Read the Bible

The Goal of Life

¹ Finally, my ^(F1)fellow believers, continue to ^(C1)rejoice and delight in the LORD. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.

² Look out for the ^(F1)(C1)dogs the Judaizers, the legalists, look out for the ^(C2)troublemakers, look out for the ^(F2)false circumcision those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation;³ for ^(C1)we who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and are the true circumcision, who ^(C2)worship in the Spirit of God and ^(C3)glory and take pride and exult in ^(C4)Christ Jesus and place no confidence in what we have or who we are in the flesh—⁴ though I myself ^(C1)might have some grounds for confidence in the flesh if I were pursuing salvation by works. If anyone else thinks that he has reason to be confident in the flesh that is, in his own efforts to achieve salvation, I have far more:^5 (C1)circumcised when I was eight days old, of the ^(C2)nation of Israel, of the ^(C3)tribe of Benjamin, a ^(C2)Hebrew of Hebrews an exemplary Hebrew; as to the observance of the Law, ^(C4)a Pharisee;⁶ as to my zeal for Jewish tradition, ^(C1)a persecutor of the church; and as to ^(C2)righteousness supposed right living which my fellow Jews believe is in the Law, I proved myself ^(C3)blameless.

⁷ But ^(C1)whatever former things were gains to me as I thought then, these things once regarded as advancements in merit I have come to consider as loss absolutely worthless for the sake of Christ and the purpose which He has given my life.⁸ But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of ^(C1)knowing ^(C2)Christ Jesus my Lord and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ,⁹ and may be found in Him believing and relying on Him, not having any ^(C1)righteousness of my own derived from my obedience to the Law and its rituals, but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, ^(C2)the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.¹⁰ And this, so that I may ^(C1)know Him experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely and in that same way experience ^(C2)the power of His resurrection which overflows and is active in believers, and that I may share ^(C3)the fellowship of His sufferings, by ^(C4)being continually conformed inwardly into His likeness even to His death dying as He did;^11 (F1)so that I may ^(C1)attain to the resurrection that will raise me from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already ^(C1)obtained it this goal of being Christlike or have already ^(C2)been made perfect, but I actively press on ^(F1)so that I may ^(C3)take hold of that perfection for which ^(C4)Christ Jesus ^(C5)took hold of me and made me His own. ^{(VR1)13 (F1)}Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: ^(C1)forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,¹⁴ I ^(C1)press on toward the goal to win the heavenly prize of the ^(C2)upward call of God in ^(C3)Christ Jesus.¹⁵ All of us who are ^(C1)mature pursuing spiritual perfection should have this attitude. And if in any respect you have a ^(C2)different attitude, that too ^(C3)God will make clear to you.¹⁶ Only let us ^(C1)stay true to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Brothers and sisters, ^(C1)together follow my example and observe those who live by the ^(C2)pattern we gave you.¹⁸ For there are ^(C1)many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even ^(C2)with tears, who live as enemies of ^(C3)the cross of Christ rejecting and opposing His way of salvation,¹⁹ whose fate is destruction, whose god is their ^(C1)belly their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity, and whose ^(C2)glory is in their shame—who ^(C3)focus their mind on earthly and temporal things.²⁰ But we are different, because ^(C1)our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly ^(C2)await the coming of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;²¹ who, ^(C1)by exerting that power which enables Him even to ^(C2)subject everything to Himself, will not only ^(C3)transform but completely refashion our earthly bodies ^(C4)so that they will be like His ^(C5)glorious resurrected body.