Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem,v this time with Barnabas.w I took Titusx along also. 2 I went in response to a revelationy and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.z I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my racea in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus,b who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.c 4 This matter arose because some false believersd had infiltrated our ranks to spy one the freedomf we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospelg might be preserved for you.

6 As for those who were held in high esteemh—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritismi—they added nothing to my message.j 7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the taskk of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,a l just as Peterm had been to the circumcised.b 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostlen to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostleo to the Gentiles. 9 James,p Cephasc q and John, those esteemed as pillars,r gave me and Barnabass the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.t They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles,u and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor,v the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

Paul Opposes Cephas

11 When Cephasw came to Antioch,x I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James,y he used to eat with the Gentiles.z But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.a 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabasb was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,c I said to Cephasd in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.e How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?f

15 “We who are Jews by birthg and not sinful Gentilesh 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,i but by faith in Jesus Christ.j So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith ind Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.k

17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners,l doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!m 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

19 “For through the law I died to the lawn so that I might live for God.o 20 I have been crucified with Christp and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.q The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,r who loved mes and gave himself for me.t 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,u Christ died for nothing!”e