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.

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

⁹ Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

⁶ Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! ⁷ Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”^[a] though Abraham had other children, too. ⁸ This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.

¹⁰ But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!

¹¹ Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. ¹² And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

God’s Stubborn People

⁶ Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. ⁷ But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.”

⁸ After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.

²¹ And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from^[a] a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.