blameless." Paul, before his conversion, was not just another person in the Jewish religion. If I can use the term, Paul was no "laymen" in Judaism. He was a leader, and this was his resume; his credentials. In the traditional, institutional Jewish religion this is what mattered: Birth, Blood, Tribe, Heritage and Militance. Paul is telling the Philippians - I had everything that mattered in Judaism. He especially had the zeal: "persecuting the church," and upholding the strict human legalism of the Pharisees. This is the status that Paul enjoyed in the institutionalized Jewish religion. But, as stated with confidence in verse 7 - He gave it all up: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." When Saul of Tarsus witnessed the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus, there was at some point in that encounter, a personal reassessment. The decision was difficult, the results of personal suffering were predictable - but in hearing the gospel he could clearly see that his advanced status in Judaism meant nothing, in comparison to "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." What he found in Christ was far greater than what he had gained among men in the Jewish religion. In his former life he attained status and the esteem of men. Now, he would "attain to the resurrection from the dead." The contextual flow brings us to these words: 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press