One day Jesus was praying
in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,
teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
22 Do not be hasty in the laying
on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your
stomach and your frequent illnesses.
24 The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead
of them; the sins of others trail behind them.25 In the
same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot
remain hidden forever.
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.
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[a] 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.
