AUV(i)
17 But if you call yourselves “Jews,” and [claim to] rely on the law of Moses, and brag about [belonging to] God;
18 if you know His will and have been taught by the law of Moses to [evaluate and] give approval to what is best;
19 if you are confident that you can give [spiritual] guidance to blind people and enlightenment to those who are in [spiritual] darkness;
20 if you are instructors of the ignorant, and teachers of babies [i.e., immature people] and possess in the law of Moses the [correct] form of knowledge and truth ---
21 since you teach other people [all of this], why do you not teach yourselves [these things]? You preach that a person should not steal, [but] do you steal?
22 You say that a person should not commit adultery [i.e., sexual unfaithfulness to their mate], [but] do you commit adultery? You [claim to] hate idols, [but] do you rob [their] temples? [Note: It is difficult to determine how the Jews were doing this. Perhaps they were guilty of the “spirit” of idolatry by devoting their efforts and affections to material things instead of to God].
23 You boast about having the law of Moses, [but] do you dishonor God by breaking that law?
24 For God’s name is being spoken against among the Gentiles because of your behavior, just as it is written. [See Isa. 52:5].
25 Now the practice of circumcision [i.e., the Jewish rite of identity, signifying the responsibility to observe the law of Moses] is worthwhile, providing you obey [the rest of] the law of Moses. But if you disobey the law, you might as well have never been circumcised.
26 So, if an uncircumcised person [i.e., a Gentile] obeys [the rest of] the requirements of the law, will not the fact that he is not circumcised be considered [by God] as though he were?
27 So, will not those physically uncircumcised people [i.e., the Gentiles], who obey the law, condemn you [Jews] for breaking the law, even though you have the written code and [practice] circumcision?
28 For that person is not a Jew who is one [merely] on the outside. And circumcision is not [merely] an outward physical ordinance.
29 But the [true] Jew is the person who is one on the inside, and [his] circumcision is a heart condition, [produced] by the Holy Spirit and not by the written law of Moses. [Note: Some translate “Spirit” here as “spirit” and make it simply an amplification of “heart”]. This person receives his praise from God and not [merely] from people.