I became as a Jew: some commentators think that Paul is referring to a single event, perhaps the one recorded in Acts 21.23-36, where Paul and his friends go into the Temple to perform a purification ceremony.

The Jews: a definite article is rare in Paul’s writings, and the verb I became usually refers to a single past event. However, it is probable that Paul is writing more generally. In that case, Good News Bible‘s “I live like a Jew” is a preferable English translation and will make the meaning clear in many languages. The present context shows that Paul is thinking of the Jews as a religious group rather than simply as a race. This fact is confirmed by verse 9, where Good News Bible is right to specify that the Law is “the Law of Moses.” This is not explicit in the text here, but in verse 9 Paul has mentioned “the law of Moses.”

Many Greek manuscripts omit the whole phrase translated though not being myself under the law, but there is so much repetition in the Greek text that it would be easy for a scribe’s eye to jump from one occurrence of the phrase under the law to another.

Some translators may prefer to translate under the law as “required to follow (or, obey) the law.”

The final clauses, from to those under the law, can be restructured to “I live as though I were required to obey the Law written by Moses when I work with people who follow that law, in order to win them to Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .