Warning against Pride

3 So then,^[a] 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.

² Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of the mutilators!^{[b] 3} For it is we who are the circumcision^[c]—we who worship in the Spirit of God^[d] and find our joy in the Messiah^[e] Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh, 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.^{[f] 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. ⁶ As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.

⁷ But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.^{[g] 8} What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah^[h] Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish^[i] in order to gain the Messiah^{[j] 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^[k] of the Messiah,^[l] the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith. ¹⁰ I want to know the Messiah^[m]—what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ though I hope to experience the resurrection from the dead.

Pursuing the Goal

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 the Messiah^[n] Jesus. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet.^[o] But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize^[p] of God’s heavenly call in the Messiah^[q] Jesus.

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

True and False Teachers

¹⁷ Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have set for you.^{[t] 18} For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.^{[u] 19} Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things.

²⁰ Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.^{[v] 21} He will change our unassuming bodies and make them like his glorious body through the power that enables him to bring everything under his authority.