Philippians 3:5

Circumcised the eighth day. Paul was not a proselyte, circumcised as an adult, but was a Jew by birth, and underwent the covenant rite at the prescribed age (see on Gen. 17:11, 12; Lev. 12:3; Luke 2:21).

Of the stock of Israel. Literally, “out of the race of Israel,” a descendant of Jacob.

Tribe of Benjamin. Paul came from the tribe that gave Israel its first king (1 Sam. 9:1, 2), that alone had been faithful to Judah at the division of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:21), and that had held the post of honor in the army (Judges 5:14; Hosea 5:8). Paul’s name, Saul, was probably from King Saul, a Benjamite.

Hebrew of the Hebrews. That is, a Hebrew spring from Hebrews. Perhaps he means to imply that there was no foreign mixture in his ancestors, perhaps that he was a Hebrew-speaking Jew. For the term “Hebrew” see on Acts 6:1, and for Paul’s ancestry see Vol. VI, pp. 208-210.

As touching. This phrase and the words “concerning” and “touching” (v. 6) are variant translations of the same Greek word kata, “as concerning,” “in reference to.”

The law. There is no article in the Greek, but Paul doubtless has the Mosaic law in mind (see on Rom. 2:12). Strict adherence to the entire code was a distinguishing mark of the faithful Pharisee (Vol. V, pp. 51, 52).

Pharisee. Paul had no control over the fact that he was born of the tribe of Benjamin, that his parents were Hebrews, and that he had been given a Hebrew education. But he now enumerates his personal decisions. He chose to be a Pharisee (see on Acts 22:3; 23:6). Surely none of the Judaizers could be more ardent in their legalism than the apostle had been before Christ met him on the road to Damascus (see on 2 Cor. 11:22; Gal. 1:14).