Passage

Philippians 3.5-7

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

3. for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh: 4. though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:

5. circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6. as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 7. Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.

Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, 9. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: (Philippians 3:3-9, ASV)

WEB

3. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh; 4. though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:

5. circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6. concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 7. However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.

Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ 9. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (Philippians 3:3-9, WEB)

KJV

3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath 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. 7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered 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 righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:3-9, KJV)

YLT

3. for we are the circumcision, who by the Spirit are serving God, and glorying in Christ Jesus, and in flesh having no trust, 4. though I also have [cause of] trust in flesh. If any other one doth think to have trust in flesh, I more;

5. circumcision on the eighth day! of the race of Israel! of the tribe of Benjamin! a Hebrew of Hebrews! according to law a Pharisee! 6. according to zeal persecuting the assembly! according to righteousness that is in law becoming blameless! 7. But what things were to me gains, these I have counted, because of the Christ, loss;

yes, indeed, and I count all things to be loss, because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom of the all things I suffered loss, and do count them to be refuse, that Christ I may gain, and be found in him, 9. not having my righteousness, which [is] of law, but that which [is] through faith of Christ, the righteousness that is of God by the faith, (Philippians 3:3-9, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Philippians 1:1).
Audience: The Church at Philippi, in a Roman colony of Macedonia (Acts 16:12), founded on the mission narrated in Acts 16 and addressed with its bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1). The church had sent Paul a gift by Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-30, 4:18). The verses list Paul's credentials and record his revaluation of them (Philippians 3:4-11).
Location: Written from imprisonment (Philippians 1:7, 1:13). The place is debated: Rome is the traditional identification, and Ephesus and Caesarea are proposed as alternatives.
Time period: Depends on the imprisonment: c. AD 60-62 if Rome, c. AD 57-59 if Caesarea, the mid-50s if Ephesus.

Theological reading

For the credentials themselves, see the single-verse pages. Philippians 3:5 treats the four inherited items and the Pharisee claim, and Philippians 3:6 treats zeal and blamelessness. These three verses together form the turn from list to verdict, and verse 7 is the verdict.

"Gain" is plural; "loss" is singular. "Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ" (Philippians 3:7, ASV). In Greek "gain" is the plural kerdē and "loss" the singular zēmian. The many separate assets go into one column marked loss. The noun kerdos (G2771) is the word of 1:21, "to die is gain"; for that link, see Philippians 1:21.

"Counted" is the verb of 2:6. The verb is hēgeomai (G2233), which the KJV tags both here and in the hymn, where Christ "counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped" (Philippians 2:6, ASV). Christ did not count his status something to hold onto; Paul counts his status loss. His revaluation follows the pattern of the one he follows.

"For Christ" names the cause as a person. Dia ton Christon, on account of Christ. Paul's change of values does not come from finding the law defective; verse 6 has just called him blameless. It comes from meeting Christ, as the persecutor of the church (3:6) became his servant (1:1). See Philippians 3:4-11 for the argument of the whole unit.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G2205 - zelos, zelos, Strong's G2205
G1343 - dikaiosyne, dikaiosyne, Strong's G1343
G1577 - ekklesia, ekklesia, Strong's G1577
G3551 - nomos, nomos, Strong's G3551
G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547
G1096 - ginomai, ginomai, Strong's G1096

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

People:

Lexicon:

G2205 - zelos, via Philippians 3.6
G3551 - nomos, via Philippians 3.5-9

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.