fresh. If any other man τις δοκει αλλος πεποιθεναι thinketh that he hath εν σαρκι, εγω μαλλον whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

5 Περιτομη οκταήμερος, εκ γενους Ισραηλ, φυλης Βενιαμιν, Εβραιος εξ Εβραίων, κατα νομον Φαρισαίος,

6 Κατα ζηλον διωκων την εκκλησιαν, κατα δικαιοσυνην την εν νομῳ γενομενος αμεμ

πτος

Ver. 5.-1. Of the tribe of Benjamin. It is an observation of Theodoret, that the Benjamites were more honourable than the four tribes which descended from Bilhah and Zilpah, Sarah's handmaids or slaves. They were more honourable likewise, on account of their adherence to the law of Moses, when the ten tribes were seduced to idolatry by Jeroboam.

2. An Hebrew of the Hebrews. The Jews who lived among the Greeks, and who spake their language, were called Hellenists, Acts vi. 1. ix. 29. xi. 20. Many of these were descended from parents, one of whom only was a Jew. Of this sort was Timothy, Acts xvi. 1. But those who were born in Judea, of parents rightly descended from Abraham, and who receiving their education in Judea, spake the language of their forefathers, and were thoroughly instructed in the laws and learning of the Jews, were reckoned more honourable than the Hellenists; and to mark the excellence of their lineage, education, and language, they were called Hebrews; a name the most ancient, and therefore the most honourable, of all the names borne by Abraham's descendants. For it was the name given to Abraham himself by the Canaanites, to signify that he had come from the other side of the Euphrates. An Hebrew, therefore, possessing the character and qualifications above described, was a more honourable person than an Israelite, as that name marked no more but one's being a member of the commonwealth of Israel, which a Jew might be, though born and bred in a foreign country. Paul indeed was born at Tarsus in Cilicia: yet being an Hebrew of the Hebrews, who received his education in Jerusalem, and spake the language used there, and understood the Hebrew, in which the ancient oracles of God were written, he was a Jew of the most honourable class, and was far preferable to the Judaizing teacher at Philippi, if, as Mr. Peirce conjectures, and the apostle himself seems to insinuate, he was only an Hellenist Jew.— The reader no doubt observes, that all the privileges hitherto mentioned by the apostle, were derived from others; but those he is going to mention, were of his own acquisition.

even in the flesh. (Ess. iv. 43.) Nar if any other think to have confidence in the flesh, I more.

5 Mr circumcision WAS on the eighth day. I AM of the offspring of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,' an Hebrew of the Hebrews:2 with respect to the law, a Pharisee.

6 With respect to zeal, persecuting the church; with respect to the righteousness which is by law, I am unblameable.

might have confidence even in the flesh. Nay if any other teacher have confidence in the flesh, I have more reason for such confidence than he hath.

5 I am no proselyte: My circumcision was on the eighth day after my birth. My progenitors were not proselytes, for I am one of the descendants of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin: And though born in Tarsus, I am an Hebrew descended from parents who were Hebrews: And with respect to the law, I was educated in Jerusalem, a Pharisee.

6 With respect to my zeal for the law, and for the traditions of the elders, it was great; as I shewed by persecuting the church. And with respect to the righteousness, which the Jews affirm is to be obtained by law, I am unblameable; having observed its precepts with the greatest care from my youth.

Ver. 6.-1. The righteousness which is, wv voue, by law. The greatest part of the Jews firmly believed, that the righteousness required in the law, consisted chiefly in observing its ritual precepts. And therefore if a person was circumcised, offered the appointed sacrifices, observed the sabbaths and other festivals enjoined by Moses, made the necessary purifications in cases of pollution, paid tithes of all he possessed, and abstained from crimes injurious to society; or if he committed any such, was punished for them according to law, he was, as the apostle expresseth it, With respect to the righteousness which is by law, unblameable.-Farther, as the ritual services enjoined in the law, were not founded in the nature of things, but in the command of God, and as, according to the law, atonement was made for some transgressions by these services, they were, on account of their being done from a regard to the divine will, considered as acts of piety more acceptable to God than even the performance of moral duties.-In the third place, as these ritual services were both numerous and burdensome, and recurred so frequently, that they gave almost constant employment to the pious Israelites, the diligent and exact performance of them was thought equivalent to a perfect righteousness, and so meritorious, that it entitled the performer to justification and eternal life.--All these erroneous opinions Paul entertained, whilst he continued a Pharisee. But he relinquished them, when he became a Christian, as he informs us, ver. 7.

7 But what things were

7 Αλλ' άτινά ην μου

gain to me, those I count- κερδη, ταυτα ἡγημαι δια τον

ed loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have sufered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him,

not having mine own righ

teousness, which is of the

law, but that which is

through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith :

:

Χριςον ζημίαν.

8 Αλλα μενουνγε και ἡ γουμαι παντα ζημιαν είναι δια το ὑπερεχον της γνώσεως Χριςου Ιησου του Κυρίου μου, δι όν τα παντα εζημιώθην, και ἡγουμαι σκυβαλα ειναι, ἵνα Χριςον κερδήσω,

9 Και εὑρεθω εν αὐτῷ, μη εχων εμην δικαιοσυνην την εκ νόμου, αλλα την δια πίςεως Χριςου, την εκ Θεου δικαιο συνην επί τη πιςει,

Ver. 7. 1. What things were gain to me. Κερδή, properly significs the gain or profit which is made by merchandise, or otherwise.-The things which the apostle formerly reckoned gain to him, but which since his conversion he counted loss, were those mentioned in the note on ver. 6. and not his living in all good conscience before God. For he who said to the Corinthians, 2 Cor. i. 12. Our boasting is this,that with the greatest simplicity and sincerity we have had our conversation in the world, could not say of any degree of moral righteousness he had attained by the grace of God, that he counted it loss; unless he thereby meant, that it was to be thrown away, as of no use in procuring him justification meritoriously. See ver. 8. note 1. 2. These I counted loss for Christ. The word a signifies loss incurred in trade and more especially that kind of loss which is sustained at sea in a storm, when goods are thrown overboard for the sake of saving the ship, and the people on board. In this sense the word is used by Luke, Acts xxvii. 10. 21. and by Thucydides, Xenophon, and others. Accordingly, Scapula explains it by damnum, jactura. The term thus understood, gives a beautiful sense to the passage. Saith the apostle, in making the voyage of life for the purpose of gaining salvation, I proposed to purchase it with my circumcision, and my care in observing the ritual and moral precepts of the law; and I put a great value on these things, on account of the gain or advantage I was to make by them. But when I became a Christian, I willingly threw them all overboard, as of no value in purchasing salvation. And this I did, for the sake of gaining salvation through faith in Christ, as

my only Saviour.

A

7 Nevertheless, what things were reckoned gain to me by the Jews, who thought them such a righteousness as entitled one to salvation, these after I embraced the gospel, I reckoned loss; things to be thrown away as ineffectual for justification; and did throw them away for Christ, that through him I might be saved. 8 These, I say, I counted loss: Nay most certainly I count all human attainments and distinctions to be loss, things to be thrown away for the sake of the excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have actually thrown over board all things, and reckon them but dung, that (xsednow) Imay gain salvation through Christ, as the profit of my voyage:

9 And at the end thereof, be found a believer in him as Saviour, not holding mine own righteousness, which is from law, as the means of my salvation, but that righteousness which is through the faith enjoined by Christ, even the righteousness which is from God by faith; that being the only righteousness of which a sinner is capable.

Ver. 8.-1. I count all things to be loss. Having said in the preceding verse, that his privileges as a Jew, and his righteousness which was by the law, which he formerly thought gain, he now counted loss, he adds in this verse, that he counted all the things, for which men value themselves, and on which they build their hope of salvation, such as their natural and acquired talents, their fame, their knowledge, their moral virtues, and even their good works, to be loss; things to be thrown away as ineffectual in procuring for them a meritorious justification.

2. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. The apostle counted all things loss, not only because they were ineffectual in procuring for him a meritorious justification, but because in themselves they are of little value in comparison with the excellent knowledge of Jesus as Saviour, and of the method of salvation through him; with which the apostle was so ravished,

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fel

lowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death:

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead :

10 Του γνωναι αυτόν, και την δυναμιν της αναςάσεως αυτου, και την κοινωνίαν των

παθηματων αυτου, συμμορ φουμενος τῷ θανατῳ αυτου,

11 Ει πως καταντήσω εις την εξαναςασιν των νεκρών.

that all other knowledge and every human attainment, he despised, as things not worthy of his care, while voyaging to eternal life.

3. For whom I have thrown away all things. Doddridge was of opinion, that Paul was excommunicated by the Jews in Jerusalem, and spoiled of his goods a treatment which some others met with, who were not so obnoxious to the Jews as Paul was, after he deserted their party and became a Christian. Heb. x. 33, 34.

4. And reckon them to be dung. Exvbaña, de rebus vilissimis dicitur, frugum, animantium, et borum excrementis, as Gataker hath shewed, Miscell. Postuma, c. 43.-The apostle's meaning is, that he considered all the things in which he formerly gloried, as of no more value in procuring a meritorious justification, than the filth of the streets which polluteth those who handle it. The prophet Isaiah hath spoken in the same manner of the legal righteousness, on which the Jews put the greatest value, chap. Ixiv. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Ver. 9.-1. Found in him. This expression Peirce explains by Locke's note on Gal. iii. 27. "By taking on them the profession of the gospel, they "had as it were put on Christ: So that to God looking on them, there ap❝pears nothing but Christ. They were, as it were, covered all over with "Christ, as a man with the clothes he hath put on."

2. The righteousness from God. We have the phrase d'inalaura ess, often in scripture. But the phrase Ty en Oex Sixasoσuvny, is used, I think, only in this passage. It is opposed to, sun dixaloσuvnv tav ex voux, mine own righteousness which is from law, a phrase found in other passages, particularly, Gal. iii. 21. Verily, righteousness would have been, sx vous, by or from law. Wherefore, since the righteousness from law, is that righteousness which is obtained according to the tenor of law, the righteousness from God by faith, is that righteousness which comes from God's counting the believer's faith for righteousness, and from his working that faith in his heart, by the influences of his Spirit.

3. By faith. ET THISH. Estius thinks this may be translated, upon faith; to signify that the righteousness which cometh from God, is built upon faith as its foundation, just as believers are said to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. But though this sentiment be true, righteousness upon faith, is an expression altogether unusual; for which reason the common translation ought to be retained.