Book of Common Prayer

He warns them to beware of false teachers, whom he calls dogs, evil workers, and enemies of Christ. He reproves man’s own righteousness.

3 Moreover, my brethren, put your trust in the Lord. It grieves me not to write the same thing often to you, for to you it is a safeguard. ² Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of dissension.

³ For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and trust in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh – ⁴ though I have whereof I might be confident in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I have much more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the kindred of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of the Hebrews; as concerning the law, a Pharisee, ⁶ and as concerning zeal, I persecuted the congregation. And as for the righteousness that is in the law, I was unrebukable.

⁷ But the things that were of advantage to me, I counted worthless for Christ’s sake. ⁸ Yea, I think all things worthless for the sake of the supreme and precious knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For him I have counted all things a waste, and do judge them but dung, so that I may win Christ, ⁹ and may be found in him – not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith that is in Christ. I mean the righteousness which comes from God through faith, ¹⁰ in knowing him, and the power of the resurrection, and the fellowship of his passions, so that I may be conformable to his death, ¹¹ if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

²⁸ Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the hall of judgment. It was the morning, and they themselves did not go into the judgment hall lest they should be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover lamb.

²⁹ Pilate then went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? ³⁰ They answered and said to him, If he were not an evil-doer, we would not have delivered him to you.

³¹ Then Pilate said to them, You take him and judge him according to your own law.

Then the Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. ³² This was to fulfil the words of Jesus, which he spoke signifying how he would die.

³³ Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? ³⁴ Jesus answered, Do you say that of yourself, or did others tell you this about me?

³⁵ Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and high priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?

³⁶ Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would surely fight so that I would not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.

  ³⁷ Pilate said to him, Are you a king then?

Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I came into the world: that I should bear witness to the truth. And all who are of the truth hear my voice.

³⁸ Pilate said to him, What is truth?

And when he had said that, Pilate went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find in him no fault at all.