John Calvin Commentary Philippians 3:4

"though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:" — Philippians 3:4 (ASV)

Though I might also—He is not speaking of the disposition he actually showed, but he suggests that he also has grounds for boasting, if he were inclined to imitate their foolishness. The meaning, therefore, is: "My boasting, indeed, is in Christ, but if it were permissible to boast in the flesh, I also do not lack material."

From this we learn how to rebuke the arrogance of those who boast in something apart from Christ. If we ourselves possess those very things in which they boast, let us not allow them to triumph over Christ by unseemly boasting, without also retorting with our own grounds for boasting, so that they may understand that it is not through envy that we consider worthless—indeed, even voluntarily renounce—those things they value most highly.

However, let the conclusion always be this: all confidence in the flesh is futile and absurd.

If any one has confidence in the flesh, I more—Not satisfied with placing himself on the same level as any of them, he even claims superiority over them. Therefore, he cannot, for this reason, be suspected as if he were envious of their excellence and praised Christ in order to make his own shortcomings seem less significant.

He says, therefore, that if it came to a dispute, he would be superior to others. For they had nothing (as we shall see soon) that he did not also possess equally with them, while in some things he greatly excelled them.

He says—not using the term in its strict sense—that he has confidence in the flesh, because, although he did not actually place confidence in these things, he possessed those grounds for fleshly boasting which made them arrogant.