Furthermore, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome for me, and it is a safeguard for you.
Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of those who mutilate the flesh!
For we are the true circumcision, the ones who are serving by the spirit of God and boasting in Christ Jesus and not putting any confidence in the flesh,
although I myself have reasons for putting such confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day; of the people of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, I was blameless.
But everything that was gain to me, these things I have considered as loss because of Christ.
But even more than that, I consider all things as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things—and consider them dung—in order to gain Christ
and be found in union with him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that is through trust in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God based on trust.
My goal is to know him: to experience the power of his resurrection and to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his obedience unto death,
that through whatever may happen, I will arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.
Straining Toward the Goal
Not that I have already obtained these things, or have already reached the goal of knowing him, but I press on to take hold of the goal for which also Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: letting go of the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things that are before,
I press on toward the goal in order to win the prize of the upward calling of God in connection with Christ Jesus.
So then, all who are mature must think this way, and if you think differently about anything, God will reveal that to you too.
In any case, let us live up to that which we have already attained.
Brothers and sisters, join with others in being imitators of me and pay attention to those who are walking according to the pattern you have seen in us.
For I have told you often, and now tell you again in tears, that many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body so it will have the same form as his glorious body, by the power that also enables him to subject all things to himself.