Philippians 3:7

Philippians 3:7. Howbeit what things were gain to me. In the days of his persecuting zeal, he like the Judaizers had counted all these distinctive marks of the pure and exclusive Jew as so many advantages. And in the original this is expressed somewhat more fully, for the word is really ‘gains,' as though he had felt the total sum in his early days to be very great, and had been consequently proud of them.

these have I counted loss for Christ. In these, like the rest of his nation, he had been putting his trust. Now he has learnt that in Christ alone is salvation, and that so long as Jewish observances are cherished side by side with a half-acceptance of Him, these legal merits, however complete, bar the way effectually to a full and saving faith. They had been gains in his eyes, but now he sees that to cling to them is ruin, and therefore he resigns them as one entire loss. This he has done for the sake of Christ, whom he has found to be far more precious than all beside. The tense, which is scarcely expressed in the Authorised Version, tells of that sacrifice which followed close upon the vision at his conversion. The words from heaven, and the three days' spiritual enlightenment while his bodily eye was quenched, gave time for the full comprehension of the worthlessness of all that he had prized before.