3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
3:2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.
3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh–
3:4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
3:5 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;
3:6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
3:8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
3:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
3:15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
3:16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
3:17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
3:18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
3:19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
3:21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, for me it is not irksome, but for you it is safe.
3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.
3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh,
3:4 Though I myself have something to be confident of in the flesh as well. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I more:
3:5 Circumcised the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
3:6 As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless.
3:7 But what things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ.
3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ
3:9 And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith,
3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
3:11 If perhaps I may attain to the out- resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
3:13 Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before,
3:14 I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.
3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown, have this mind; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you.
3:16 Nevertheless whereunto we have attained, by the same rule let us walk.
3:17 Be imitators together of me, brothers, and observe those who thus walk even as you have us as a pattern.
3:18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,
3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose god is their stomach, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
3:20 For our commonwealth exists in the heavens, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
3:21 Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.