Romans 2:17–29

The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles

¹⁷⁴Indeed ^syou are called a Jew, and ^trest ⁵on the law, ^uand make your boast in God, ¹⁸and ^vknow His will, and ^wapprove the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹and ^xare confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, ^yhaving the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ^21zYou, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, ^ado you rob temples? ²³You who ^bmake your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴For ^c“the name of God is ^dblasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

Circumcision of No Avail

^25eFor circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore, ^fif an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, ^gjudge you who, even with your ⁶written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? ²⁸For ^hhe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹but he is a Jew ⁱwho is one inwardly; and ^jcircumcision is that of the heart, ^kin the Spirit, not in the letter; ^lwhose ⁷praise is not from men but from God.