Philippians 3:4–14

⁴although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised the eighth day; ^oof the nation of Israel, ^pof the tribe of Benjamin, ^qa Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, ^ra Pharisee; ⁶regarding zeal, ^spersecuting ^tthe church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, ^ublameless. ^v

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 ^wof knowing Christ ^xJesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ ^y9and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, ^zbut one that is through faith in Christ ^a—the righteousness from God based on faith. ^b10My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, ^cbeing conformed to His death, ^d11assuming 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 fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold ^eof it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³Brothers, I do not ^fconsider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind ^gand reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly ^hcall in Christ Jesus. ⁱ