[MHGinTN]

Saul was a Pharisee among Pharisees, until the road to Damascus experience.

[The Theophilus]

Saul was a Pharisee among Pharisees, until the road to Damascus experience.

Paul, many years after the Damascus Road Conversion said he is a Pharisee in the present tense ('ειμι' 1st person singular present active indicative). Paul, more than you or I should know his own Pharisee status.