1 ¶ It remains, my brethren, that ye rejoice in the Lord. It does not bother me to write the same things to you, and for you it is safe.

So now, my Christian brothers, be happy because you belong to Christ. It is not hard for me to write the same things to you. It is good for you.

2 B eware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

Watch out for false teachers. Watch out for sinful men. They want you to depend on the religious act of becoming a Jew for your hope.

3 F or we are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit and glory in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh.

The act of becoming a Jew has nothing to do with us becoming Christians. We worship God through His Spirit and are proud of Jesus Christ. We have no faith in what we ourselves can do.

4 ¶ Though I might also have reason to confide in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

I could have reason to trust in the flesh. If anyone could feel that the flesh could do something for him, I could.

5 C ircumcised the eighth day, of the lineage of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;

I went through the religious act of becoming a Jew when I was eight days old. I was born a Jew and came from the family group of Benjamin. I was a Jewish son of Jewish parents. I belonged to the group of the proud religious law-keepers.

6 c oncerning zeal, a persecutor of the congregation; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

I followed my religion with all my heart and did everything I could to make it hard for the church. No one could say anything against the way I obeyed the Law. Christ Must Be Lord of Our Lives

7 B ut those things which were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ.

But I gave up those things that were so important to me for Christ.

8 A nd doubtless I even count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ

Even more than that, I think of everything as worth nothing. It is so much better to know Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for Him. And I think of these things as worth nothing so that I can have Christ.

9 ¶ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

I want to be as one with Him. I could not be right with God by what the Law said I must do. I was made right with God by faith in Christ.

10 T hat I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death,

I want to know Him. I want to have the same power in my life that raised Jesus from the dead. I want to understand and have a share in His sufferings and be like Christ in His death.

11 i f by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Then I may be raised up from among the dead.

12 N ot as though I had already attained it, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if I may lay hold of that for which I have also been laid hold of by the Christ, Jesus.

I do not say that I have received this or have already become perfect. But I keep going on to make that life my own as Christ Jesus made me His own.

13 B rethren, I do not reckon to have laid hold of it yet, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and extending myself unto those things which are ahead,

No, Christian brothers, I do not have that life yet. But I do one thing. I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me.

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus.

15 ¶ Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

All of us who are full-grown Christians should think this way. If you do not think this way, God will show it to you.

16 N evertheless, in that unto which we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us have the same mind.

So let us keep on obeying the same truth we have already been following.

17 ¶ Brethren, be imitators of me and consider those who so walk, as ye have us for a pattern.

Christian brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live.

18 ( For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ;

There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes.

19 w hose end shall be perdition, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things).

Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world. In the end they will be destroyed.

20 F or our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

But we are citizens of heaven. Christ, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin, will be coming down from heaven again. We are waiting for Him to return.

21 W ho shall transform our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is also able to subdue all things unto himself.

He will change these bodies of ours of the earth and make them new. He will make them like His body of shining-greatness. He has the power to do this because He can make all things obey Him.