Philippians 3

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Paul instructs the brothers to rejoice in the Lord and warns them against evil workers and those who mutilate the flesh. He details his own background of strict adherence to the law, including being circumcised on the eighth day, belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, and acting as a Pharisee who persecuted the church. He then states that he considers these former advantages as loss compared to knowing Christ and gaining a righteousness through faith in Him rather than the law. Describing his ongoing efforts, Paul compares his pursuit to a runner pressing on toward a goal to attain the resurrection from the dead and win the prize of God's heavenly calling. Finally, he urges believers to follow his example and observe those walking according to his pattern, contrasting enemies destined for destruction with believers whose citizenship is in heaven and who await the Lord Jesus Christ to transform their lowly bodies.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ²Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh! ³For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless. ⁷But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. ¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. ¹⁶Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained. ¹⁷Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you. ¹⁸For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.