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.

⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working^[a] through love.^(A)

The Council at Jerusalem

15 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”^(A)

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)

³ But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.^{(A) 4} But because of false brothers and sisters secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us^(B)— ⁵ we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.^(C)

³¹ but Israel, who did strive for the law of righteousness, did not attain that law.^{(A) 32} Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,^(B)

² For indeed the good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.^[a](A)

¹¹ But my brothers and sisters, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

² For I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge.^{(A) 3} Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.^(B)

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) 4} As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.^(B)