²⁵ The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

³ I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. ⁴ For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.

⁵ But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. ⁶ For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

¹⁵ It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.

⁵¹ “You stubborn people! You are heathen^[a] at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!

⁶ “The Lord your God will change your heart^[a] and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

²⁸ For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. ²⁹ No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise^[a] from God, not from people.

God Remains Faithful

3 Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision? ² Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.^[b]

²³ You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

²⁵ “A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit— ²⁶ the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places,^[a] and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.”

Oneness and Peace in Christ

¹¹ Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. ¹² In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.