Galatians 2

1 Fourteen years later I returned to Jerusalem with Barnabas. I took Titus along with me.

Fourteen years afterward I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, and I took Titus also with me.

2 I went because of what God had shown me. I met with the recognized church leaders there in private and explained to them the good news I was sharing with the foreigners. I didn't want the course I had followed, and what I was working so hard for, to come to nothing.

It was in obedience to a revelation that I went; and I laid before the apostles the good news that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who are thought highly of because I was afraid that I might possibly be taking, or might have already taken, a course which would prove useless.

3 But as it turned out, nobody even insisted that Titus who was with me should be circumcised, though he was Greek.

Yet even my companion, Titus, though a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised.

4 (That issue only arose because some false Christians slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, trying to make us slaves.

But, because of those who pretended to be followers who had stolen in, the intruders who had crept in to spy on the liberty which we have through union with Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back to slavery –

5 We never gave into them, not even for a moment. We wanted to make sure to keep the truth of the good news unchanged for you.)

Why, we did not for a moment yield submission to them, so that the truth of the good news might be yours always!

6 But those considered to be important didn't add anything to what I said. (It doesn't concern me what kind of leaders they were, because God doesn't judge people the way we do.)

Of those who are thought somewhat highly of – what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not recognize human distinctions – those, I say, who are thought highly of added nothing to my message.

7 On the contrary, once they realized that I'd been given responsibility to share the good news with the foreigners just as Peter had been given the responsibility to share the good news with the Jews,

On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news for the Gentiles, just as Peter had been for the Jews.

8 (for the same God who worked through Peter as apostle to the Jews also worked through me as apostle to the foreigners),

For he who gave Peter power for his mission to the Jews gave me, also, power to go to the Gentiles.

9 and once they recognized the grace that had been given to me, then James, Peter, and John, who bore the responsibility of church leadership, shook Barnabas and me by the hand as their fellow-workers.

Recognizing the charge entrusted to me, James, Peter, and John, who were regarded as pillars of the church, openly acknowledged Barnabas and me as fellow workers, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

10 We were to work for the foreigners, while they would work for the Jews. Their only instruction was to remember to look after the poor, something I was already very committed to.

Only we were to remember the poor – the thing I was myself anxious to do.

11 However, when Peter came to Antioch I did have to confront him directly, because he was clearly wrong in what he did.

But, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face; for he stood self-condemned.

12 Before some of James' friends arrived, Peter used to eat with the foreigners. But when these people came he stopped doing this and stayed away from the foreigners. He was afraid of being criticized by those who insisted that men had to be circumcised.

Before certain persons came from James, he had been in the habit of eating with the Gentile converts; but, when they came, he began to withdraw and hold aloof, because he was afraid of offending those who still held to circumcision.

13 As well as Peter, other Jewish Christians became hypocritical too, to the extent that even Barnabas was persuaded to follow their hypocrisy.

The rest of the Jewish converts were guilty of the same hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led away by it.

14 When I realized that they weren't taking a firm stand for the truth of the good news, I said to Peter in front of everyone, “If you're a Jew yet live like the foreigners and not like Jews, why are you forcing the foreigners to live like Jews?

But, when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the truth of the good news, I said to Peter, before them all, “If you, who were born a Jew, adopt Gentile customs, instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs?”

15 We may be Jews by birth, and not ‘sinners’ like the foreigners,

We, though we are Jews by birth and not sinners of Gentile origin, know that no one is pronounced righteous as the result of obedience to Law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 but we know that nobody is made right by doing what the law demands—it is only through trusting in Jesus Christ. We have trusted in Christ Jesus so that we could be made right by placing our confidence in Christ, and not through doing what the law says—because nobody is made right by observing the requirements of the law.”

So we placed our faith in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be pronounced righteous, as the result of faith in Christ, and not of obedience to Law; for such obedience will not result in even one soul’s being pronounced righteous.

17 For if, as we look to be made right in Christ, we ourselves prove to be sinners, does that then mean that Christ is in the service of sin? Of course not!

If, while seeking to be pronounced righteous through union with Christ, we were ourselves seen to be sinners, would that make Christ an agent of sin? Heaven forbid!

18 For if I were to rebuild what I've destroyed, then I only demonstrate I'm a law-breaker.

For, if I rebuild the things that I pulled down, I prove myself to have done wrong.

19 For through the law I died to the law in order that I could live for God.

I, indeed, through Law became dead to Law, in order to live for God.

20 I've been crucified with Christ— so it's no longer I who lives, but it is Christ living in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me, and who gave himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ. So it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and, as for my present earthly life, I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

21 How could I dismiss God's grace? For if we could be made right through keeping the law then Christ died a pointless death!

I do not reject the love of God. If righteousness comes through Law, then there was no need for Christ to die!