Romans 2:25

For circumcision ¹  has its value if you practice the law, but ²  if you break the law, ³  your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision is worth something only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God's law. But if you don't, it's worse than not being circumcised.

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.

Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

For circumcision ¹  has its value if you practice the law, but ²  if you break the law, ³  your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

¹ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

² tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

³ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”