1 Further, my brothers and sisters, 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.2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh —4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in "Christ —the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.10 I want to know Christ —yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.13 Brothers and sisters, 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,14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

1 De cetero, fratres mei, gaudete in Domino. Eadem vobis scribere, mihi quidem non pigrum, vobis autem necessarium. 2 Videte canes, videte malos operarios, videte concisionem. 3 Nos enim sumus circumcisio, qui spiritu servimus Deo, et gloriamur in Christo Jesu, et non in carne fiduciam habentes, 4 quamquam ego habeam confidentiam et in carne. Si quis alius videtur confidere in carne, ego magis, 5 circumcisus octavo die, ex genere Isral, de tribu Benjamin, Hebrus ex Hebris, secundum legem pharisus, 6 secundum mulationem persequens Ecclesiam Dei, secundum justitiam, qu in lege est, conversatus sine querela. 7 Sed qu mihi fuerunt lucra, hc arbitratus sum propter Christum detrimenta. 8 Verumtamen existimo omnia detrimentum esse propter eminentem scientiam Jesu Christi Domini mei : propter quem omnia detrimentum feci, et arbitror ut stercora, ut Christum lucrifaciam, 9 et inveniar in illo non habens meam justitiam, qu ex lege est, sed illam, qu ex fide est Christi Jesu : qu ex Deo est justitia in fide, 10 ad cognoscendum illum, et virtutem resurrectionis ejus, et societatem passionum illius : configuratus morti ejus : 11 si quo modo occurram ad resurrectionem, qu est ex mortuis : 12 non quod jam acceperim, aut jam perfectus sim : sequor autem, si quomodo comprehendam in quo et comprehensus sum a Christo Jesu. 13 Fratres, ego me non arbitror comprehendisse. Unum autem, qu quidem retro sunt obliviscens, ad ea vero qu sunt priora, extendens meipsum, 14 ad destinatum persequor, ad bravium supern vocationis Dei in Christo Jesu. 15 Quicumque ergo perfecti sumus, hoc sentiamus : et si quid aliter sapitis, et hoc vobis Deus revelabit. 16 Verumtamen ad quod pervenimus ut idem sapiamus, et in eadem permaneamus regula. 17 Imitatores mei estote, fratres, et observate eos qui ita ambulant, sicut habetis formam nostram. 18 Multi enim ambulant, quos spe dicebam vobis (nunc autem et flens dico) inimicos crucis Christi : 19 quorum finis interitus : quorum Deus venter est : et gloria in confusione ipsorum, qui terrena sapiunt. 20 Nostra autem conversatio in clis est : unde etiam Salvatorem exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, 21 qui reformabit corpus humilitatis nostr, configuratum corpori claritatis su, secundum operationem, qua etiam possit subjicere sibi omnia.