3 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the lord. Writing the same things to you again is no trouble for me, and it is protection for you:  2 Watch out for the “dogs”; watch out for the evil workers; watch out for the mutilators of bodies.  3 For we are the true, spiritual circumcision,[1240] the ones who serve in the spirit of God, take pride in Messiah Jesus, and do not put any confidence at all in the flesh[1241] —  4 although I myself might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks they have good reasons for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  5 I was circumcised on the eighth day; I am of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee;  6 as for zeal, I persecuted the church severely; as for uprightness in the Law, I was blameless.
    7 But whatever advantages I had, I now think of them as disadvantages because of the Messiah.  8 More than that, I consider everything to be a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing Messiah Jesus my lord.[1242] For him I have suffered the loss of all things and think of them as so much filth, so that I may gain Messiah  9 and be found in him, not having my own uprightness from the Law, but uprightness through the faith of Messiah[1243] — the uprightness from God based on faith. [1244]  10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  11 and so somehow to attain to the advance resurrection[1245] out from among the dead persons.
    12 It is not that I have already obtained it — I have not yet reached that goal — but I make every effort to take hold of it, since that is why I have been taken hold of by Messiah Jesus.  13 Brothers and sisters, I do not think that I myself have taken hold of it yet. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and stretching forward to what is ahead,  14 I keep running toward the goal in order to win the prize promised by God’s high calling in Messiah Jesus. [1246]  15 All who are mature should think this way. If you think differently, God will reveal that to you.  16 But let us hold on to what we have already attained.
    17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who follow our example.  18 For I often told you, and now tell you again with tears, that many are conducting themselves as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.  19 Their final end is destruction; their god is their appetites; they take pride in their shame. They are focused on worldly things, 20 but our citizenship is in heaven; from there we eagerly await a Savior, the lord Jesus Messiah.  21 He is going to transform our humble bodies to be like his body of glory, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.