New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
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So then, my brothers and sisters, be glad in the Lord. It's no trouble for me to repeat the same things to you because they will help keep you on track.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
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Watch out for the "dogs." Watch out for people who do evil things. Watch out for those who insist on circumcision, which is really mutilation.
3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,
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We are the circumcision. We are the ones who serve by God's Spirit and who boast in Christ Jesus. We don't put our confidence in rituals performed on the body,
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
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though I have good reason to have this kind of confidence. If anyone else has reason to put their confidence in physical advantages, I have even more:
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
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I was circumcised on the eighth day. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. With respect to observing the Law, I'm a Pharisee.
6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
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With respect to devotion to the faith, I harassed the church. With respect to righteousness under the Law, I'm blameless.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
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These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
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But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ
9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
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and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith.
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
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The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
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so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead.
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
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It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
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Brothers and sisters, I myself don't think I've reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me.
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
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The goal I pursue is the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus.
15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.
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So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her.
16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
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Only let's live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.
17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
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Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me and watch those who live this way—you can use us as models.
18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
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As I have told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross.
19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
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Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things.
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
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Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ.
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
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He will transform our humble bodies so that they are like his glorious body, by the power that also makes him able to subject all things to himself.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible