Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. — Often those who regard some ceremony as unimportant magnify the very disregard of it into a necessary virtue. The Apostle carefully guards against that by expressing the nothingness of both circumcision and uncircumcision (Romans 2:25; Galatians 5:6; Galatians 6:15). The circumcision of Timothy, and the refusal to circumcise Titus by St. Paul himself, are illustrations at once of the application of the truth here enforced, and of the Apostle’s scrupulous adherence to the principles of his own teaching. To have refused to circumcise Timothy would have attached some value to non-circumcision. To have circumcised Titus would have attached some value to circumcision. (See Acts 16:3; Galatians 2:3.)
But the keeping of the commandments of God is everything, understood. The teaching here is, practically, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”