| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1So then, my brothers, keep on rejoicing in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you; indeed, it is for your safety. | 1Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. |
| 2Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of the mutilators! | 2Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! |
| 3For it is we who are the circumcision —we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh, | 3For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials |
| 4although I could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he can place confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to think so. | 4--though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: |
| 5Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee. | 5I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. |
| 6As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless. | 6In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. |
| 7But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah. | 7But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. |
| 8What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah | 8More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things--indeed, I regard them as dung!--that I may gain Christ, |
| 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith. | 9and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness--a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness. |
| 10I want to know the Messiah —what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, | 10My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, |
| 11though I hope to experience the resurrection from the dead. | 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. |
| 12It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by the Messiah Jesus. | 12Not that I have already attained this--that is, I have not already been perfected--but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. |
| 13Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, | 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, |
| 14I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly call in the Messiah Jesus. | 14with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. |
| 15Therefore, those of us who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will show you how to think. | 15Therefore let those of us who are "perfect" embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. |
| 16However, we should live up to what we have achieved so far. | 16Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained. |
| 17Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have set for you. | 17Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. |
| 18For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah. | 18For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. |
| 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things. | 19Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. |
| 20Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. | 20But our citizenship is in heaven--and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, |
| 21He will change our unassuming bodies and make them like his glorious body through the power that enables him to bring everything under his authority. | 21who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself. |
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