Romans 2:25
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
For circumcision truly profits, if you keep the law: but if you be a breaker of the law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.
American King James Version (AKJV)
For circumcision truly profits, if you keep the law: but if you be a breaker of the law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.
American Standard Version (ASV)
For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
It is true that circumcision is of use if you keep the law, but if you go against the law it is as if you had it not.
Webster's Revision
For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keepest the law; but if thou art a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
World English Bible
For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
English Revised Version (ERV)
For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.
Definitions for Romans 2:25
Clarke's Romans 2:25 Bible Commentary
For circumcision verily profiteth - It is a blessing to belong to the Church of God and wear the sign of the covenant, provided the terms of the covenant are complied with.
But if thou be a breaker of the law - If thou do not observe the conditions of the covenant, the outward sign is both without meaning and without effect. This was a maxim of the rabbins themselves; for they allowed that an apostate or ungodly Israelite must go to hell, notwithstanding his circumcision.
Barnes's Romans 2:25 Bible Commentary
For circumcision - John 7:22 note; Acts 7:8 note. This was the special rite by which the relation to the covenant of Abraham was recognised; or by which the right to all the privileges of a member of the Jewish commonwealth was acknowledged. The Jews of course affixed a high importance to the rite.
Verily profiteth - Is truly a benefit; or is an advantage. The meaning is, that their being recognised as members of the Jewish commonwealth, and introduced to the privileges of the Jew, was an advantage; see Romans 3:1-2. The apostle was not disposed to deny that they possessed this advantage, but he tells them why it was a benefit, and how it might fail of conferring any favor.
If thou keep the law - The mere sign can be of no value, The mere fact of being a Jew is not what God requires. It may be a favor to have his Law, but the mere possession of the Law cannot entitle to the favor of God. So it is a privilege to be born in a Christian land; to have had pious parents; to be amidst the ordinances of religion; to be trained in Sundayschools; and to be devoted to God in baptism: for all these are favorable circumstances for salvation. But none of them entitle to the favor of God; and unless they are improved as they should be, they may be only the means of increasing our condemnation; 2 Corinthians 2:16.
Thy circumcision is made uncircumcision - Thy circumcision, or thy being called a Jew, is of no value. It will not distinguish you from those who are not circumcised. You will be treated as a pagan. No external advantages, no name, or rite, or ceremony will save you. God requires the obedience of the heart and of the life. Where there is a disposition to render that, there is an advantage in possessing the external means of grace. Where that is missing, no rite or profession can save. This applies with as much force to those who have been baptized in infancy, and to those who have made a profession of religion in a Christian church, as to the Jew.
Wesley's Romans 2:25 Bible Commentary
2:25 Circumcision indeed profiteth - He does not say, justifies. How far it profited is shown in the third and fourth chapters. Thy circumcision is become uncircumcision - is so already in effect. Thou wilt have no more benefit by itthan if thou hadst never received it. The very same observation holds with regard to baptism.