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Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem. This time I went with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went because God showed me what he wanted me to do. I spoke in private to those who are respected as leaders. I told them the good news that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I wasn't running my race for no purpose. And I wanted to know that I had not been running my race for no purpose. 3 Titus was with me. He was a Greek. But even he was not forced to be circumcised. 4 This matter came up because some people had slipped in among us. They had pretended to be believers. They wanted to find out about the freedom we have because we belong to Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves again. 5 We didn't give in to them for a moment. We did this so that the truth of the good news would be kept safe for you. 6 Some people in Jerusalem were thought to be important. But it makes no difference to me what they were. God does not treat people differently. Those people added nothing to my message. 7 In fact, it was just the opposite. They recognised the task I had been trusted with. It was the task of preaching the good news to the Gentiles. My task was like Peter's task. He had been trusted with the task of preaching to the Jews. 8 God was working in Peter as an apostle to the Jews. God was also working in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John are respected as pillars in the church. They recognised the special grace given to me. So they shook my hand and the hand of Barnabas. They wanted to show they accepted us. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles. They would go to the Jews. 10 They asked only one thing. They wanted us to continue to remember poor people. That was what I had wanted to do all along.
2:1–10 Fourteen years after Paul started following Jesus as the Messiah, he went to Jerusalem. He met with James, Peter and John. They were three of Jesus' most trusted disciples. They spread the message about Jesus among the Jewish people. They listened to Paul and agreed with everything he preached. They understood that God had appointed Paul to preach to Gentiles. Paul explained this to the Galatians so that they would trust his teaching. It was another way to show that he hadn't made up the good news about Jesus. He preached the same good news that other important church leaders preached. Part of the good news is that Gentile believers don't have to follow the Law of Moses. Gentile believers who are males don't have to be circumcised. This was talked about in Acts chapter 15. Titus was an example of this.
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I told him to his face that I was against what he was doing. He was clearly wrong. 12 He used to eat with the Gentiles. But certain men came from a group sent by James. When they arrived, Peter began to draw back. He separated himself from the Gentiles. That's because he was afraid of the circumcision group sent by James. 13 Peter's actions were not honest, and other Jews in Antioch joined him. Even Barnabas was led astray.
14 I saw what they were doing. It was not in line with the truth of the good news. So I spoke to Peter in front of them all. ‘You are a Jew,’ I said. ‘But you live like one who is not. So why do you force Gentiles to follow Jewish ways?’
15 We are Jews by birth. We are not sinful Gentiles. 16 Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That's because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law.
17 We are seeking to be made right with God through Christ. As we do, what if we find that we who are Jews are also sinners? Does that mean that Christ causes us to sin? Certainly not! 18 Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I would really be breaking the law.
19 By the law, I died as far as the law is concerned. I died so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. I don't live any longer, but Christ lives in me. Now I live my life in my body by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not get rid of the grace of God. What if a person could become right with God by obeying the law? Then Christ died for nothing!
2:11–21 Peter knew that Gentiles were accepted into God's family. Acts chapter 10 tells the story of how God showed that to Peter. But there were Jewish believers who didn't approve of this. They thought that Jewish believers should stay separate from Gentile believers. They challenged Peter. Peter started treating Gentiles as outsiders. He no longer treated Gentile believers as his brothers and sisters in God's family. Other Jewish believers like Barnabas followed his example. They treated Jewish laws as more important than following Jesus together with other believers. Paul strongly disagreed with Peter. He corrected Peter in public. Then Paul wrote to the Galatians about the law. He was talking about Jewish laws that separated Jews from Gentiles. This included laws about circumcision, food and honouring the Sabbath day. Paul made it very clear that obeying these laws doesn't make people right with God. Only Jesus can free people from sin's power and bring them back to God. Paul described this as if believers are crucified with Christ. This is a picture of how closely believers are joined together with Jesus. Paul wasn't saying that believers are nailed to the cross. Only Jesus was nailed to the cross and died to save people from sin. Paul was describing something about believers. They no longer live in the sinful ways they used to live in. Those old ways of living are dead. Now believers have new life from Jesus. They don't receive this new life by obeying the Law of Moses. They receive it from Jesus. It's a gift because Jesus loves all people.