| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. | 1Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. |
| 2I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. | 2It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. |
| 3And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile. | 3But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. |
| 4Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. | 4But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. |
| 5But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you. | 5But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. |
| 6And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) | 6But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)-- well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. |
| 7Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. | 7But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised |
| 8For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. | 8(for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), |
| 9In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. | 9and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. |
| 10Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do. Paul Confronts Peter | 10They only asked us to remember the poor-- the very thing I also was eager to do. |
| 11But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. | 11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. |
| 12When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. | 12For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. |
| 13As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. | 13The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. |
| 14When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? | 14But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? |
| 15“You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. | 15"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; |
| 16Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” | 16nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. |
| 17But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! | 17"But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! |
| 18Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. | 18"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. |
| 19For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. | 19"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. |
| 20My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | 20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. |
| 21I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. | 21"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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