¹⁷ Be imitators of me,^[a] brothers and sisters,^[b] and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. ¹⁸ For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.^{[c] 20} But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform these humble bodies of ours^[d] into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

Christian Practices

4 So then, my brothers and sisters,^[e] dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!