Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

Philp. 3:6 With reference to zeal (Acc. Gen. Ref.;
ruthlessness) having persecuted (diw,kw, PAPtc.NSM, Historical
& Dramatic) the church (Acc. Dir. Obj.; breathing out
threatenings and slaughter), with reference to righteousness
(Acc. Gen. Ref.) having myself become (gi,nomai, AMPtc.NSM,
Constative, Circumstantial, Deponent) blameless (Compl. Acc.)
in the law (Loc. Sph.; a model Jew);
WHO
Philippians 3:6 kata. zh/loj diw,kwn th.n evkklhsi,an kata. dikaiosu,nhn th.n evn no,mw|
geno,menoj a;memptoj
VUL
Philippians 3:6 secundum aemulationem persequens ecclesiam Dei secundum iustitiam quae
in lege est conversatus sine querella
LWB Philp. 3:7 But what quality of things [thought by some to be spiritual assets] were gains
to me [debit side of the ledger], I concluded in the past [on the road to Damascus] and am
still concluding as an expert to this very day [as an apostle] those things as loss [credit side
of the ledger] because of Christ.
KW Philp. 3:7 But whatever things were to me a gainful asset, these things I have considered a
loss when it comes to my acquisition of Christ, and still so consider them.
KJV Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
TRANSLATION HIGHLIGHTS
This list of so-called complementary items on Paul’s resume of the flesh were thought to be
spiritual assets or profits in his former life as a Jewish unbeliever (Descriptive Imperfect tense),
but after he became a believer on the road to Damascus he changed his evaluation of them
(Dramatic Perfect tense). Paul bundles up all his gains into one big account on the General Ledger
and writes them off as an Uncollectible account, a bankruptcy. The imperfect tense points to his
former resume of flesh as insufficient, while the perfect tense points to his new resume in Christ
as sufficient. His resume has taken a complete flip-flop. Now all the things that were valuable
according to Judaism are hindrances (Latin: detriments) to Christianity. They were something to
boast in when he was an unbeliever, but they do considerable damage to the spiritual life as a
Christian. He received a great measure of personal approbation from them when he was an
arrogant, legalistic unbeliever, but as a mature believer he now forfeits them all because of
Christ. His standards changed from human viewpoint to divine viewpoint. Paul was clueless
while in legalistic Judaism, but he is now an expert in the Christian spiritual life.
REVELANT OPINIONS
"Gain ... Loss" incorporates the use of accounting terminology in antithetical parallelism. (P.T.
O'Brien) The terms "gain" and "loss" are borrowed from the language of the voluntary barter. Paul is