Philippians 3

1Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.

2Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evildoers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

3For we are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh,

4though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh too. If anyone else thinks he has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:

5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

7But whatever was gain to me, I have come to count as loss for the sake of Christ.

8More than that, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have lost all things, and I count them as garbage, so that I may gain Christ

9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

10I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,

11if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me.

13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead,

14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15So let those of us who are mature think this way, and if you think differently about anything, God will reveal that to you as well.

16Only let us keep in step with what we have already attained.

17Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who live according to the example you have in us.

18For many live, as I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, as enemies of the cross of Christ.

19Their end is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

20For our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

21He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to bring all things under his control.