Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁷ But you call yourselves Jews. You believe the law. You are proud of your God.

¹⁸ You know what he wants people to do. You know the thoughts that are good because you have been taught the law.

¹⁹ You are sure that you can lead people who are like blind men. You are like a light for people who are in the dark.

²⁰ You are sure that you can tell foolish people what is right. You can teach people who are like children. You know what you need to know and you know what is true because you have the law.

²¹ You teach another person. Do you not teach yourself? You say people must not steal. Do you steal?

²² You say people must not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You hate idols. Do you steal things from the houses of idols?

²³ You are proud that you have the law. Do you break the law, and in that way show you do not honour God?

²⁴ The holy writings say, `People who are not Jews say wrong things about the name of God. They do it because of what you Jews do.'

²⁵ Circumcision of the body is a good thing if you obey the law. But if you break the law, you are like a man who has not been circumcised with this mark of the Jew.

²⁶ So if a man who has not been circumcised obeys the law, will he not be like a man who has been circumcised?

²⁷ Some people have not been circumcised, but they obey the law. They will show that you should be punished. You have the written law and you have been circumcised, and yet you break the law.

²⁸ If a person is a Jew only on the outside, he is not really a Jew. And true circumcision is not something that is done on the outside of the body.

²⁹ If a person is a Jew inside, he is really a Jew. It is God who praises him, not people. True circumcision is done in the heart. It is in the spirit, not in the body. Such people are not praised; but God praises them.