Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

3 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! To write this to you again is no trouble for me, and it is safe for you.

2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, we who worship [fn]by the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh, 4 even though I myself might put confidence in the flesh. If anyone else presumes to have 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; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever was gain to me I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but the righteousness that is through faith in Christ, which comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 in the hope of attaining the resurrection from the dead.