1 Finally, my
brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you
is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs,
beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!
3 For we are the
circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit,[a]
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
4 though I also
might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have
confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5 circumcised the
eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning
zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the
law, blameless.
7 But what things
were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8 Yet indeed I
also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count
them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is
from God by faith; 10
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any
means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing Toward the Goal
12 Not that I
have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may
lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I
do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those
things which are ahead,
14 I press
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let
us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think
otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
16 Nevertheless,
to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the
same rule,[b]
let us be of the same mind.
Our Citizenship in Heaven
17 Brethren,
join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us
for a pattern. 18
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 whose end
is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
20 For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His
glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue
all things to Himself.