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¹ So then,[fn] my brothers, keep on rejoicing in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you; indeed, it is for your safety.[xr] ² Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of the mutilators![fn][xr] ³ For it is we who are the circumcision[fn] - we who worship in the Spirit of God[fn] and boast in Christ Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh,[xr]

⁴ although I could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he can place confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to think so.[fn][xr] ⁵ Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the law is concerned, I was a Pharisee.[xr] ⁶ As far as zeal is concerned, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as the righteousness that is in the law is concerned, I was perfect.[xr] ⁷ But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ.[xr] ⁸ What is more, I continue to consider all these things as a loss for the sake of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish[fn] in order to gain Christ[xr]

⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of Christ,[fn] the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith.[xr] ¹⁰ I want to know Christ[fn] - what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,[xr] ¹¹ though I hope to experience the resurrection from the dead.[xr] ¹² It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by Christ Jesus.[xr] ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it.[fn] But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,[xr] ¹⁴ I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize[fn] of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.[xr]

¹⁵ Therefore, those of us who are mature[fn] should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will show you how to think.[fn][xr] ¹⁶ However, we should live up to what we have achieved so far.[xr]

¹⁷ Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have given you.[fn][xr] ¹⁸ For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.[xr] ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things.[xr] ²⁰ Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.[xr] ²¹ He will change our humble bodies and make them like his glorious body through the power that enables him to bring everything under his authority.[xr]