Galatians 2

2 ¹ Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me as well. ² I went up because of a revelation, and I laid out for them the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles—privately, though, before those held in esteem—to make sure I was not running—and had not run—in vain. ³ But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴ This came up because of false brothers secretly brought in—those who slipped in to spy out the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us. ⁵ We refused to submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ And from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were makes no difference to me; our Father shows no partiality—those held in esteem added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised ⁸ (for the one who worked through Peter to make him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me for the Gentiles). ⁹ And when they recognized the grace that had been given to me, James and Peter and John, who were esteemed as pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They asked only that we remember the poor—the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Confronts Cephas at Antioch

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they arrived, he pulled back and kept his distance, because he feared those of the circumcision. ^a a v12 "Those of the circumcision" — Jewish Christians who insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised to be fully accepted. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their pretense. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not walking in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "If you, though you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. ¹⁷ But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, does that make Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to our Father. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in this body, I live by faith in the Son of our Father, who loved me and gave himself for me. ^b b v20 Our Father does not just want us to try hard to imitate Jesus; he actually puts the Spirit of his Son inside us so that Jesus can live his life through us. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of our Father, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.