Paul, a Philonic Jew (Philippians 3:3–21)

This paper argues that, contrary to the common and widespread understanding, Paul does not speak of converting to another faith but instead of reorienting his life on the divine, on Christ. The articulation of Paul's religious understandings as seen in Phil 3:3-21 is very much in keeping with those of the first-century Jew Philo as he discusses them in his treatise The Migration of Abraham.