1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.
2 I went up because of a revelation; and I set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who were of reputation, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
4 But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.
5 We did not yield to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
6 And from those who were reputed to be something (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)those, I say, who were of repute added nothing to me;
7 but on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised
8 (for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles),
9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
11 But when Cephas 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 came, he began to draw back and separate himself, fearing the party of the circumcision.
13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of them all, "If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
15 "We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,
16 yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law will no flesh be justified.
17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not!
18 For if I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
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 the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing."