At that same time Jesus uttered the words: "I thank thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that, though thou has hidden these things from the wise and learned, thou hast revealed them to the child-like!
On one of those days, when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and Doctors of the Law were sitting near by. (They had come from all the villages in Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was upon Jesus, so that he could work cures.)
But Gamaliel, a Pharisee, who was a Doctor of the Law and who was held in universal respect, rose in the Council, and directed that the men should be taken out of court for a little while.
For a man who is only a Jew outwardly is not a real Jew; nor is outward bodily circumcision real circumcision. The real Jew is the man who is a Jew in soul;
For it is we who are the circumcised--we whose worship is prompted by the Spirit of God, who exult in Christ Jesus, and who do not rely upon external privileges;
By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.