Bible Strands
Romans 2:25
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses Jewish readers in Rome who rely on their covenant sign for standing before God. He speaks during his argument against hypocrisy, directly confronting those who teach the law while violating it.
The words — περιτομή (peritomē) denotes physical circumcision, and ὠφελεῖ (ōphelei) literally means "profits" or "has value." Paul links the physical sign directly to obedience to the law.
The thread — The verse connects to Jeremiah 4:4, which calls for heart circumcision, and Galatians 5:3, which ties circumcision to the obligation to keep the whole law. Romans 2:26 immediately follows by showing that uncircumcised law-keepers are counted as circumcised.
Why it lands — It demands that covenant identity be proven by law-keeping rather than claimed by ritual. Readers must evaluate their own obedience instead of relying on external markers.
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 circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”
- Galatians 5:3 Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
- Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Galatians 6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
- Deuteronomy 30:6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
- Romans 2:23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
- Romans 2:28 A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.
- Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
- Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.