Bible Strands
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Galatian churches at the moment Judaizers have pressured Gentile believers to submit to circumcision as a requirement for standing before God. The verse brackets a rebuke: before it, the hope of righteousness (5:5); after it, the question of who has derailed them (5:7).
The words — ἰσχύει (ischuei), "has power," is a strong verb denoting effective force, not mere relevance; the negation οὔτε...τι strips circumcision of all operative power. The claim is not that it is irrelevant but that it cannot function as a credential.
The thread — Galatians 6:15 repeats the same "neither...nor...anything" structure, substituting "new creation" for "faith working through love." 1 Corinthians 7:19 parallels the formula with "keeping God's commandments" as the countable thing.
Why it lands — It removes the external marker as the basis of standing and replaces it with a dynamic: faith that must produce love, not a ritual that can be performed once and banked. The reader is asked to check whether their confidence rests on an identity label or on a living expression.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Cross-references
- Galatians 6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
- 1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commandments is what counts.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
- Matthew 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
- 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.
- 2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
- 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.