Philippians 3

₁There is something more that I want to say to you. My friends, you must rejoice because you belong to the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, because it will help you.

₂You must beware of those bad people who teach you things that are wrong and people who are doing bad things. Beware of those people who always want to circumcise everyone. ₃We have the true circumcision, because the Spirit of God helps us to serve God. We glorify the name of Christ Jesus and we know that the good things that we have done will not save us. ₄I can talk about all the good things that I have done in my life, things that other people think will save them. If they think that they have done a lot of good things in their lives, then I can say that I have done more things and that I have more reasons to be proud:

₅My parents circumcised me when I was 8 days old. I belong to the Israelites, I belong to the Benjamin tribe.

I am a true Jew and I was a Pharisee who did everything that the laws say.

₆The Jewish religion was so important to me that I wanted to persecute the church of the Lord.

I thought that God would forgive my sins and say that I was righteous because I had done everything that the laws say.

₇Yes, I thought that all these things were important, but when I started to believe in Christ, I saw that all these things were worthless. ₈Now I know that the most important thing in life is to know Christ Jesus as my Lord. Everything else is worthless. Christ is so important to me that I have thrown away everything else, because I think it is no good. I have found something much better than those things. I have found Christ. ₉I now belong to Christ. God forgave me and said I am righteous because I believe in Christ, not because I do what the laws say, but because I believe. ₁₀Now I know Him and I feel his power in my life, the power that made Him live again. I also suffer as He suffered. Yes, I die as He died, ₁₁and I believe that my God will also make me live again after I have died.

₁₂I am not saying that I am already like God wants me to be or that I am perfect. But I will keep on trying to be like that, because Christ Jesus said I belong to Him. ₁₃Friends, I do not think that I have already got everything that God wants to give me, but there is one thing that is important to me: I have forgotten all the things that have happened in the past and I think only of the things that will happen later. ₁₄I am like someone who runs in a race to win a laurel-crown. The crown and reward that I will win is to be in heaven, because God has chosen me and I belong to Christ Jesus. ₁₅All of us who have strong faith must think like this. If any of the believers with you do not think like this, then God will help you understand it correctly. ₁₆Until now we have done the right things and we must keep on doing them.

₁₇Friends, you must live like I do and you must follow the people who live like us. ₁₈I have told you this and I am saying it again with tears in my eyes: There are a lot of people who are enemies of Christ and of the message of the cross. ₁₉Those people will go to hell. For them eating is the most important thing in life. They are proud of the bad things they do. They always think about the things of this sinful world. ₂₀But our true home is in heaven and we know that the Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven to save us. ₂₁His power is great, and He rules over all. He will use his power to change us, who are not strong, so that we will be like Him, who is King.