1 F ourteen years later I went again to Jerusalem. This time I took Barnabas. Titus went with us also.

Then after of fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem. with Barnabas, taking Titus along with also.

2 G od showed me in a special way I should go. I spoke to them about the Good News that I preach among the people who are not Jews. First of all, I talked alone to the important church leaders. I wanted them to know what I was preaching. I did not want that which I was doing or would be doing to be wasted.

I went because it was specially and divinely revealed to me that I should go, and I put before them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. However, privately before those of repute, that I was not running or had not run in vain.

3 T itus was with me. Even being a Greek, he did not have to go through the religious act of becoming a Jew.

But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

4 S ome men who called themselves Christians asked about this. They got in our meeting without being asked. They came there to find out how free we are who belong to Christ. They tried to get us to be chained to the Law.

because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage.

5 B ut we did not listen to them or do what they wanted us to do so the truth of the Good News might be yours.

To them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might continue to be for you.

6 T hose who seemed to be important church leaders did not help me. They did not teach me anything new. What they were, I do not care. God looks on us all as being the same.

Moreover, by those who were reputed to be something—though what was their individual position and whether they really were of importance or not makes no difference to me; God is not impressed with the positions that men hold and He is not partial and recognizes no external distinctions—those who were of repute imposed no new requirements upon me.

7 A nyway, they saw how I had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the people who are not Jews, as Peter had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the Jews.

But on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted the Gospel to the uncircumcised as Peter had been entrusted the Gospel to the circumcised;

8 F or God helped Peter work with the Jews. He also helped me work with those who are not Jews.

For He Who motivated and fitted Peter and worked effectively through him for the mission to the circumcised, motivated and fitted me and worked through me also for the Gentiles.

9 J ames and Peter and John were thought of as being the head church leaders. They could see that God’s loving-favor had been given to me. Barnabas and I were joined together with them by shaking hands. Then we were sent off to work with the people who are not Jews. They were to work with the Jews.

And when they knew (perceived, recognized, understood, and acknowledged) the grace (God’s unmerited favor and spiritual blessing) that had been bestowed upon me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars of the Jerusalem church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised (Jews).

10 T hey asked us to do only one thing. We were to remember to help poor people. I think this is important also.

They only, that we were to remember the poor, which very thing I was also eager to do.

11 B ut when Peter came to Antioch, I had to stand up against him because he was guilty.

But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I protested and opposed him to his face, for he was blameable and stood condemned.

12 P eter had been eating with the people who are not Jews. But after some men came who had been with James, he kept away from them. He was afraid of those who believe in the religious act of becoming a Jew.

For up to the time that certain persons came from James, he ate his meals with the Gentile; but when the men arrived, he withdrew and held himself aloof from the Gentiles and separately for fear of those of the circumcision.

13 T hen the rest of the Jews followed him because they were afraid to do what they knew they should do. Even Barnabas was fooled by those who pretended to be someone they were not.

And the rest of the Jews along with him also concealed their true convictions and acted insincerely, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy (their example of insincerity and pretense).

14 W hen I saw they were not honest about the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, “If you are a Jew, but live like the people who are not Jews, why do you make the people who are not Jews live like the Jews?”

But as soon as I saw that they were not straightforward and were not living up to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before everybody present, If you, though born a Jew, can live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how do you dare now to urge and practically force the Gentiles to live like Jews?

15 Y ou and I were born Jews. We were not sinners from among the people who are not Jews.

Although we ourselves (you and I) are Jews by birth and not Gentile (heathen) sinners,

16 E ven so, we know we cannot become right with God by obeying the Law. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Jesus Christ. For that reason, we have put our trust in Jesus Christ also. We have been made right with God because of our faith in Christ and not by obeying the Law. No man can be made right with God by obeying the Law.

Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but through faith and reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). even we have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law, because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).

17 A s we try to become right with God by what Christ has done for us, what if we find we are sinners also? Does that mean Christ makes us sinners? No! Never!

But if, in our desire and endeavor to be justified in Christ, we have shown ourselves sinners also and convicted of sin, does that make Christ a minister (a party and contributor) to our sin? Banish the thought!

18 B ut if I work toward being made right with God by keeping the Law, then I make myself a sinner.

For if I build up again what I tore down, I prove myself a transgressor.

19 T he Law has no power over me. I am dead to the Law. Now I can live for God.

For I through the Law have myself died to the Law and all the Law’s demands upon me, so that I may live to and for God.

20 I have been put up on the cross to die with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by putting my trust in the Son of God. He was the One Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

21 I say that we are not to put aside the loving-favor of God. If we could be made right with God by keeping the Law, then Christ died for nothing.

I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain.