HKB
17 But if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God 18 and know his will and approve of what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law, 19 and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truthó21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." 25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a breaker of the law. 28 For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something outward and in the flesh. 29 He is a Jew who is one inwardly; and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the written code. His praise is not from men but from God. 3 1 Then what advantage has the Jew, or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! To begin with, they are entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some did not have faith? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 Certainly not! Let God be true, though every man a liar. As it is written: "That you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged." 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 Certainly not! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 Why not say ñ as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we sayó"Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just. 9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? Certainly not; for we have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks for God.