Philippians 3:1–11

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.