1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before thoselver. 6, 9 who seemed influential) the gospel thatm1 Tim. 3:16 I proclaim among the Gentiles,nch. 4:11; 1 Thess. 3:5 in order to make sure I was not running or had notoPhil. 2:16 run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me,p[Acts 16:3] was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 qActs 15:24; 2 Cor. 11:26; [ch. 5:12] Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—whor[2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 4] slipped in to spy outsSee ch. 5:1 our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus,tch. 4:3, 9, 24, 25; 2 Cor. 11:20; [Rom. 8:15] so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so thatuver. 14; [ch. 4:16; 5:7; Titus 1:14; 2 John 1] the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from thosevver. 2, 9; [ch. 6:3; Acts 5:36]; See 1 Cor. 3:7 who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me;wSee Deut. 10:17 God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influentialx[2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11] added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had beeny1 Thess. 2:4; 1 Tim. 1:11; See 1 Cor. 9:17 entrusted withzch. 1:16; See Acts 9:15 the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John,v[See ver. 6 above] who seemed to beaJer. 1:18; Rev. 3:12 pillars, perceived thebSee Rom. 1:5 grace that was given to me, theyc[2 Pet. 3:15] gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor,dSee Acts 24:17 the very thing I was eager to do.
11 Bute[Acts 15:1, 35] when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed himfJob 21:31 to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James,gActs 11:3; [ver. 14; Acts 10:28]; See Luke 15:2 he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearinghSee Acts 11:2 the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that theiriHeb. 12:13 conduct was not in step withjSee ver. 5 the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephask1 Tim. 5:20 before them all, “If you, though a Jew,lSee ver. 12 live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? ”
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and notmver. 17; [Eph. 2:3, 12] Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know thatnch. 3:11; See Acts 13:39 a person is not justified1Or counted righteous (three times in verse 16); also verse 17 by works of the lawoSee Rom. 9:30 but through faith in Jesus Christ,2Or through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,pRom. 3:20; [Ps. 143:2] because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were foundqver. 15 to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law IrSee Rom. 6:2; 7:4 died to the law, so that I mightsLuke 20:38; Rom. 6:11; 14:7, 8; 2 Cor. 5:15; 1 Thess. 5:10; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 4:2 live to God. 20 I have beentch. 5:24; 6:14; Rom. 6:6 crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who livesuSee John 17:23 in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,vSee Rom. 8:37 who loved me andwSee ch. 1:4 gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, forx[ch. 3:21; Heb. 7:11] if justification1Or righteousness were through the law,y[ch. 5:4] then Christ died for no purpose.