Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.
- BSB Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
- NKJV Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
- NASB Look! I, Paul, tell you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
- NLT Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul solemnly warns that if they receive circumcision as a means of righteousness, Christ will be of no benefit to them. Trusting in works nullifies the sufficiency of Christ.
Overview
Speaking with apostolic authority, Paul declares that submitting to circumcision as required for salvation amounts to rejecting Christ's all-sufficient work. The issue is not the rite itself but what it represents: an attempt to be justified by law. To add anything to Christ as the ground of acceptance is to lose Christ altogether.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Gal 5:6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
- Acts 15:1And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
- Rom 9:31–32But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
- Gal 2:3–5But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
- Rom 10:2–3For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
- Heb 4:2For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
- Gal 5:3–4For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- Gal 5:11And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
- Acts 16:3–4Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
- Acts 15:24Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
- 2 Cor 10:1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
- 1 Th 2:18Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
- Phlm 1:9Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Cor 16:21The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 5:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.