Galatians 6:12

Paul exposes the false teachers' true motive: they push circumcision to make a good outward showing and avoid persecution. It warns against religion driven by self-protection rather than truth.

Cross-references · 20

• Gal 5:11Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
• Col 2:23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
• 2 Cor 11:13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
• Acts 15:1Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
• Luke 16:15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
• Gal 2:3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
• Acts 15:5But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
• Gal 2:14When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
• Matt 23:5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
• Luke 20:47They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”
• Phil 1:15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
• Matt 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• Matt 23:28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
• Phil 2:4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• 2 Cor 10:12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.
• Gal 6:13For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
• Phil 3:18For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
• John 7:18He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood.
• Matt 6:16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• Matt 6:5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

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