1
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
2
Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3
I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
4
For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
5
But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.
6
For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
7
You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?
8
It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.
9
This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
10
I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
11
Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended.
12
I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.