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1Beyond this, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! I don’t mind writing the same things to you again, as this protects you.
2Watch out for those dogs, those bad people, those ones who just want to cut the body.
3We’re the ones who have truly been circumcised: We serve God by his Spirit, we boast in Christ Jesus, and we don’t put our trust in who we are or what we can do—although I myself could do that for many reasons.
4Others may think they have reasons to trust in those things, but I have even more.
5I was circumcised on the eighth day. I’m part of the people of Israel. I’m from the tribe of Benjamin. I’m a pure Hebrew.
6As for being strict about the law, I’m a Pharisee. As for zeal, I opposed and attacked the church. As far as keeping the law is concerned, I kept it perfectly.
7I thought that things like that were real advantages. But now I consider them to be worthless because of Christ.
8In fact, I consider everything to be worthless compared with knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Knowing him is worth much more than anything else. Because of him I’ve lost everything, but I look at it all as garbage so that I can know Christ better.
9I want to belong to him, and I want to be right with God based not on my obedience to the law but on my faith in Christ.
10I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead and what it means to join him in his sufferings. I want to become like him in his death
11so that by God’s grace I can also rise from the dead.
12I haven’t yet received these things or reached my goal. But Christ Jesus took hold of me so that I could reach it, and so I keep pushing myself forward to take hold of it.
13Brothers and sisters, I don’t consider that I’ve taken hold of it yet. But here’s the one thing I do: Forgetting what’s behind me and pushing toward what’s ahead of me,
14I press on toward the goal to win the prize, because God has called me toward heaven in Christ Jesus in order to win it.
15So all of us who are mature in the faith should see things this way. If you think differently about something, God will make that clear to you.
16Just make sure that you live up to what you’ve already reached.
17Brothers and sisters, join together in following my example. You have us as a model, so pay close attention to those who live the way we do.
18I’ve told you these things many times before, and I’m telling you them again with tears in my eyes. Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ.
19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and they brag about things they should be ashamed of. They only think about earthly things.
20But we’re citizens of heaven, and we’re waiting eagerly for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
21He has the power to bring everything under his control, and by that power he’ll change our earthly bodies to become like his glorious body.