¹³ Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God^[a] and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh^(A)—

⁶ Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all of the dough?^(A)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them.^(A)

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God^{(A) 18} and know his will and determine what really matters because you are instructed in the law, ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,^{(B) 21} you, then, who teach others, will you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(C) 22} You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by your transgression of the law? ²⁴ For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed^[a] among the gentiles because of you.”^(D)

²⁵ Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.^(E)

¹⁸ since many boast according to human standards,^[a] I will also boast.

¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell^[a] as yourselves.

³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.

²¹ So let no one boast about people.^[a] For all things are yours,^(A)

None Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we any better off?^[a] No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin,^{(A) 10} as it is written: