Philippians 3:6

Zeal. Gr. zelos (see on John 2:17; Rom. 10:2). Not only had Paul been a Pharisee, he was an energetic, enthusiastic Pharisee. He vigorously carried out the principles of his sect, thinking that he did God service by persecuting those whom he counted as heretics (see on Acts 8:1, 3; 9:1; 22:4; 26:10, 11).

Righteousness. See on Matt. 5:6, 20; Luke 1:6; cf. on Phil. 3:9.

In the law. This phrase defines the “righteousness” to which Paul is referring (see on Rom. 10:3, 4). In Phil. 3:9 the apostle calls the “righteousness, which is of the law” one’s “own righteousness,” and contrasts it with “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” See on Gal. 2:21; 3:21.

Blameless. That is, in the eyes of his coreligionists, as a result of rigid observance of the law. Paul neglected no duty that he believed the law enjoined. He led a strictly upright life, and no one had occasion to accuse him of being a violator of the law. It appears that before his conversion Paul was a young man of exemplary deportment, free from the vicious indulgences into which young men often fall. True, he mentions himself as “chief” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), and as being unworthy “to be called an apostle” (1 Cor. 15:9), but he never gives the least intimation that his early life was stained with gross sins. Then he met Christ, and learned the futility of his own efforts to earn salvation.