After showing the Gentiles their need for God's righteousness, Paul turns to his fellow Jews. Because the Jews were boasting in their outward conformity to God's will, Paul reminds them of their failure to obey the law and corrects their misunderstanding about circumcision. Paul wants the Jews to recognize they need God's righteousness just like the Gentiles. Although Paul's critiques target first-century Jews in this passage, we must recognize that we too are prone to boast in outward conformity to God's will without inward obedience. But, as we will see, our hope is not in what we do, but in what God has done for us.