Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:
for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man {Or, seemeth}thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
Howbeit what things were {Greek: gains.}gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
and be found in him, {Or, not having as my righteousness that which is of the law}not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God {Greek: upon.}by faith:
that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may {Or, lay hold, seeing that also I was laid hold on}lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself {Many ancient authorities omit yet.}yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before.
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the {Or, upward}high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are {Or, full-grown 1 Corinthians 2:6.}perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you:
only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.
For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
For our {Or, commonwealth}citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.
Querverweise zu Philipper 3,20 Phil 3,20
What then? only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will he appoint for walls and bulwarks.
who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.
so that ye may {Or, distinguish the things that differ}approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ;
Thou wilt show me the path of life:In thy presence is fulness of joy;In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth faith may enter in.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
As for me, {Or, let me}I shall behold thy face in righteousness; {Or, let me}I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.
and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,And afterward receive me {Or, with}to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?And there is none upon earth that I desire {Or, with thee}besides thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth;But God is the {Hebrew: rock.}strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of our Lord Jesus:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing.
To the wise the way of life goeth upward,That he may depart from Sheol beneath.
but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, {Or, and to innumerable hosts, the general assembly of angels, and the church &c.}and to {Greek: myriads of angels.}innumerable hosts of angels,
Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory {Or, of our great God and Saviour}of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves {Greek: dig through.}break through and steal:
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not {Greek: dig through.}break through nor steal:
for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God: her {Greek: luminary.}light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal:
having a wall great and high; having twelve {Greek: portals.}gates, and at the {Greek: portals.}gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
on the east were three {Greek: portals.}gates; and on the north three {Greek: portals.}gates; and on the south three {Greek: portals.}gates; and on the west three {Greek: portals.}gates.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the {Greek: portals.}gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal.
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, {Or, lapis lazuli}sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, {Or, sapphire}jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
And the twelve {Greek: portals.}gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several {Greek: portals.}gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, {Or, transparent as glass}as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no {Or, sanctuary}temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the {Or, sanctuary}temple thereof.
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, {Or, and the Lamb, the lamp thereof}and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.
And the nations shall walk {Or, by}amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
And the {Greek: portals.}gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there):
and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it:
and there shall in no wise enter into it anything {Greek: common.}unclean, or he that {Or, doeth}maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life.
so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.
Jesus said unto him, If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
looking for and {Or, hastening}earnestly desiring the {Greek: presence.}coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the {Or, heavenly bodies}elements shall melt with fervent heat?
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly house of our {Or, bodily frame Compare Wisd. 9:15}tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel,
If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that {Many ancient authorities read ye have your own selves for a better possession &c. Compare Luke 9:25; 21:19.}ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.
Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward.
Blessed be {Or, God and the Father See Romans 15:6 margin.}the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,