So if people who are uncircumcised observe the requirements of the Law, will they not be treated as though they were circumcised?

A great deal, from every point of view. In the first place, the Jews were intrusted with the utterances of God.

It was not on his account alone that these words, "it was credited to him," were written,

For when we were still helpless, at the decisive moment Christ died for us godless men.

But God proves his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.

If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, it is far more certain that now that we are reconciled we shall be saved through sharing in his life!

But, thank God! though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from your hearts to the standard of teaching that you received,

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as far as uprightness was concerned.

For when we were living mere physical lives the sinful passions, awakened by the Law, operated through the organs of our bodies to make us bear fruit for death.

It was in this hope that we were saved. But a hope that can be seen is not a hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

For before the children were born or had done anything either good or bad, in order to carry out God's purpose of selection, which depends not on what men do but on his calling them,

And in the very place where they were told, 'You are no people of mine,' They shall be called sons of the living God."

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith;

Then Isaiah broke out boldly and said, "I have been found by men who were not looking for me, I have shown myself to men who were not asking what my will was."

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root,

"But," you will say, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in!"

That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid,

For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong!

I beg you, brothers, to be on the watch for those who introduce divisions and difficulties, in opposition to the instruction that you were given, and to avoid them.