Philippians 3

No Confidence in the Flesh

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again,^a and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs,^b those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision,^c we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus,^d and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence.^e

If others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised^f on the eighth day, of the people of Israel,^g of the tribe of Benjamin,^h a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;ⁱ as for zeal,^j persecuting the church;^k as for righteousness based on the law,^l faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss^m for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowingⁿ Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ^o and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,^p but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness^q that comes from God on the basis of faith.^r I want to know^s Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,^t becoming like him in his death,^u and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection^v from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,^w but I press on to take hold^x of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.^y Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^z and straining toward what is ahead, I press on^a toward the goal to win the prize^b for which God has called^c me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

All of us, then, who are mature^a should take such a view of things.^b And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.^c Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example,^d brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.^e For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears,^f many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.^g Their destiny^h is destruction, their god is their stomach,ⁱ and their glory is in their shame.^j Their mind is set on earthly things.^k But our citizenship^l is in heaven.^m And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,ⁿ who, by the power^o that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies^p so that they will be like his glorious body.^q