< Galatians 2 >

1 After 14 years passed, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. I took Titus also. 2 But [I tell you that] I went up there because of what God revealed to me. [It was not because someone there asked me to come]. I told people what was the good message that I was preaching in regions where non-Jews live. But I talked privately to those whom your new teachers highly respect. I did that in order that what I was doing and what I had done [MET] might not become useless [MET] [as a result of people rejecting my message because they thought that I was teaching something that was not true]. 3 But [even though the leaders of the believers usually insisted that when non-Jews trusted in Christ someone must circumcise them], they did not even insist that Titus be circumcised, even though he was a Greek man who was with me. 4 [I talked to them privately] because some people [successfully] pretended that they were fellow believers and associated with the true believers. They did that in order that they might observe closely what we do because we are free [from having to obey all the Jewish laws and rituals] because of our close relationship with Christ Jesus [MET]. Those people wanted to make us [like] slaves [MET] [of those rituals by convincing us that we cannot trust Christ solely but that we must also obey all the Jewish rituals]. 5 But not even briefly did we [(exc)] do what they wanted [about circumcision. We(exc) resisted them] in order that the truth of the message about Christ might continue to [benefit] you. 6 The [leaders in Jerusalem], whom your new teachers respect, did not add anything to what I preach. [And I would add that] what status those leaders had did not influence me, because God does not favor certain/important persons [IDM] more than others. 7 Instead of those leaders adding to the message that I tell people, they understood that I had been given the good message {God had given the good message to me} so that I might proclaim it to the non-Jews [MTY], just like [God] had given the good message to Peter so that he might tell it to those who are Jews [MTY]. 8 That is, just like [God] had empowered/authorized Peter in order that he might be an apostle [to bring God’s message] to the Jews [MTY], he also had empowered/authorized me in order that I might be an apostle to [bring his message to] the non-Jews. 9 And [those leaders] knew that God had kindly given to me this special work. So James, Peter, and John, the ones whom your new teachers [respect because they are] leaders [MET] [of the believers], shook hands with us [IDM] [to show that they agreed that Barnabas and I are serving the Lord just like they are, and that we are preaching the same message that they are preaching]. They also agreed that we [(exc)] are the ones whom God was sending to [tell his message to] non-Jews, but that God is sending them to [tell his message to] Jews [MTY]. 10 They merely urged that we [(exc)] still remember to help the poor [fellow believers who live in Jerusalem]. That is exactly what I have been eager to do. 11 But [later while I was at] Antioch [city], after Peter came there, I told him directly [SYN] that what he was doing was wrong. 12 [This is what happened]: [Peter went to Antioch and started eating regularly with non-Jewish believers there]. Later there were certain [Jewish believers who] came [to Antioch who claimed that] James, [the leader of the congregations in Jerusalem], had sent them. But when [those certain] men came, Peter gradually quit [eating] with the non-Jewish believers and would not associate with them. He was afraid that the Jewish [believers from Jerusalem would criticize him for associating with non-Jews]. 13 Also, the other Jewish [believers who were in Antioch] [SYN] acted (insincerely/in a way that they knew was not right) along with [Peter]. The result was that they convinced even Barnabas to [stop associating with the non-Jewish believers]! 14 But when I realized that they were not acting according to the truth of the message about Christ, [when] all [the fellow believers there] were present, I told Peter [the following]: “Although you [(sg)] are a Jew, [you often conduct yourself] like non-Jews [do by disregarding Jewish laws about food. When you are among non-Jews], you [(sg)] do not customarily conduct yourself at all like Jews [do]. So, (now it is wrong that you [(sg)] are causing non-Jews [to think that they must obey all] the Jewish rituals and customs!/why are you [(sg)] causing non-Jews [to think that they must obey all] the Jewish rituals and customs?) [RHQ]” 15 Some of us [believers] were born as Jews. We [(exc)] were not born as non-Jews. [We Jews have always considered non-Jews to be] ‘sinners’ [because they do not obey the Jewish rituals and laws]. 16 But we [(exc)] now know that it is not because some person obeys the laws [that God gave to Moses] that [God] erases the record of that person’s sins. [God erases the record of a person’s sins only if that person trusts in what Jesus Christ has done]. Even we [(exc)] Jews trusted Christ Jesus. We [(exc)] did that in order that [God] would erase the record of our sins because of our trusting Christ, and not because of our obeying the laws [that God gave to Moses. God has said that] he will [never] erase the record of people’s sins just because of their obeying those laws. 17 Furthermore, because we [(exc) Jews] desired that [God] would erase the record of our sins because of our relationship with Christ, [it means that] we realized that we ourselves were sinners [like non-Jews, whom we called] sinners, [because we(exc) also were not obeying the Jewish rituals and laws]. [But] ([we(inc) certainly cannot conclude] that it is Christ who causes us to sin./[should we conclude] that it is Christ who causes us to sin?) [RHQ] [No, Christ] certainly does not [cause anyone to sin]. 18 So if I should again believe [that God would erase the record of my sins because of my obeying the laws that he gave to Moses] [MET], [I would be like a man who] rebuilds an old building that he tore down. It would [soon] be clear that I am one who disobeys those same laws [that God gave to Moses]. 19 When [I realized that I could not earn God’s favor] by [obeying] the laws [that he gave to Moses, I decided not] to [respond to what those laws demanded] [MET], [just like] a dead person [does not respond to anything]. Now I live to [honor/serve] God. 20 [It is as though] I was with Christ when he was crucified {died on the cross} [MET] (OR, [It is as though] my [old way of life ended when] Christ died on the cross.) No longer am I [directing the way I behave as I did before I believed in Christ]. Now Christ [is directing how] I [behave. And whatever I do] now while I live, I do it trusting in God’s Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself [as a sacrifice] for me. 21 I am not rejecting [as useless] what God [did for me] ([kindly/that I did not deserve]), [as my opponents are doing. I fully accept that God saved me by acting kindly towards me]. If it is because people [obey the] laws [that God gave to Moses] that God erases the record of their sins, then Christ died (for nothing/needlessly).

< Galatians 2 >