2:26 Therefore if the {q} uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his {r} uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
(q) This is the figure of speech metonymy, and means uncircumcised.
(r) The state and condition of the uncircumcised.
2:26 Therefore. The converse of this is also true. If the Jewish law-breaker can annul his circumcision thus, then
if the uncircumcision, the Gentiles,
keepeth the righteousness of the law, his uncircumcised state will not be counted against him.
Shall not his uncircumcision we counted for circumcision? He supposes the possible case of a Gentile who might render such an obedience to the moral precepts of the law as a pious Jews could render, and argues that his uncircumcision would not make the obedience less acceptable. Circumcision is not, then, the thing that the Gentile needs, but righteousness. The disobedient Jew virtually becomes a Gentile, and the obedient Gentile virtually becomes a Jew.
2:26 If the uncircumcision - That is, a person uncircumcised. Keep the law - Walk agreeably to it. Shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision - In the sight of God?
2:25-29 No forms, ordinances, or notions can profit, without regenerating grace, which will always lead to seeking an interest in the righteousness of God by faith. For he is no more a Christian now, than he was really a Jew of old, who is only one outwardly: neither is that baptism, which is outward in the flesh: but he is the real Christian, who is inwardly a true believer, with an obedient faith. And the true baptism is that of the heart, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Ghost; bringing a spiritual frame of mind, and a willing following of truth in its holy ways. Let us pray that we may be made real Christians, not outwardly, but inwardly; in the heart and spirit, not in the letter; baptized, not with water only, but with the Holy Ghost; and let our praise be, not of men, but of God.
