What did Paul mean when he said he profited in the Jews religion?
Paul meant he was advancing and prospering within the Jewish religion as a corrupt system. As Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees, he gained standing and authority in Judaism and used it to persecute opponents. Scripture generally uses 'religion' negatively, and his profit was in that bad, corrupt system.
Les explains that Paul is speaking as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of the Pharisees who was corrupt in the religion and showed no mercy to those who opposed it. He could drag them in, throw them into dungeons, or commit them to stoning. So when Paul says he 'profited in the Jews religion,' Les says it means he was prospering in a bad, corrupt system, not in something good. Les notes he detests the word religion because the Bible usually uses it in a bad light; the possible exception is James, where being religious includes bridling the tongue. For the most part, however, 'religion' in Scripture is a bad word, just as it is here. Paul was profiting in the Jews religion precisely because it was corrupt. Les also points to Jesus' account with the Pharisees, who were corrupt, and to the incident where Paul called the one who struck him a 'whited sepulcher,' then took it back because he did not know he was the high priest.
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
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Why did Paul say he profited in the Jews' religion?
Paul says he was profiting in the Jews' religion because it was a bad, corrupt system.
Why did the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to use the term 'the Jews' religion' for Judaism?
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to call Judaism 'the Jews' religion' because that is what it had become—a watered-down version of the Law given at Mount Sinai over 1500 years earlier.