Philippians 3:4

A very close parallel to the thought is found in 2 Corinthians 11:18-23. καίπερ … ἔχων. A rare construction in N.T. Three exx. occur in Hebrews. Viteau (who regards it as a survival of the literary language, see Le Verbe, p. 189) would resolve the clause and its context into εἰ καὶ ἔχω πεποίθησιν καὶ ἐν σαρκί, ἡμεῖς ἐσμὲν οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες (p. 117), which seems a reasonable explanation. πεποίθσιν. The Apostle realised to the full what was involved in being a Jew. He felt the high prerogatives of the chosen people of God. Cf. Romans 3:1-2. They were the heirs of the promises in a unique manner. But these remarkable privileges ought to have produced in them willing submission to God's universal purpose of mercy instead of being incentives to mere self-complacency and bitter prejudice. καὶ ἐν σ. Zahn (see crit. note supr.) omits καί with some good authorities, assigning its origin to a false exegesis which believed that Paul had some fleshly trust besides his Christian boasting. But καί seems quite in place, as Paul is simply, for the moment, regarding himself from a purely Jewish standpoint. εἴ τις δ. πεπ. “If anyone else presumes to trust.” A complete parallel is Matthew 3:9, μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς. cf. 1 Corinthians 11:16. Akin to this use of δοκεῖν is such a passage as Aristoph., Ran., 564, μαίνεσθαι δοκῶν, “Pretending to be mad”. We cannot help thinking that the usage is based on the impersonal use of the verb. In later Greek δοκεῖν frequently means “think,” e.g., Acts 27:13; Acta Philip., 95, 1; Plut., Timol., viii., 3. In official Greek it is the regular equivalent of Latin censere, the technical term to denote the opinion of the Senate (see Viereck, Sermo Graecus, etc., p. 72). Holst, acutely notes that “ δοκεῖ puts the πεποιθ. ἐν σ. subjectively, and denies that there is a reality corresponding to this false opinion. In this subjectivity there is irony.”