⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.^(A)

¹⁹ Now we know that, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.^{(A) 20} For no human will be justified before him by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.^(B)

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”^(A)

⁷ Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets,^[a] came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’s face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside,^{(A) 8} how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation,^[b] much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!^{(B) 10} Indeed, what once had glory has in this respect lost its glory because of the greater glory, ¹¹ for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!

¹² All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged in accordance with the law.

²⁸ Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.^{(A) 29} We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”^(B)

Salvation Is for All

⁵ Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.”^{(A) 6} But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say?

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim),^{(B) 9} because^[a] if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe^[b] in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.^{(C) 10} For one believes^[c] with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation.

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) 26} So, if the uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ Then the physically uncircumcised person who keeps the law will judge you who, though having the written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law. ²⁸ For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.^{(F) 29} Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.^(G)

¹⁹ “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”^(A)