True Worth Found in Christ
Paul lists his credentials, tribe, training and a blameless record under the law, then calls the whole ledger garbage next to knowing Christ and the righteousness from our Father. He is careful to say he has not arrived: forgetting what is behind, he presses on. His citizenship is elsewhere.
3 1Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. Writing the same things again is no trouble for me, and it protects you.
2Watch for the dogs, watch for the evil workers, watch for those who mutilate the flesh. a a v2 Paul mocks those who insist on circumcision by calling them 'the mutilation' — a deliberate flip of the word for circumcision. 3We are the circumcision—worshiping by the Spirit of our Father, boasting in Christ Jesus, trusting nothing in the flesh, 4though I too could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5Circumcised the eighth day; Israelite by birth, from Benjamin's tribe; Hebrew of Hebrews; a Pharisee under the law. 6In zeal, persecuting the church; in righteousness under the law, blameless.
7But whatever was gain to me, I now count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Yes, I count everything as loss because of the priceless worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I've lost all things, and count them garbage, so I may gain Christ, 9and be found in him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that through faith in Christ—the righteousness from our Father based on faith, 10so I may know him, his resurrection's power, sharing his sufferings, becoming like him in death, 11if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained it, or am already perfected, but I press on to grasp that for which Christ Jesus grasped me. 13Brothers, I don't count myself as having grasped it yet. But one thing: forgetting what's behind, reaching for what's ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of our Father's heavenward call in Christ Jesus. 15Let all of us who are mature think this way; if you think differently on anything, our Father will reveal that to you too. 16Only let us hold true to what we have already attained.
17Brothers, imitate me together, and watch those who live by the pattern you have in us. 18Many live as enemies of Christ's cross—I've told you this often, and now say it in tears. 19Their end is destruction, their god the stomach, their glory their shame, minds fixed on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven; from there we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to match his glorious body, by the power that subjects all things to himself.
