Note 4 at Ga 1:14: Paul advanced within the ranks of Judaism. In the Greek, the word for "profited" literally means "to drive forward (as if by beating), i.e. (figuratively and intransitively) to advance" (Strong's Concordance). Just as in a race, a person might beat an animal to drive it forward and cause it to advance over the others, so Paul was driven by religion. Paul was speaking here of his youth when he advanced and drove himself forward in the Jewish religion beyond many of his own age (Ac 22:3). He was superabundantly zealous for the traditions of man. A good definition for religion would be the description found in Mr 7:9-13 and summed up as "making the word of God of none effect through your tradition" (Mr 7:13).