4
1though 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:
5
2circumcised on the eighth day,
3of the people of Israel,
4of the tribe of Benjamin,
5a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law,
6a Pharisee;
6
7as to zeal,
8a persecutor of the church;
9as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7
But
10whatever gain I had,
11I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of
12the surpassing worth of
13knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I
14have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9
and be found in him, not having
15a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but
16that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--
10
17that I may know him and
18the power of his resurrection, and
19may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
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that by any means possible I may
20attain the resurrection from the dead.
Straining Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already
21obtained this or
22am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
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Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:
23forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14
I press on toward the goal for
24the prize of the upward
25call of God in Christ Jesus.