Romans 2:25–3:9

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART

²⁵Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.^{am 26}So if an uncircumcised^an man keeps the law’s requirements,^ao will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you^ap who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. ²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly,^aq and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. ²⁹On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly,^ar and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter.^Ias That person’s praise is not from people but from God.^at

PAUL ANSWERS AN OBJECTION

3So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ²Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted^a with the very words of God.^{b 3}What then? If some were unfaithful,^c will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? ⁴Absolutely not!^d Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar,^e as it is written:

That you may be justified in your words

and triumph when you judge.^Af

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights^B God’s righteousness,^g what are we to say?^h I am using a human argument:^Ci Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? ⁶Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?^{j 7}But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?^{k 8}And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”?^l Their condemnation is deserved!

THE WHOLE WORLD GUILTY BEFORE GOD

⁹What then? Are we any better off?^D Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews^m and Greeksⁿ are all under sin,^Eo