The Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses; they sin and are lost apart from the Law. The Jews have the Law; they sin and are judged by the Law.

Do the Jews then have any advantage over the Gentiles? Or is there any value in being circumcised?

Much, indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews.

"No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the LORD our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help.

He gives his message to his people, his instructions and laws to Israel.

He has not done this for other nations; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD!

In the past he allowed all people to go their own way.

God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways.

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.

And so you Jews will be condemned by the Gentiles because you break the Law, even though you have it written down and are circumcised; but they obey the Law, even though they are not physically circumcised.

God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain.

Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all!

Why, nature itself teaches you that long hair on a man is a disgrace,

In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.

The Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses; they sin and are lost apart from the Law. The Jews have the Law; they sin and are judged by the Law.

They know that God's law says that people who live in this way deserve death. Yet, not only do they continue to do these very things, but they even approve of others who do them.