Section 5
strong he was for Judaism! Perhaps there has not been another person more absolute for Jewish religion, philosophy, and culture. To people like Saul of Tarsus, wealth or material things mean nothing compared with their religion, philoso phy, and culture.
If we get into Paul's spirit and thought in Philippians 3, we shall realize that as he was writing he was thinking of religion, philosophy, and culture when he spoke of "all things." The "all things" in verse 8 must certainly include the three categories of religious things, philos ophical things, and cultural things. If we would drop our religion, philosophy, and culture, we would truly abandon everything. By dropping these categories of things, we would automati cally drop the worldly, material things, which are actually dominated by religion, philosophy, and culture. Although it is easy to overcome the influence of material things, it is very difficult to overcome religion, philosophy, and culture. Those who love the Lord may easily abandon material things for His sake. But it is not easy for them to lay aside their particular thought and logic. You may love the Lord and seek Him for years without dropping one bit of your personal philosophy or logic.