3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
3:2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh-- 3:4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for 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; as to the law, a Pharisee; 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 3:11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 3:15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 3:16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 3:17 Friends, fall in beside me, and look closely at those marching in formation with us. 3:18 Many of the folks we all know, who I remember with tears in my eyes, walk out of step with the standard of Christ. 3:19 They’re headed to destruction because they worship insatiable appetites, and their only concern is for embarrassment, of what the world thinks of them. 3:20 But our membership is in higher places, looking toward a Savior, the anointed One, Joshua, 3:21 who will absorb our regular bodies into his glorious body, by the Forces that place him in command of all things.