From the descendants of Izhar, Chenaniah and his sons were assigned as officers and judges with responsibilities relating to external duties.

Hezekiah took courage and rebuilt all of the walls that had been broken down. Then he erected watch towers on them, and added another external wall. He fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David and prepared a large number of weapons and shields.

Shabbethai and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, were in charge of the external work for the temple of God;

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
And the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.

Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done."

They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. They said, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don't favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance.

There is nothing external to a man, which by going into him can 'defile' him; but the things that come out from a man are the things that defile him."

"What, do even you understand so little?" exclaimed Jesus. "Do not you see that there is nothing external to a man, which by going into a man, can 'defile' him,

They came and told him, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don't favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn't we?"

the cleansing of the body is only external, but the purification of the spirit is spiritual.

Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment."

You are judging in accordance with external standards, but I judge nobody.

for it is not the Jew in outward appearance, neither is it the external mark of circumcision:

And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

But if a father stands firm in his resolve, being free from all external constraint and having a legal right to act as he pleases, and in his own mind has come to the decision to keep his daughter unmarried, he will do well.

Therefore we faint not; but if indeed our external man perishes, yet our internal man is renewed day by day.

(For we walk by faith, and not by external appearance:)

I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you ground for speaking well of me, that you may have something to say to those who are constantly prating about external privileges and not concerned about the state of the heart.

Wherefore, henceforth I have no regard to any man for his external appearance: for tho' I formerly look'd for worldly grandeur in the Messiah, yet now I see things in another light.

Apart from these external things, [there is] the pressure on me every day of the anxiety about all the churches.

Those who were regarded as the leaders??hat they once were makes no difference to me; God takes no account of external differences??he leaders contributed nothing new to me.

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external?

So also we [whether Jews or Gentiles], when we were children (spiritually immature), were kept like slaves under the elementary [man-made religious or philosophical] teachings of the world.

Those who want to make a good showing in external matters are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

For even the circumcised [Jews] themselves do not [really] keep the Law, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh [that is, in the fact that they convinced you to be circumcised].

not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but like slaves of Christ, carrying out the will of God.

Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,

for we [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and] are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory and take pride and exult in Christ Jesus and place no confidence [in what we have or who we are] in the flesh—

Though I, if any man, have cause to rely even upon them. If any one thinks he can rely upon external privileges, far more can I!

You who are slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord.

but he that does wrong shall be punish'd for his injustice: for no regard will be shown to the external characters of men.

who was not a priest after the law of an external commandment, but after the power of imperishable life.

For they [the gifts, sacrifices, and ceremonies] deal only with [clean and unclean] food and drink and various ritual washings, [mere] external regulations for the body imposed [to help the worshipers] until the time of reformation [that is, the time of the new order when Christ will establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

For if the blood of goats and of bulls, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkled on the unclean, can cleanse them from external impurities;

If anyone thinks himself to be religious [scrupulously observant of the rituals of his faith], and does not control his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless (futile, barren).

Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.

Your adornments must be not of an external nature, with braids of hair or ornaments of gold, or changes of dress,

thus baptism, which corresponds to the deluge, does now save us, not as it is a cleansing from external filth, but as it is an engagement to lead a divine life, from the belief of the resurrection of Jesus Christ,