my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. PHILIPPIANS 3:4–8 In listing the privileges and attainments of his life prior to knowing the Messiah, Paul first grouped together privileges that were his by birth and could never be changed (circumcision, membership in Israel and Benjamin, and his Hebrew-speaking heritage). The second set of attainments were those things he accomplished by his own effort (Pharisaic membership, persecuting zeal, and his
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