Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 In conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don't mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do so.
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Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
2 Watch out for those who do evil things, those dogs, those who insist on cutting the body.
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Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.
3 It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.
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For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
4 I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way.
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though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
5 I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee,
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circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.
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concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
7 But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake.
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However, what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
8 Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ
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Yes most assuredly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
9 and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith.
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and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,
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that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;
11 in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.
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if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.
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Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.
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Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having laid hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.
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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you.
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Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, this God will also reveal that to you.
16 However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.
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Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind.
17 Keep on imitating me, my friends. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you.
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Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example.
18 I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's death on the cross.
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For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world.
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whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
20 We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.
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For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ;
21 He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.
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who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things to himself.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.