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

The incredible importance of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in the early rise and spread of Christianity is seen in this very paragraph. It was who and what Paul was which disarmed and frustrated the Jewish opposition. Paul was the equal or superior of every Jew on earth, and his wholehearted acceptance of Christ as the true Messiah of Israel annihilated in one fantastic act of acceptance every argument of the Jewish hierarchy who denied it.

Circumcised the eighth day ... The ancient Jew placed an inordinate amount of emphasis on this, even affirming that no circumcised person could be lost!

Of the stock of Israel ... As Barry noted, "These words are emphatic ... a true scion of the covenanted stock, the royal race of the Prince of God."[17]

Of the tribe of Benjamin ... This tribe gave Israel their first king (Saul), their wisest man, Mordecai, and they remained faithful despite the departure of the ten tribes; but their greatest contribution to both Israel and the whole world was the apostle Paul.

A Pharisee ... Paul was one of the noble Pharisees, the same being one who sincerely and honestly tried to measure up to all of the strict and scrupulous teachings of this demanding group. For discussion of other types of Pharisees, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 3:7. The Sadducees were materialists, politically minded unbelievers, who denied many teachings of the Scriptures. The Pharisees were far better than they, but the Sadducees held most of the high offices.

As touching zeal, persecuting the church ... Whereas many of the Pharisees held religious convictions like Paul, they did nothing about it. Paul fanatically pursued his faith by persecuting the church.

As touching righteousness which is the law ... Paul was here speaking of the Law of Moses, not of "law-works" or of "law-righteousness" as these words are frequently read in an effort to make Paul's reference here inclusive of the law of Christ; but Paul was speaking in this passage of the Mosaic regulations. See under Philippians 3:9.

Blameless ... By this, Paul did not lay claim to perfection, but on the other hand affirmed by this that his record was without charge of violation.