³ But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.^(A)

The Nature of Christian Freedom

² Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that, if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³ Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. ⁴ You who want to be reckoned as righteous^[a] by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.^{(A) 5} For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.^{(B) 6} For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working^[b] through love.^(C)

³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.^(A)

²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law.^(A)

¹³ but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.

²⁴ Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,^[a](A)