Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.
- KJV Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall 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.
- 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 Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- Acts 15:1Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”
- Rom 9:31–32but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness.
- Gal 2:3–5But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
- Rom 10:2–3For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
- Heb 4:2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard.
- Gal 5:3–4Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- Gal 5:11But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
- Acts 16:3–4Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
- Acts 15:24Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment;
- 2 Cor 10:1Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ; I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.
- 1 Th 2:18because we wanted to come to you — indeed, I, Paul, once and again — but Satan hindered us.
- Phlm 1:9yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Cor 16:21This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand.
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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
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