23. You are so proud that you have God’s law, but you bring shame to God by breaking his law.
24. As the Scriptures say, “People in other nations insult God because of you.”
25. If you follow the law, then your circumcision has meaning. But if you break the law, then it is as if you were never circumcised.
26. Those who are not Jews are not circumcised. But if they do what the law says, it is as if they were circumcised.
27. You have the written law and circumcision, but you break the law. So those who are not circumcised in their bodies, but still obey the law, will show that you are guilty.
28. You are not a true Jew if you are only a Jew in your physical body. True circumcision is not only on the outside of the body.
29. A true Jew is one who is a Jew inside. True circumcision is done in the heart. It is done by the Spirit, not by the written law. And anyone who is circumcised in the heart by the Spirit gets praise from God, not from people.