Philippians 3

KNOWING CHRIST

3In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice^au in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil^av workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³For we are the circumcision,^aw the ones who worship by the Spirit^ax of God, boast in Christ Jesus,^ay and do not put confidence in the flesh—⁴although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised the eighth day;^az of the nation of Israel,^a of the tribe of Benjamin,^b a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law,^c a Pharisee; ⁶regarding zeal,^d persecuting^e the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law,^f blameless.^g

⁷But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value^h of knowing Christⁱ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ^{j 9}and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law,^k but one that is through faith in Christ^A—the righteousness from God based on faith.^{l 10}My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings,^m being conformed to his death,^{n 11}assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

REACHING FORWARD TO GOD’S GOAL

¹²Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold^o of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not^A consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^p and reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly^B call in Christ Jesus.^{q 15}Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal^r this also to you. ¹⁶In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. ¹⁷Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross^s of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory^t is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, ²⁰Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious^u body,^v by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.