The Example of Jesus

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,^[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,^(A)

⁷ I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.^(A)

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.^{(A) 25} Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{(B) 26} So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.^(C)

¹⁶ holding forth the word of life so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.^(A)

Exhortation to Watch

³⁴ “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not catch you unexpectedly,^(A)

³⁵ Do not, therefore, abandon that boldness of yours; it brings a great reward. ³⁶ For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.^{(A) 37} For yet

³⁹ But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost but among those who have faith and so preserve our souls.^(D)

¹⁰ I want to know Christ^[a] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.^(A)

Pressing toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal,^[b] but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ^[c] has laid hold of me.^{(B) 13} Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold^[d] of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,^{(C) 14} I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly^[e] call of God in Christ Jesus.^(D)

⁷ You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?^(A)

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

2 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.^(A)