For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
"The Gospel of Christ demands an inward change: “You must be born again” (John 3:7). It is not obedience to a religious system that will allow one to pass the test when Christ judges the secrets of men’s hearts. It is the Gospel of Christ that is God’s power unto salvation, both to Jew and Gentile (Rom. 1:16). If a person has never believed the Gospel and received Christ, then he or she stands condemned. The Jews, with all their religion and legalism, were (and are) just as much under sin as the Gentiles—and more so, because to them were given greater privileges and opportunities to know the truth.
How many people are going to hell because they think God is going to judge them according to their own good opinion of themselves, their status, or their religion? God does not judge according to these principles, but according to truth, according to our deeds, and according to the Gospel of Christ. Thus, in chapter 1 Paul proves that the Gentiles are without excuse, and here in chapter 2, that the Jews are without excuse." -Warren Wiersbe (Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, 368)
1 comment:
Very humbly. Many times I have banked on what I have done instead of what Christ has done on the cross for me.
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