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!
Hebrews are they? I also! Israelites are they? I also! seed of Abraham are they? I also!
I say, then, Did God cast away His people? let it not be! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin:
`And a son of eight days is circumcised by you; every male to your generations, born in the house, or bought with money from any son of a stranger, who is not of thy seed;
`I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.
for I was really stolen from the land of the Hebrews; and here also have I done nothing that they have put me in the pit.'
And there `is' with us a youth, a Hebrew, servant to the chief of the executioners, and we recount to him, and he interpreteth to us our dreams, `to' each according to his dream hath he interpreted,
And he saith unto them, `A Hebrew I `am', and Jehovah, God of the heavens, I am reverencing, who made the sea and the dry land.'
And it came to pass, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias,
Jesus answered and said to them, `One work I did, and ye all wonder, because of this, Moses hath given you the circumcision -- not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers -- and on a sabbath ye circumcise a man; if a man doth receive circumcision on a sabbath that the law of Moses may not be broken, are ye wroth with me that I made a man all whole on a sabbath? judge not according to appearance, but the righteous judgment judge.'
And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration,
`The manner of my life then, indeed, from youth -- which from the beginning was among my nation, in Jerusalem -- know do all the Jews, knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Philippians 3
Commentary on Philippians 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
He cautions them against judaizing seducers (v. 1-3) and proposes his own example: and here he enumerates the privileges of his Jewish state which he rejected (v. 4-8), describes the matter of his own choice (v. 9-16), and closes with an exhortation to beware of wicked men, and to follow his example (v. 17-21).
Phl 3:1-3
It seems the church of the Philippians, though a faithful and flourishing church, was disturbed by the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to keep up the law of Moses, and mix the observances of it with the doctrine of Christ and his institutions. He begins the chapter with warnings against these seducers.
Phl 3:4-8
The apostle here proposes himself for an example of trusting in Christ only, and not in his privileges as an Israelite.
Phl 3:9-14
We now heard what the apostle renounced; let us now see what he laid hold on, and resolved to cleave to, namely, Christ and heaven. He had his heart on these two great peculiarities of the Christian religion.
Phl 3:15-16
The apostle, having proposed himself as an example, urges the Philippians to follow it. Let the same mind be in us which was in blessed Paul. We see here how he was minded; let us be like-minded, and set our hearts upon Christ and heaven, as he did.
Phl 3:17-21
He closes the chapter with warnings and exhortations.