²⁵ If you follow the law, your circumcision [^Ca key distinctive of Jewish identity; Gen. 17] has ·meaning [value; benefit]. But if you ·break [transgress; disobey] the law, it is as if you were never circumcised. ²⁶ If those who are not circumcised ·do [keep; obey] ·what the law says [or the law’s righteous requirements], it is as if they were circumcised. ²⁷ Those who are not circumcised in their bodies, but still ·obey [fulfill; carry out] the law, will ·pass judgment on [condemn] you who, though having the written law and circumcision, ·break [transgress; disobey] the law. ²⁸ They can do this because a person is not a true Jew if he is only a Jew ·in his physical body [^Lby (physical) appearance]; true circumcision is not ·only on the outside of the body [^Lthe appearance of the flesh]. ²⁹ A person is a Jew only if he is a Jew ·inside [inwardly]; true circumcision is done in the heart by the Spirit, not by the written law. Such a person gets praise from God rather than from people.