Now I want you to know, brothers, that the things that happened to me have resulted in the advancement [of the influence] of the Gospel rather [than hindering it],

in order to, somehow, be raised out of the dead [i.e., to have never ending life].

[It is] not that I have already arrived at the goal [of spiritual maturity], or have already been made perfectly [righteous], but I am pushing onward in order to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for [i.e., to receive all that Christ intended for me].

I am pushing onward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call [i.e., to heaven] from God in [fellowship with] Christ.