Paul seems to be rather boastful of his background and his own religious zeal. Yet when we pay more attention to his writings and the special way he has of speaking, we come across the phrase "boasting in the Lord." Superficially this phrase seems to be a contradiction, for if we truly desire to be a follower of Jesus and to live according to his inspiration and grace, it seems we should never boast but always be humble. Through a deeper study of Paul's thought, however, we have come to realize that, by "boasting in the Lord", Paul means glorifying God by referring all that we have to divine grace and giving thanks to God. In that sense "boasting in the Lord" is similar to Our Lady's attitude when she says in the Magnificat "He who is mighty has done great things for me."

When he goes on to affirm that everything is a loss compared with the surpassing knowledge of his Lord Jesus Christ, he is actually not denying the good that there was in his past but rather showing how his religious past has now been surpassed and perfected in his newly embraced Christian Faith.