^2:17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law³⁶ and boast of your relationship to God³⁷^2:18and know his will³⁸ and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,³⁹^2:19and if you are convinced⁴⁰ that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ^2:20an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth—^2:21therefore⁴¹ you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ^2:22You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor⁴² idols, do you rob temples? ^2:23You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! ^2:24For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”⁴³

^2:25For circumcision⁴⁴ has its value if you practice the law, but⁴⁵ if you break the law,⁴⁶ your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ^2:26Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys⁴⁷ the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ^2:27And will not the physically uncircumcised man⁴⁸ who keeps the law judge you who, despite⁴⁹ the written code⁵⁰ and circumcision, transgress the law? ^2:28For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, ^2:29but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart⁵¹ by the Spirit⁵² and not by the written code.⁵³ This person’s⁵⁴ praise is not from people but from God.

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Footnotes

36 The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
37 Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
38 Grk “the will.”
39 Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
40 This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17–18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
41 The structure of vv. 21–24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17–20; others see vv. 17–20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
42 Or “detest.”
43 A quotation from Isa 52:5.
44 Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10–14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [], 1:) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomē) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” 35 [1989]: 77–80).
45 This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
46 Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”
47 The Greek word φυλάσσω (phulassō, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
48 Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.
49 Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as διά A.3.c indicates.
50 Grk “letter.”
51 On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.
52 Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” ().
53 Grk “letter.”
54 Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.