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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.
Galatians 5:3 · New Living Translation
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.
  • BSB Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey 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.

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 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
  • Rom 2:25For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
  • Jas 2:10–11For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
  • Deut 27:26‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
  • Eph 4:17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
  • Deut 31:21It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”
  • Deut 8:19It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.
  • Neh 9:29–30and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.
  • Matt 23:18‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’
  • Matt 23:16“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’
  • Luke 16:28for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
  • Acts 2:40With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
  • Acts 20:21testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
  • 1 Th 4:6that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
  • 1 Jn 4:14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
  • Neh 9:34Also our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Galatians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Galatians 5:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GalatiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 5:3 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

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.