circumcised when I was a week old; a descendant of Israel; a member of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew, a son of Hebrews. Measured by the law, I was a Pharisee;

by the standard set by zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and measured by the uprightness reached by keeping the law, I was faultless.

and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith.