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Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
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Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
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because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.
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No Confidence in the Flesh
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.
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Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.
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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—
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though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
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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;
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as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
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But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
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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 Christ
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and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
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I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
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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.
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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,
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I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
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Following Paul’s Example
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.
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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.
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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.
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Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
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But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
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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.
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Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
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I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.
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Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
