1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
2Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the false circumcision. 3For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh; 4though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
7However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. 8Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, 11if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
13Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you. 16Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let’s walk by the same rule. Let’s be of the same mind.
17Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example. 18For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, 19whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things. 20For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
What is particularly striking about the manner of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is that they were to address God as their Father. Out of this new relationship flow other important features of the prayer that distinguish it from the meaningless babble of the pagans (Matt 6:7-8). Though Yahweh had occasionally described himself as a father to Israel (e. g., Hos 11:1; Mal 1:6, 2:10), it was because the nation owed its existence and well-being to God's covenant with Abraham, and Isaac's miraculous conception. Until Jesus came, there is no evidence that individual believers thought of God, or addressed him, as their personal father. But now, in union with Jesus, the (ontological) Son of God, believers have been adopted into a new relationship as sons (Gal 4:1-7).
The address, "Our Father," serves to remind those praying that they share God as Father with everyone he has begotten. Thus, the self-interest that drives pagan prayer is subordinated to the interests of others (Phil 3:3-4). Carrying on in order "to be heard" (Matt 6:7) is replaced with confidence that "Your Father knows what you need before you ask" (v. 8). In response to this amazing new reality, the first three requests (vv. 9-10) give priority to God and His coming kingdom. The last requests--equal in number and not unimportant--express humble dependence upon God to meet the needs of His people until His kingdom comes (vv. 11-13). The forgiveness requested in verse 12 is for restoration to fellowship (1 John 1:9), not justification.
Whether the doxology, at the end of verse 13, is original or a scribal addition, it concludes the prayer on the note with which it begins: The glory of God. Thus, the prayer as a whole is summarized with the words of Jesus' prayer, "'yet not as I will, but as You will'" (Matt 26:39, NAU).