Galatians 2

¹Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along as well. ²I went up because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I proclaim among the nations. I did this privately before the recognized leaders, to ensure that I was not running, or had not already run, my race in vain. ³Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴This issue arose because of the smuggled-in false brothers, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, intending to reduce us to slavery. ⁵We did not yield to them in submission for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain secure for you.

⁶Now as for those who were recognized as being important—whatever they once were makes no difference to me, for God is not impressed by human status—those recognized leaders added nothing to my message. ⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been for the circumcised. ⁸For the one who was at work in Peter for his mission to the circumcised was also at work in me for the nations. ⁹Recognizing the grace given to me, James, Cephas, and John—the ones recognized as pillars—gave Barnabas and me the right hand of partnership. They agreed that we should go to the nations and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Their only request was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was already eager to do.

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood clearly condemned. ¹²For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the non-Jews; but when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, because he was afraid of the circumcision faction. ¹³The rest of the Jews joined him in this theatrical performance, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their play-acting. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path toward the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of everyone: “If you, though you are a Jew, live like a non-Jew and not like a Jew, how can you force the non-Jews to adopt Jewish customs?”

¹⁵We are Jews by birth and not “non-Jewish sinners.” ¹⁶Yet we know that a person is not made just by works of the law but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Even we believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made just by the faithfulness of Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no human being will be made just. ¹⁷But if, while seeking to be made just in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, does that make Christ a servant of sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild the very things I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a law-breaker. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God; for if justice comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.