Phi-líp 3

No confidence in the flesh

¹Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.^a Writing the same things to you again is no burden to me, and for you it is a safeguard.^b

²Be on guard against the dogs, be on guard against the evil workers, be on guard against the mutilators.^{cd 3}For it is we who are the circumcision: we who worship by the Spirit of God, who take pride in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in human credentials, ⁴even though I myself have grounds for that kind of confidence too.^efg

If anyone else thinks there are grounds for confidence in human credentials, I have more. ⁵I was circumcised on the eighth day. I belong to the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews. In keeping the law I was a Pharisee; ⁶in zeal I persecuted the church; in righteousness as the law defines it, I was beyond reproach.^hi

⁷But whatever was profit to me, I have come to count as loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I count everything as loss because knowing Christ Jesus my Lord is worth far more than all of it. For his sake I have lost everything, and I count it all as dung, so that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, with no righteousness of my own from keeping the law, but with the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ: righteousness from God, resting on faith. ¹⁰I want to know him, to know the power of his resurrection and what it is to share in his sufferings, as I am being shaped into the likeness of his death, ¹¹hoping that somehow I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead.^jkl

Running for the goal

¹²I do not mean that I already have all this, or that I have already been made perfect. But I keep pursuing it, trying to take hold of it, because Christ has taken hold of me.^{m 13}Brothers and sisters, I do not count myself as having taken hold of it. My single aim is this: I put out of mind what is behind me and stretch out for what is in front of me, ¹⁴and I run straight for the goal to win the prize promised by God’s upward call in Christ Jesus.^{n 15}Those of us, then, who are mature should have this mindset. And if your thinking differs at some point, God will reveal that to you as well.^{o 16}In any case, let us keep in step with the point we have already reached.^p

¹⁷Brothers and sisters, all of you together, follow my example, and take note of those who live this way, by the pattern you have in us. ¹⁸For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and now I tell you again, in tears. ¹⁹Destruction is where they will end. The belly is their god, they find their glory in what should make them ashamed, and earthly things fill their minds.^{q 20}But we hold our citizenship in heaven, and it is from there that we are eagerly waiting for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will change these bodies of our humble state and give them the same form as his glorious body, by the working of his power to bring all things under his rule.^rs