Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- KJV For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- NKJV And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
- NASB And I testify again to every man who has himself circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole Law.
- NLT I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
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
Anyone who receives circumcision to be justified is obligated to keep the entire law. Choosing the law as one's path means accepting its full and impossible demands.
Overview
Paul warns that adopting circumcision for righteousness commits a person to the whole law, which no one can fulfill. There is no partial law-keeping for justification; the law demands perfect obedience. This exposes the futility of the legalist path and magnifies the necessity of Christ, who alone kept the law perfectly on our behalf.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Gal 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Rom 2:25Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
- Jas 2:10–11Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
- Deut 27:26‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Eph 4:17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
- Deut 31:21And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”
- Deut 8:19If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
- Neh 9:29–30You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.
- Matt 23:18And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’
- Matt 23:16Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
- Luke 16:28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’
- Acts 2:40With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”
- Acts 20:21testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Th 4:6and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.
- 1 Jn 4:14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.
- Neh 9:34Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.
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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 5:3 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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