Paul's Religious Resume Part One

“Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6).

At some point, it seems every one of us needs to update our resume. Either we’ve been “outsourced” (does anyone really think this is a kinder and gentler way of saying fired or laid off?), looking to find a better place to work, or just trying to find our first job. Whichever category we fit in, we all need a resume and we all want it to look GREAT! Be honest. Who hasn’t pushed the edge of the envelope when it comes to your skills and work history? Go ahead. Raise your hand. Those of you who didn’t have now lied on more than your resume.

Here in Philippians, Paul shares his resume. And he didn’t need to shade the truth to make it impressive. He’s the religious real deal. The apostle reminds his friends back in Philippi of the resume he planned to drop on God’s desk. The Almighty would have to be impressed, right? Just check out the top half of his curriculum vitae. “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee” (v5). A few years back, our man Paul worked his tail off to build up his credentials. He checked all the boxes. He was the best and the brightest. Top of his class. But once he met Jesus, that all changed. He realized his resume wasn’t so impressive. He realized it was actually worthless. There’s only one resume that matters and it belongs to Jesus.

You may wonder why the apostle feels the need to share his religious qualifications with the Philippians in the first place. There’s a pack of false teachers headed their way spinning a counterfeit gospel. They call themselves the Judaizers because they try to convince Jesus’ Gentile followers they must become Jewish in order ensure their spot in God’s kingdom. Paul has some choice nicknames for these knuckleheads as he warns the church back in Macedonia (Phil 3:2). Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evildoers! Beware of the mutilators! We don’t earn God’s approval through our personal performance. Don’t buy their snake oil of “confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3-4). Instead, place your trust in the only One who’s resume is perfect, Christ Jesus. Back when everyone knew him as Saul, the man from Tarsus had a resume that would blow even the best Judaizer out of the water. 

Paul’s resume begins at the beginning. His parents had him “circumcised on the eighth day” (v5). Saul/Paul’s folks were seriously old school. They made sure they followed God’s commandment to Abraham and his descendants to the very letter of the law (Gen 17:12). This delicate procedure was to be a sign of God’s covenant promise to His people to bless the entire world through His people. But apparently Saul saw circumcision as less about God and more about him. It wasn’t so much as sign of God’s goodness through His promise but that Saul was hot stuff. Before the resurrected Jesus mugged him on the outskirts of Damascus, Saul believed he was one of God’s chosen people because his parents obedience. There’s just one little problem with that. As Billy Graham’s son Franklin likes to say, God doesn’t have any grandchildren. Each person must come to their own faith in Jesus no matter their parents’ beliefs. Do you find a false security through the rituals and traditions of your parents and family? Turns out “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

The next bullet point on Paul’s resume lists him as one “of the people of Israel” (v5). That’s not-so-subtle shorthand for one of God’s chosen people. He’s not only talking about his national heritage but also pointing back to Jacob whom God renamed Israel (Gen 32:28). All true Jews are direct descendants of the fathers of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see, Paul is as pure a Jew as has ever walked the planet. As Saul, he had forgotten the only reason the Israelites are special is because God chose them to be on the receiving end of His blessing. They did nothing to earn His love. They did nothing to stand out. They wasn’t anything impressive about them. Do you think you’re hot stuff just because of your family name? Your ethnicity? Your income? Your neighborhood? Your college? Jesus came to knock all those walls down (Gal 3:28; Eph 2:11-13)! 

The apostle was once proud to say he was “of the tribe of Benjamin” (v5). This particular branch of the Israelites traces their lineage back to Jacob and Rachel’s youngest son Ben (Gen 35:18). You might remember him as Joseph’s little brother. The name Benjamin means “son of the right hand.” That’s Bible talk for a place of privilege and honor. Ben’s descendants became one of the superstar tribes of Israel. The Benjaminites joined Judah as the only two tribes to remain loyal to King David and ultimately made up the Southern Kingdom (2Ki 12:21). Do you believe God is impressed by the fact you’re from the right side of the tracks? As the old saying goes, some people were born on third base and think they’ve just hit a triple. 

Scanning on down the resume, we read how Paul is “a Hebrew of Hebrews” (v5). He’s not just an Israelite. He’s not just from Benjamin’s tribe. He’s among the best of the best. Despite growing up among Gentiles in Tarsus, Saul’s family maintained the distinctive nature of their religious and cultural heritage. They didn’t let the surrounding culture stop them from observing all of the traditions of their faith. That almost certainly meant they spoke Hebrew at home in the heart of a Greek-speaking city (Acts 21:40). Let’s me clear. God calls us to be in the world but not of the world. We should be different. We should stand out. But we don’t do this to be holier-than-thou. It’s not a way to rub our neighbors’ noses in their sin. There’s no reason to thump your chest because of your faith. We’re simply beggars who’ve figured out where to get the Bread.

Paul wraps up the first half of his religious qualifications by telling us “as to the law, a Pharisee” (v5). Israelite, check. Tribe of Benjamin, check. Hebrew of Hebrews, check. The apostle kicks it up a notch by playing the Pharisee card. When it comes to being a Jew, he was the best of the best of the best. Top shelf. First in his class. Number draft pick kinda stuff. The best and the brightest. There’s no group of Jewish people who were more serious about obeying God’s law than the Pharisees. “According to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee” (Acts 26:5). They were SO amped about following the law they even tithed out of their spice rack (Mt 23:23; Lk 11:42)! One thing gets lost in the passage of time is the view of Pharisees during Jesus’ day. We see them as the bad guys through the lens of history and Scripture. We’re supposed to boo and hiss whenever they appear on stage. But the most of the Jewish people saw the Pharisees as religious superstars in the first century. Seeing one of them on the street was like catching a glimpse of a celebrity. They were rock stars of religion. Are you meticulous when it comes to following the rules? Do you dot every “i” and cross every “t” in obeying God’s law? Are you trying to earn your way into God’s approval with a perfect spiritual 4.0? It’s not happening, dude. Just ask Paul.

The first half of this religious resume certainly is impressive. Let’s face it, if ANYBODY is getting in on the basis of personal performance it’s gotta be Paul! Compared to you and me, this guy’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. But the problem is God isn’t comparing our resumes against each other. He’s holding it up next to His. Paul’s might be great but it’s far from perfect. As Tullian Tchividjian says, God doesn’t just need to save us from unrighteous badness but our unrighteous goodness as well. Good deeds done for the wrong and selfish reasons are no better than the worst act of rebellion in God’s eyes. This first part of the apostle’s resume is there to show us we can’t earn our way into God’s favor. We can’t be good enough. Not no way. Not no how. So in the end, Paul’s resume isn’t such hot stuff. But there’s one resume that matters and it belongs to Jesus.

Fantasy Points

“Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more” (Philippians 3:4).

Ever watched a Sunday afternoon of the NFL with a friend who’s playing fantasy football? Suddenly your buddy isn’t so concern about whether your team is able to knock off their arch rival. He’s consumed with the players on his fantasy team. He desperately needs his QB to pile up big numbers. His receivers must record numbers. He’s hoping his running backs run wild. Here’s the crazy thing. He doesn’t give a rat’s rear end whether their teams win. He just wants fantasy points. 

A couple of thousand years before anyone ever dreamed up such a crazy idea for watching sports, Paul had a similar problem. He thought life was all about piling up great stats. He thought the only way to win was through your own record-setting performance. The former Pharisee believed God would be so impressed with his personal production that He would easily accept him. Later the apostle discovered this doesn’t win the game. These truly are just fantasy points. “Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more” (v4). He learned the hard way that you don’t win the game by piling up fantasy points and looking good. You only win by accepting Jesus’ victory.

Paul writes these words from behind bars in a Roman prison. He’s there because lot of folks are upset about this message he’s spreading. The apostle has dedicated his life to spreading the Good News that you don’t have to save yourself. It’s not about our performance but Jesus’. He lived the completely perfect and obedient life we failed to live. He died the bloody and brutal death for our sin we should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life we certainly don’t deserve. It’s this Gospel that’s landed him in the slammer. 

The apostle desperately wants to warn his friends back in Philippi about a false teaching headed their way. Some spiritual con artists are duping folks into believing there’s more to following Jesus than simply trusting in what He’s done for them. According to them, Christ may get us into God’s kingdom but it’s up to us to stay there. We need to follow the rules. We need to pile up stats. We need fantasy points. Paul wants the Philippians to know this is NOT how you win with God. He should know. He tried it. Don’t make the same mistake.

In the previous verse, Paul talks about how believers “glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3). We celebrate the ultimate victory Jesus won for us which we could never win on our own. In the process, he drops the phrase “confidence in the flesh.” It must be kind of a big deal because he’s going to use it two more times in verse four. A little tip when it comes to reading and studying the Bible. Anytime you see a word or phrase repeated over and over, the author is trying to make a point. Hey, this is important. God is hammering this nail for a reason. He doesn’t want us to miss the big idea.

The apostle uses two forms of the same word in these two verses when writing “confidence.” One is a verb. The other is a noun. The verb peitho means to trust firmly, rely on strongly, or be totally certain. Don’t miss the point that it can also be translated as seduce or mislead. Jesus’ enemies duped the people and “persuaded (Gr. peitho) the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus” (Mt 27:20). Meanwhile the noun pepoithesis similarly describes trust, reliance on, a strong belief in someone or something to the point of total reliance. What do you ultimately lean on? Where have you been persuaded to place your trust?

Paul lets us know there’s nobody around with more reason to have “confidence in the flesh” (v4) than he does. “Flesh” is the Greek word sarx. It refers to the physical body. Before all you “Walking Dead” fans start licking your chops, the apostle NOT talking here about trusting in human flesh. He’s describing our human nature. In other words, the apostle tells us he has a long history of totally relying on external performance. His life was completely based on what he did on the outside no matter how disgusting he was on the inside. You see, there’s no greater expert on what a waste of time placing your “confidence in the flesh” than our man Paul. He’s going to give us his religious resume and his impressive stat line in the following verses (Phil 3:5-6). 

Don’t make the same mistake. Don’t think you impress God by piling up big numbers. Don’t think you win the game through fantasy points. The only way to get the “W” is through Jesus. “Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom we have boldness and access with confidence (Gr. pepoithesis) through our faith in Him” (Eph 3:11-12). I might think I’ve got Hall of Fame stats, but they are nothing compared to Paul’s. And points are paltry and little league when stacked up next to the Lord’s. I must totally rely on Jesus and what He’s done for me. “Such is the confidence (Gr. pepoithesis) we have through Christ toward God” (2Cor 3:4). You don’t win the game by piling up stats and looking good. You only win by accepting Jesus’ victory. Everything else is just fantasy points.