God’s Faithfulness

3 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.^(A) It is good for our hearts to be strengthened^(B) by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods,^(C) which is of no benefit to those who do so.^(D)

²⁵ Circumcision has value if you observe the law,^(A) but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.^{(B) 26} So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements,^(C) will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?^{(D) 27} The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you^(E) who, even though you have the^[a] written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

²⁸ A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,^(F) nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.^{(G) 29} No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,^(H) by the Spirit,^(I) not by the written code.^(J) Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.^(K)

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

¹⁴ “You have said, ‘It is futile^(A) to serve^(B) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^(C) and going about like mourners^(D) before the Lord Almighty?

³² If I fought wild beasts^(A) in Ephesus^(B) with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,