God's Righteousness Upheld

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

⁹ Do not be ^(A)led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, ^(B)not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(A)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(B)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(C)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[a] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[b] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(D)will condemn you who have ^(E)the written code^[c] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(F)no one is a Jew ^(G)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(H)inwardly, and ^(I)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(J)His praise is not from man but from God.

⁸ For what advantage has the wise man ^(A)over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

¹⁴ You have said, ^(A)‘It is vain to serve God. ^(B)What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

¹¹ The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?

³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^(A)I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^(B)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”