The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 137

Hebrew of Hebrews." Among the many Jews who were scattered abroad thne ,·:ere not e. few who, while conforming to the Jewish religion, did not conform to the Hehre'.v language and customs. These were properly Hellenists. He was born at Tars,rn, h" t he bad been as strictly brought up as if he had been born in ,Jndrea. He belongc,l t,, a family strict among Jewish families beyond the Holy Land, in which the Hebrew language was spoken and Hebrew customs retained. 2. Three marks involving personal choice. (1) Law. "As touching the Law, a Pharisee." In a sense he inherited Pharisaism, for he tells us in another place that he was not only a Pharisee, but the son of a Pharisee. To inherited Pharisaism, when he came to the yearn of reflecti,m, he gave his full assent, especially as against Sadduceeism. "The Pharisees st,fJd in the closest and strictest relation to the Law, as they with their traditions were re:sarded as the most orthodox expositors, defenders, and observers of it." Paul could thus say, "After the straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee." (2) Zeal. "As touchincr zeal, persecuting the Church." He was not only a strict Pharisee, but a Pharisee of the greatest fervour. Ho rightly gauged the strength of the Christian Church. He saw that, with its doctrine of a crucified and risen Saviour, it had a peculiar power to enchant men's minds, It seemed to him to threaten the extinction of his loved Law- religion. And so he put himself forward as champion of the Law, and distinguished himself as persecutor of the Church. And that he now strangely puts into U1e scale as against the Jewish zealots. Regarding it as though it still belonged to him, a[ld not as in Gal. i. 23 as what once belonged to him, he claims to be a better persecutor than any of them. (3) Righteousness. "As touching the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless." Saul the Pharisee was one of those who went about t0 establish a righteousness of their own. In his youthful enthusiasm he felt equal to the task, and so successfully did he apply himself to it that, in the judgment of men, he was blameless. There was not the minutest particular in which he did not meet the Law's requirement. And, when the limitation is made to the judgrnent of men, we are not to understand that, in his thought at the time, which he now enters into to turn the scale against the zealots, he excluded, but rather that he took to himself justifying merit before God. IV. HE IS IN THE SPIRIT OF TBE TRUE ClIBOUllOISION". 1. His past reckoning to which he adheres. "Howbeit what things were gain [gains] to me, these have I counted loss for Christ." The reference is to actual things in his pre-Christian position. Those which he has mentioned and others which he has not mentioned, were gains to him. The plural, which is not brought out in the translation, indicates that they were separate items by which he profited. They were not gains merely in his own judgrnent or expectation, but they were actually gains. "By means of them he was, within the old theocracy, put upon a path which had already brought him repute and influence, and promised to him yet far greater honours, power, and wealth in the future; a career rich in gain was opened up to him." But he was led to form an altered jungment regarding these things. This was not due to fickleness of judgment. This new judg- ment was characterized by wisdom. It was because there was discovered to him a greater gain in Christ. As interfering with this newly discovered gain, it seemed to him that he should sit down and write them under one category as loss. The use of the perfect brings down his past judgment to the present moment. 2. His reckoning in view of the present. •· Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excel- lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." "Yea verily, and" prepares for an outbidding of what he has said. He goes beyond the actual things by which h~ profited in his past position. He takes things by which there may be profit in their utmost universality. And his present reckoning regarding the wide range of things is that they also are to be written down under the category of loss. The greater gain by which he is attracted in this case is not Christ, but rather the knowledge of Christ a, the greatest Gain. If he is actually the greatest Gain, then it behoves us to have an experimental knowledge of him according to what he is. We are especially to have the knowledge of him as Christ Jesus our Lord, i.e. as the Anointed of the Father to b~ Saviour, to whom, as havina- accomplished salvation, we owe deepest submission. Tu this saving knowledge the1~ belongs a supereminence, a surpassingncss. H wonld be of no avail that, beyond all that science has reached, we knew all the secrets of n:iture, tha~ we knew the whole constitution of the human mind, if we did not lrnc,w Gbris1  136 'l'HE EPISTLE TO '.l.'HK PHILlPPIANS. [oH, III, 1-21.