Passage

Philippians 3.5

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;

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. (Philippians 3:3-7, 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;

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. (Philippians 3:3-7, 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;

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. (Philippians 3:3-7, 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!

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; (Philippians 3:3-7, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Phil 1:1).
Audience: The church at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia and the first congregation Paul planted in Europe (Acts 16:11-40). The letter names overseers and deacons at 1:1 and thanks the church for repeated financial support.
Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul refers to his bonds and to "Caesar's household" (Phil 1:13, 4:22); the traditional identification is Roman custody, with Ephesus and Caesarea proposed as alternatives.
Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

The inherited half of Paul's list of credentials, given in four items before the three achievements of verse 6.

Peritomē oktaēmeros, "circumcised the eighth day." Precisely on schedule per Genesis 17:12 and Leviticus 12:3. The detail distinguishes him from a proselyte circumcised as an adult and from an Ishmaelite circumcised at thirteen. It is the first thing on the list because it is the earliest thing that happened to him.
Ek genous Israēl, "of the stock of Israel." Not merely a Jew by religion but by descent from the patriarch.
Phylēs Beniamin, "of the tribe of Benjamin." Benjamin remained with Judah at the division of the kingdom, gave Israel its first king, and its territory contained Jerusalem. Paul's own name, Saul, is presumably from that king.
Hebraios ex Hebraiōn, "a Hebrew of Hebrews." Most likely denoting an Aramaic-and-Hebrew-speaking Jew as distinguished from a Hellenist, so a claim about language and cultural formation rather than ancestry repeated. Acts describes him addressing a crowd in the Hebrew tongue (Acts 21:40, 22:2), which corroborates it.

Then the pivot to what he achieved: kata nomon Pharisaios, "as touching the law, a Pharisee," the strictest party (Acts 26:5), committed to the oral tradition alongside the written law.

What the list is for. Paul is establishing that he holds every credential his opponents claim, and more, so that his rejection of them cannot be dismissed as sour grapes from someone who lacked them. The argument in verses 7 and 8 requires this verse to be true.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3551 - nomos, nomos, Strong's G3551

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

People:

Paul the Apostle

Lexicon:

G3551 - nomos, via Philippians 3.5-9

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.