Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Philippians 3:6
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
6. zeal ] “of God, but not according to true spiritual knowledge ( epignsis),” Rom 10:2. Cp. Act 26:9-11. He implies here that this “zeal” was perfectly sincere, though sinfully conditioned by a moral blindness. See in this connexion Act 23:1; 2Ti 1:3.
persecuting the church ] Cp. 1Co 15:9; Gal 1:13; Gal 1:23; 1Ti 1:13.
the righteousness which is in the law ] Lit., again, “ in law ”; see fifth note on Php 3:5. The reference is to completeness of observance and privilege, from the point of view of the Pharisaic legalist. The most rigid inquisitor in this direction could not have found fault with Paul’s title. See further on Php 3:3. “In (the) law”: included within its terms.
blameless ] Better, with R.V., found blameless, a good paraphrase of the Greek, which is literally, “ having become blameless.”
His title, or temptation, to “confidence in the flesh” was thus compounded of a natal right to the seal of the covenant; hereditary and educated loyalty to the purest Jewish life and practice; personal devotion to the strictest Jewish religionism; the utmost practical energy in its defence; the most minute attention to its rules. Of its kind, the position was perfect.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church – Showing the greatness of my zeal for the religion which I believed to be true, by persecuting those whom I considered to be in dangerous error. Zeal was supposed to be, as it is, an important part of religion; see 2Ki 10:16; Psa 69:9; Psa 119:139; Isa 59:17; Rom 10:2. Paul says that he had shown the highest degree of zeal that was possible. He had gone so far in his attachment for the religion of his fathers, as to pursue with purposes of death those who had departed from it, and who had embraced a different form of belief. If any, therefore, could hope for salvation on the ground of extraordinary devotedness to religion, he said that he could.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless – So far as the righteousness which can be obtained by obeying the law is concerned. It is not needful to suppose here that he refers merely to the ceremonial law; but the meaning is, that he did all that could be done to obtain salvation by the mere observance of law. It was supposed by the Jews, and especially by the Pharisees, to which sect he belonged, that it was possible to be saved in that way; and Paul says that he had done all that was supposed to be necessary for that. We are not to imagine that, when he penned this declaration, he meant to be understood as saying that he had wholly complied with the law of God; but that, before his conversion, he supposed that he had done all that was necessary to be done in order to be saved by the observance of law he neglected no duty that he understood it to enjoin. He was not guilty of deliberately violating it.
He led a moral and strictly upright life, and no one had occasion to blame or to accuse him as a violator of the law of God. There is every reason to believe that Paul, before his conversion, was a young man of correct deportment, of upright life, of entire integrity; and that he was free from the indulgences of vice and passion, into which young people often fall. In all that he ever says of himself as being the chief of sinners, and as being unworthy to be called an apostle, he never gives the least intimation that his early life was stained by vice, or corrupted by licentious passions. On the contrary, we are left to the fair presumption that, if any man could be saved by his own works, he was that man. This fact should be allowed to make its proper impression on those who are seeking salvation in the same way; and they should be willing to inquire whether they may not be deceived in the matter, as he was, and whether they are not in as much real danger in depending on their own righteousness, as was this most upright and zealous young man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Concerning zeal] As to my zeal for Pharisaism, I gave the fullest proof of it by persecuting the Church of Christ; and this is known to all my countrymen.
Touching the righteousness] And as to that plan of justification, which justification the Jews say is to be obtained by an observance of the law, I have done every thing so conscientiously from my youth up, that in this respect I am blameless; and may, with more confidence than most of them; expect that justification which the law appears to promise.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Concerning zeal; not lukewarm, but exceedingly fervent in the strictest observances of the Pharisaic order, which was much in external devotion, Luk 18:12, very solicitous for proselytes, Mat 23:15,25. Herein he was above his equals for years, being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers, Gal 1:14, (and his zeal had been very commendable had it been in a good matter, Gal 4:18), that which the false apostles contended much for.
Persecuting the church; which he showed all manner of ways in his rage against the church of Christ, conceived by the Pharisees to be opposite to the law of Moses, Act 9:1; 22:3,4; 26:9-12; Gal 1:13.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless; he rises higher yet in his personal obedience; he might have been a zealot in his sect, and yet a hypocrite, if not of a scandalous life; but it seems, in the external observation of those things which the ceremonial or moral law did prescribe, he was, in the eye of man, of a blameless conversation, resembling Zacharias and Elisabeth, Luk 1:6. Men could not tax him, he had behaved himself so conscientiously, Act 23:1; yet when he had his eyes opened, he found here was no such matter of confidence for him before God, 1Sa 16:7; 1Co 4:4. This external performance he found, when enlightened, was far short of internal and perfect obedience, Rom 7:7; and therefore he saw it necessary to change the ground and foundation of his confidence, all that he before rested on, unto Christ alone, 1Co 3:11; 2Co 5:17; not seeking to receive honour from men, but that from Christ only, Joh 5:44.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. ConcerningTranslate asbefore and after, “As touching Zeal” (compareAct 22:3; Act 26:9).
blamelessGreek,“having become blameless” as to ceremonialrighteousness: having attained in the eyes of man blamelesslegal perfection. As to the holiness before God, which is theinner and truest spirit of the law, and which flows from “therighteousness of God by faith,” he on the contrary declares (Php3:12-14) that he has not attained perfection.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church,…. The Vulgate Latin version adds, “of God”, as in Ga 1:13. The apostle was very zealous of the traditions of the elders, and for the law of God, and towards God also; though his zeal was not according to knowledge, but blind, ignorant, and furious; which pushed him on to persecute the followers of Christ, and the church of Christ at Jerusalem more especially, in a very violent and outrageous manner; he held the clothes of those that stoned Stephen, Ac 7:58; he consented unto his death, Ac 8:1; he made havoc of the church at Jerusalem, haling men and women to prison, Ac 8:3; he continued breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ, Ac 9:1; gave his voice against them when put to death, punished them frequently in the synagogues by scourging them, Ac 26:10, and compelled them to blaspheme the name of Christ; was exceeding mad against them, pursued them to strange cities, Ac 26:11, and persecuted the church of God exceedingly, more than anyone single person besides.
Touching the righteousness which is in, the law, blameless. This he mentions last, as including the whole of his righteousness, civil, ceremonial, and moral; and which he fancied was so perfect, that whatever righteousness was in the law, or required by it, he had it, and to such a degree, that he was blameless before God and men; that he was justified by it in the sight of God, and could not justly be found fault with by any, or be charged with any defect in his obedience, either to the moral or ceremonial law; which must arise from great ignorance of the righteousness of God, and the strictness of his justice, and of the law of God, and the purity, spirituality, and extent of it, which reaches to the thoughts of the heart, and the first motions of sin; and of himself, the plague of his own heart, of the sin of lust, and of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, in every instance of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As touching zeal ( ). So the old MSS. treating as neuter, not masculine. He was a zealot against Christianity, “persecuting the church” ( ). He was the ringleader in the persecution from the death of Stephen till his own conversion (Ac 8:1-9:9).
Found blameless ( ). “Having become blameless” (Ga 1:14). He knew and practised all the rules of the rabbis. A marvellous record, scoring a hundred in Judaism.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Zeal. Ironical.
Blameless [ ] . The A. V. does not render the participle, proven or found. Rev., correctly, found blameless.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Concerning zeal” (kata zelos) “by way of zeal,” Paul was a zealot, Act 8:1-3; Act 9:1-2; 1Co 15:9.
2) “Persecuting the church,” (diokon ten ekklesian) persecuting the Church,” Gal 1:13-14; Act 26:9-11. Paul later affirmed that his zealous persecution of Christians was done in ignorance and unbelief, that is ignorance of the gravity or wickedness of his deed, 1Ti 1:11.
3) “Touching the righteousness which is in the law” kata dikaiosunen ten en nomon) “according to righteousness which (is set forth) in (the) law” ceremonial righteousness and flesh righteousness, which are as “filthy rags,” in the sight of the Holy God, Isa 64:6-7; Mat 19:17-20; Mat 5:27-28.
4) “Blameless” (genomenos amemptos) “being in a state or condition, blameless, in the sight of men; but ignorant in the sight of God. Rom 10:1-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. As to the righteousness which is in the law There can be no doubt he means by this the entire righteousness of the law, for it were too meagre a sense to understand it exclusively of the ceremonies. The meaning, therefore, is more general — that he cultivated an integrity of life, such as might be required on the part of a man that was devoted to the law. To this, again, it is objected, that the righteousness of the law is perfect in the sight of God. For the sum of it is — that men be fully devoted to God, and what beyond this can be desired for the attainment of perfection? I answer, that Paul speaks here of that righteousness which would satisfy the common opinion of mankind. For he separates the law from Christ. Now, what is the law without Christ but a dead letter? To make the matter plainer, I observe, that there are two righteousnesses of the law. The one is spiritual — perfect love to God, and our neighbors: it is contained in doctrine, and had never an existence in the life of any man. The other is literal — such as appears in the view of men, while, in the mean time, hypocrisy reigns in the heart, and there is in the sight of God nothing but iniquity. Thus, the law has two aspects; the one has an eye to God, the other to men. Paul, then, was in the judgment of men holy, and free from all censure — a rare commendation, certainly, and almost unrivalled; yet let us observe in what esteem he held it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.The word zeal (as in Act. 22:3) is probably used almost technically to describe his adhesion to the principles of the Zealots, who, following the example of Phinehas, were for executing judgment at once on all heathens as traitors, ready alike to slay or to be slain for the Law. He shows how in this he departed from the teaching of Gamaliel, when he was exceedingly mad against the Christians, and persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.The righteousness in Law, which our Lord called the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Mat. 5:20), is the righteousness according to rule, in which a man, like the rich young ruler, might think himself blameless, and even hope to go beyond it in counsels of perfectionnot the righteousness according to principle, which can never fulfil or satisfy itself. While St. Paul confined himself to the lower form of righteousness, he could feel himself blameless; but when he began to discern this higher righteousness in the Law, then, he felt the terrible condemnation of the Law, on which he dwells so emphatically in Rom. 7:7-12.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Concerning touching, and touching of Php 3:5, should have the same translation, meaning as regards, or in respect of. His zeal for the law was shown by his career as a persecutor, when, to save its supremacy, he gave all his energies to the destruction of the Church.
Righteousness In the rightness, the right conduct, which consisted in observance of the law, he was perfect. Such he was down to the period of his journey to Damascus. All this is said from his old Judaic point of view; and assuredly if there was any value in scrupulous obedience, in persecuting zeal, and in rigorous, unvarying fidelity, it was his. But his estimate of things has now greatly changed; and his persecution of the Church in which he had once gloried he has come to regard as his greatest sin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Php 3:6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; All that the Apostle can mean here is, that if a zeal for the law were, as the Jews thought it, a ground of confidence, he could lay claim to it with abundant propriety; since his zeal had been so great for it, as to lead him to persecute the Christians, because he thought they dishonoured it. The righteousness which is in the law, both here and in Php 3:9 refers to the conformity which he lived in to the ritual or ceremonial part of the Mosaic la
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Ver. 6. Concerning zeal ] A blind misguided zeal. See Trapp on “ Rom 10:2 “ If zeal be not qualified with knowledge all will be on fire, as the primum mobile, first easily swayed, they say, would be with its swift turning about, but for the countermotion of the lower spheres.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Phi 3:6 . Probably (neuter) is the correct form here. In N.T. the neuter occurs only in 2Co 9:2 , but it is found in Ignat., and, alternately with ., in 1 Clem. It is perhaps colloquial (so W-Sch [38] . , p. 84), although . is that used in LXX. would almost have a technical meaning for a strict Jew at that time in connexion with the fanatical party among the Pharisees who called themselves ( cf. Schrer, i., 2, p. 80 ff.). Cf. Gal 1:14 , . . . . Cf. Gal 1:13 , . is, in classical Greek, the technical term for the “pursuer” or prosecutor in the law-courts. Strangely enough it was by means of prosecutions that Paul usually persecuted. . . . “According to ( i.e. , tested by the standard of) the righteousness which belongs to the sphere of the law.” Of course this righteousness, which is here equivalent to right conduct as a whole, is regarded from the point of view of that which justifies before God. For the exceptional prominence which righteousness has in Jewish religious thought, see esp [39] . Weber, Lehren des Talmud , pp. 269 270, and Charles’ admirable note on Apocal. of Baruch , xxiv: 1. Cf. Ps. Sol. 9:9 for a very precise formulation of Jewish thought on this subject. It would be wrong to limit . here merely to ceremonial observances. It includes, most probably, the ordinary moral precepts of the law as well. . Exactly parallel to this description is the case of the rich young man in the Gospels. He also could claim to be . . . . It was at the next step (Phi 3:7 ) that he stopped short. He was unable to “count all things loss for Christ”.
[38] Sch. Schmiedel’s Ed. of Winer.
[39] especially.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Concerning, touching. App-104.
church. App-186.
righteousness. App-191.
blameless = found blameless, i.e. before men. Compare Act 24:20.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Php 3:6. , persecuting) He formerly thought that he was acting most meritoriously.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Php 3:6
Php 3:6
as touching zeal, persecuting the church;-His zeal for the law led him to persecute the church of Jesus Christ, to follow them to strange cities, to cast men and women into prison, and when they were put to death he gave his vote against them. (Act 26:10).
as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.-Such righteousness as consisted in obedience to the legal ordinances he could claim, for he had claimed them all. It is clearly to externals that he is referring, for his words imply that it was to mean he had approved himself; none of his fellows surpassed or even equaled him in strictness of legal observance. All his prejudices, feelings, and works led him to maintain the observance of the law, He says; I advanced in the Jews religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. (Gal 1:14). His careful observance of the legal ordinances had brought him to be in the eyes of his fellows, one in whom no fault could be found.
[The claim to blamelessness from a Pharisaic viewpoint was by no means uncommon as we learn from the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus. (Luk 18:18-24). There was nothing unusual or presumptuous in the assertion that in his outward conduct there had been found neither fault nor failure. There is no contradiction between his statement here and the description of his inward struggle in Rom 7:7-23. It was not the infraction of the outward demands of the Mosaic law in its ethical and ceremonial aspect that filled his heart with torment, but the sense of sin in his innermost being; neither is it inconsistent with the following: I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus (1Ti 1:12-14), because there he is regarding his past in Judaism from the Christian and not from the Pharisaic viewpoint as he is doing here.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
righteousness
(See Scofield “Rom 10:3”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
zeal: 2Sa 21:2, 2Ki 10:16, Act 21:20, Rom 10:2, Gal 1:13, Gal 1:14
persecuting: Act 8:3, Act 9:1-19, Act 22:3, Act 22:4, Act 26:9, Act 26:10, 1Co 15:9, 1Ti 1:13
touching: Mat 5:20, Mat 23:25, Mar 10:20, Mar 10:21, Luk 1:6, Act 26:5, Rom 7:9, Rom 9:31, Rom 9:32, Rom 10:2-5
Reciprocal: Lev 13:16 – General Jdg 6:30 – Bring Ecc 7:16 – Be not Son 5:7 – they smote Mat 19:20 – All Luk 15:7 – which Luk 18:11 – as Luk 18:21 – General Joh 1:24 – were of Joh 16:2 – the time Act 13:39 – from which Rom 1:1 – a servant 2Co 9:1 – touching Gal 3:21 – righteousness Phi 3:9 – not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Php 3:6.) -As to zeal persecuting the church. The neuter form has in its favour, A, B, D, F, G. Some MSS., of no high authority, add after , but the noun often stands by itself. The present participle tells precisely what the apostle means to say, and it would be wrong to follow Grotius, Heinrichs, Am Ende, and Jaspis, and give it the meaning of . Nor is it necessary to make it a species of substantive with Alford, or of adjective with Ellicott, for it marks his conduct at the same point of time as when he had trust in the flesh, and thought himself blameless. The apostle gives his unconverted state an ideal present time. Compare Act 21:20; Rom 10:2; Gal 1:13; 1Ti 1:13. The apostle had been no passive supporter of the law. While he upheld it, he upheld it with his might. And when the supremacy of that law seemed to be endangered by the growth of Christianity, with characteristic ardour and impetuosity he flung himself into the contest. He could not be a supine and listless spectator. The question was to him one of conscience and submission to divine authority, and therefore he deemed it his duty to imprison, torture, and kill the abettors of the infant faith, whose most malignant feature, as he thought, was its antagonism to Moses. Others might stand aloof, fold their hands in indifference, and yield a facile acquiescence in events as they occurred. But the disciple of Gamaliel was in terrible earnest. Believing that in speaking words against Moses there was open blasphemy, and that the glory of God and the spiritual interests of his country were in imminent hazard, he felt himself doing God service when he resolved to hunt down and extirpate the rising heresy, and breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Foremost among the zealots stood Saul of Tarsus. Had his adversaries ever shown a similar fervour-had they so openly committed themselves? His zeal for the law outstripped theirs- . If he did not now enforce the Mosaic ceremonial, it was not because he had never loved it, or had been quite careless when it was assaulted. Not one had laboured for it so prodigiously, or fought for it so ferociously -the witnesses laid their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. Higher still-
-as regards righteousness which is in the law being blameless. The noun , when so used, departs from its ordinary classic sense, and represents one special meaning of the Hebrew , H7406. It does not signify either equity or fair dealing between man and man, but depicts that aspect of state or relation to the Divine law, which secures, or is believed to secure, acceptance with God. It is here characterized as -as being found in the law, or having its source in obedience to the law. With respect to such righteousness, he was perfect- . Php 2:15. He thought himself, and others thought him, without a flaw. He did whatever the law had enjoined; abstained from whatever the law had forbidden; omitted no duty, and committed no violation of legal precept. In form at least, and in external compliance, his obedience was exemplary, without occasional lapse or visible inconsistency. It is altogether too restricted to understand the law of Pharisaic enactment, or simply of the ceremonial law, and worse still to adopt the idea of Grotius and Am Ende, that Paul speaks but of the civil law, as if the miserable meaning were-nihil se fecisse quod morte aut verberibus castigandum esset. It was indeed and in itself what Matthies styles it-eine scheinheilige Werkgerechtigkeit; but the apostle speaks from the standpoint of his earlier days. Mat 19:20. Such, then, is the record of the apostle’s grounds of confidence in the flesh, and who of those opposed to him could boast of more of them? He had no confidence in the flesh, or mere externalism; and yet, if any man was ever warranted to have such confidence, it was he who had more of it than most, but who now with changed views so vehemently decried it, as opposed to the spirituality of the gospel and fatal to salvation. For he adds with power-
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Php 3:6. The Greek word for zeal is used in both a good and bad sense in the New Testament. When used in the former, it means ardor or enthusiasm, and that is its meaning in this verse. The reader may be surprised that I would say this, when 1- aul used his zeal in persecuting the church. Yes, he had the right kind of zeal, but made a wrong use of it, even as a man might have the right kind of money but make a wrong use of it. Paul believed the church was an unscriptural institution, and to be consistent, he was required to oppose it. Blameless. This means Paul lived up to all requirements of the law, which proves that it was not physically impossible to do so as some teach. The parents of John the Baptist lived up to them according to Luk 1:6.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Php 3:6. as touching zeal, persecuting the church. The preposition rendered as touching in the previous verse occurs here three times over in close connection, and this should be indicated by the translation. Beyond measure, he says, I persecuted the church of God (Gal 1:13), and the voice from heaven in the road to Damascus confirmed this: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. He counts this among the things of which he might have gloried had he put himself on the level of these Jewish teachers. How he really did esteem this zeal we know from his statement that he was not worthy to be called an apostle, because he had persecuted the church of Christ.
as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Such righteousness as consisted in obedience to the legal ordinances he could claim, for he had observed them all. It is clearly to externals that he is referring, for his words imply that it was to men he had approved himself; none of his fellows surpassed him or even equalled him in strictness of legal observance. I advanced in the Jews religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers (Gal 1:14). In the participle rendered found (but omitted in Authorised Version), which is literally having become, there is another sounding of the same note: Sauls careful observance of the legal ordinances had brought him to be, in the eyes of his fellows, one in whom no fault could be found. This righteousness, which he names a righteousness of his own, he had now learnt to value at its true worth, and to seek that which is of God by faith.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Php 3:6. Concerning zeal For the law and the Jewish religion, and for all those ritual observances which they so eagerly enforce, I myself was once so earnest, that I persecuted, and that even to imprisonment and death, those who did not observe them. Touching the righteousness which is in the law Which is described and enjoined by the letter of it; that is, with respect to external observances; blameless Quite unexceptionable in my conduct; so that those who knew me most intimately, could not have accused me of any wilful transgression, or of neglecting any of those expiatory rites and sacrifices, which were appointed to be used in case of involuntary errors. The greatest part of the Jews firmly believed that the righteousness required in the law consisted chiefly in observing its ritual precepts. And therefore, if a person was circumcised, offered the appointed sacrifices, observed the sabbaths, and other festivals enjoined by Moses, made the necessary purifications, in cases of pollution, paid tithes of all he possessed, and abstained from crimes injurious to society; or if he committed any such, was punished for them according to the law, he was, as the apostle expresseth it, with respect to the righteousness which is by law, unblameable. Further, as the ritual services enjoined in the law were not founded in the nature of things, but in the command of God; and as, according to the law, atonement was made for some transgressions by these services, they were, on account of their being done from a regard to the divine will, considered as acts of piety more acceptable to God than even the performance of moral duties. In the third place, as these ritual services were both numerous and burdensome, and recurred so frequently, that they gave almost constant employment to the pious Israelites, the diligent and exact performance of them was thought equivalent to a perfect righteousness, and so meritorious, that it entitled the performer to justification and eternal life. All these erroneous opinions Paul entertained while he continued a Pharisee. But he relinquished them when he became a Christian, as he informs us, immediately. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 6
Concerning zeal; in respect to zeal.–The righteousness which is in the law; the fulfilment of all the outward Mosaic rites.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Sixth, he had been a zealous promoter of Judaism even to the point of persecuting Christians to death. He had been an outstanding Pharisee.
Seventh, Paul’s obedience to the Law of Moses, as it regulated external behavior, had been without blame (Gr. amemptos, cf. Php 2:15). He was very conscientious about what the Law required and "omitted no observance however trivial". [Note: Lightfoot, p. 148.]
"Like most ’religious’ people today, Paul had enough morality to keep him out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get him into heaven! It was not bad things that kept Paul away from Jesus-it was good things! He had to lose his ’religion’ to find salvation." [Note: Wiersbe, The Bible . . ., 2:84.]