Galatians 2
"Then
after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with
Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately
with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them THE GOSPEL that I preach among the
Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running
my race in vain.
3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be
circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
4 This matter arose because some false believers had
infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom 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 GOSPEL might
be preserved for you.
6 As for those who were held in high
esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; GOD does not show favoritism—they added
nothing to my message.
7 On the contrary, they recognized
that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching THE GOSPEL to the
uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
8 For
GOD, WHO was
at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me
as an apostle to the Gentiles.
9 James, Cephas and
John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand
of fellowship when they recognized THE GRACE GIVEN TO ME. They agreed that
we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
10 All they asked was that we should
continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all
along.
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I
opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
12 For before certain men came from
James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. 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.
13 The other Jews joined him in his
hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not
acting in line with THE
TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, I said to Cephas in front of them all,
‘You
are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it,
then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 We who are Jews by birth and
not sinful Gentiles
16 know that a person is not
justified by the works of the law, but by faith in JESUS CHRIST. So
we, too, have put our faith in CHRIST JESUS that we may be justified by faith in CHRIST and not by the
works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in seeking to be justified
in CHRIST,
we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that CHRIST promotes sin?
Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed,
then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 For through the law I died to the
law so that I might live for GOD.
20 I have been crucified with CHRIST and I no
longer live, but CHRIST
lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in THE SON OF GOD, WHO
loved me and gave HIMSELF for me.
21 I do not set aside THE GRACE OF GOD, for
if RIGHTEOUSNESS
could be gained through the law, CHRIST died for
nothing!”
