3. It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.
4. I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If anyone thinks they can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way.
5. I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee,
6. and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.
7. But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake.
8. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere refuse, so that I may gain Christ
9. and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith.
10. All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,