Philippians 3

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you. ²Watch out for the dogs! Watch out for the evil workers! Watch out for the mutilation! ³For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, ⁴though I myself have grounds for confidence even in the flesh. 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 from Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as to zeal, persecuting the assembly; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

⁷But whatever things were gains to me, these I have considered loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I also consider everything loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of everything, and I consider it dung so that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but the one through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and sharing in his sufferings, being conformed to his death, ¹¹if somehow I may reach the resurrection from the dead.

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on, seeking to take hold of it, because Christ also took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing: forgetting what lies behind and stretching toward what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵So let those of us who are mature think this way; and if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this to you too. ¹⁶Only let us keep in step with what we have reached.

¹⁷Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay attention to those who walk according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, as I have often told you and now tell you even with tears. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame; they think about earthly things. ²⁰For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform the body of our humiliation to conform it to the body of his glory, by the working of his power even to subject all things to himself.

Translation notes 7

3:1–3 — Brothers, dogs, and circumcision. “Brothers” includes the women of the believing community. The threefold “watch out” keeps the warning's force. “Mutilation” is a cutting word that plays sharply against “circumcision”; it labels the opponents by the practice Paul attacks. “Dogs” is an insult, not an affectionate image. The text does not make this an unrestricted description of Jewish people.

3:3–6 — Flesh and credentials. “Flesh” includes inherited status and human grounds for confidence, not just bodily appetites. Paul's claims about Israel, the law, and his own conduct are retained without adding an explanation that makes “blameless” mean sinless perfection.

3:7–8 — Gains, loss, and dung. The gain-and-loss language recasts Paul's former advantages. The forceful word “dung” can also denote refuse or garbage; “rubbish” is a defensible alternative. The Greek expresses contempt, though its precise level of offensiveness relative to modern English is uncertain.

3:9 — Faith in Christ. The Greek can mean “faith in Christ” or “Christ's faithfulness.” The contrast with confidence in one's own credentials favors the former here, provisionally; the latter remains a substantial alternative. The last phrase says “on the basis of faith,” without repeating Christ's name.

3:10–11 — Sharing and resurrection. Knowing Christ includes sharing his sufferings and being conformed to his death, alongside resurrection power. “If somehow” retains the conditional wording; it is not silently changed to a guarantee. The expression does not by itself define Paul's degree of uncertainty or a separate resurrection reserved for an elite group.

3:12–16 — Taking hold and maturity. “This” and “it” make explicit an unexpressed object in the Greek, drawn from the preceding goal. “Because Christ also took hold of me” may instead mean “for which Christ also took hold of me.” “Made perfect” in verse 12 and “mature” in verse 15 are related words, creating a deliberate tension between maturity now and completion still ahead. At 3:16, some Greek texts expand the brief instruction with a “rule” and further shared-thinking language.

3:17–21 — Walking, the belly, and citizenship. “Walk” describes conduct. “Their god is their belly” retains the image without specifying whether appetites generally or particular food practices are intended. “Citizenship” can also be understood as the commonwealth to which believers belong, and recalls 1:27. The body of “humiliation” is the present lowly body, not a declaration that embodiment itself is evil; the hope is bodily transformation.