'External' in the Bible

From those leaders I gained nothing new. Whether they were men of importance or not, matters nothing to me--God recognizes no external distinctions. To me, at any rate, the leaders imparted nothing new.

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

All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ.