Philippians 3:5

5. Circumcised the eighth day So a born Jew, and not a proselyte circumcised in adult years, or, like Ishmael, after the age of thirteen.

Stock of Israel Of the true theocratic race, and no son of proselytes. Tribe of Benjamin, which never revolted, and, united with Judah, perpetuated the nationality.

Hebrew of the Hebrews Of pure Hebrew ancestry on both sides, with no admixture of foreign blood for near two thousand years. The genealogical tables would show this. As to purity of lineage, no Jew could claim more, and few so much. A proselyte, a descendant of a proselyte, a Jew in whose ancestry, however remote, was a Gentile, like Ruth the Moabitess, or one who had lost his tribal record, or could not prove his descent, would fail here; and here is where the apostle’s zealous opponents failed. In blood and birth he was their superior, as he also was in fidelity to his religion. Touching the law of Moses, that is, as to the regard paid to it, he was a Pharisee, whose distinction was, the closest observance of its minutest precepts.