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Philippians 3
EasyEnglish Bible
Philippians 3
EasyEnglish Bible
Christ is more important than anything
3 My Christian friends, there are a few more things that I want to say. You belong to the Lord, so be happy! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it will help to keep you safe.
2 Be very careful! Some people are teaching bad things. They say that you must cut your bodies. They are like dangerous dogs. Do not believe them! 3 But we are truly God's people. And it is not because someone has circumcised us. It is God's own Spirit that leads us to worship God. We thank God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. We know that it is not human ideas that can save us.[a]
4 For myself, I could have trusted those human ideas. Perhaps somebody may think that they could trust in those things to save them. Then I would have an even better reason to trust in them. 5 I belong to Israel's people, to Benjamin's tribe. I am a true Jew. They circumcised me when I was eight days old. I was a Pharisee, and I obeyed the Jewish rules very carefully. 6 I tried very much to please God. So I caused a lot of trouble and pain for the Christians. I obeyed the rules of God's Law, and nobody could say that I did anything wrong.
7 All those ideas seemed very important to me then. But now they are worth nothing to me, because I trust in Christ. 8 Yes, now that I know Christ Jesus as my Lord, that is the most valuable thing. Nothing else is important at all. I have thrown everything else away, so that I can serve Christ. All those other things are like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I can have Christ. 9 I want to be united with him. Because I believe in Christ, God accepts me as right with him. I know that I cannot become right in any other way, even if I obey all of God's Law. When I trust in Christ, God accepts me as right because of my faith.
10 Yes, I want to know Christ better and better. I want to know the power which God showed when Christ rose from death. I want to have the same kind of troubles that he did. I want to obey God like he did in his death. 11 Then I hope that I also will become alive again after death.
Christians do not belong to this world
12 I am not saying that I have already reached that place in my life. I have not yet completely become the person that God wants me to be. But I am trying very hard to reach that place. That was Christ's purpose when he first made me his own. 13 My Christian friends, I do not think that I have reached that place yet. But this is what I do: I do not think about past things that have already happened. Instead, I try hard to reach the things that are in front of me. 14 I am like a runner who wants to reach the end of the race. I run straight towards that place, so that I can win God's gift. Because I belong to Christ Jesus, God has called me to live with him in heaven. That is God's gift to me at the end of the race.
15 All of us should agree to live like that, if we properly understand God's message. If you think differently about these things, God will show you clearly what is right. 16 But we should continue to live in the way that we already know is right.
17 My Christian friends, you should try to live in the way that I do. Carefully watch other people who live like that. We have shown you what is right. 18 Many people live in a way that shows they do not agree with God's message. I have told you about these people many times before. And now I am crying when I tell you about them. I am very sad, because they speak against Christ's death on the cross. 19 In the end, God will destroy them. Their stomach is what they worship. They are proud of things that should make them ashamed. Their thoughts are full of things that belong to this world. 20 But as for us, the home where we belong is in heaven. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from there. He is the one who will come from heaven and save us. 21 He will change these weak bodies that we have now on this earth. He will make them become strong and beautiful, like his own body that he has in heaven. Christ will use his great power to do this. That is the power that he uses to rule over everything.
Footnotes
- 3:3 If we believe in Christ, we become God's people because Christ died on our behalf. God gives us his Holy Spirit to lead us. So we have something much better than a mark on our bodies. Some false teachers were saying that Christians had to be circumcised. They said, ‘Unless that happens, you do not belong to God's people.’ Paul is telling the Christians that they must not believe these people.
Philippians 3
New International Version
Philippians 3
New International Version
No Confidence in the Flesh
3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again,(A) and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs,(B) those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision,(C) we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus,(D) and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.(E)
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised(F) on the eighth day, of the people of Israel,(G) of the tribe of Benjamin,(H) a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;(I) 6 as for zeal,(J) persecuting the church;(K) as for righteousness based on the law,(L) faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss(M) for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing(N) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ(O) 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,(P) but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness(Q) that comes from God on the basis of faith.(R) 10 I want to know(S) Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,(T) becoming like him in his death,(U) 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection(V) from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,(W) but I press on to take hold(X) of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.(Y) 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(Z) and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on(AA) toward the goal to win the prize(AB) for which God has called(AC) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature(AD) should take such a view of things.(AE) And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.(AF) 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example,(AG) brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.(AH) 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears,(AI) many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.(AJ) 19 Their destiny(AK) is destruction, their god is their stomach,(AL) and their glory is in their shame.(AM) Their mind is set on earthly things.(AN) 20 But our citizenship(AO) is in heaven.(AP) And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,(AQ) 21 who, by the power(AR) that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies(AS) so that they will be like his glorious body.(AT)
Footnotes
- Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
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