The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!"

So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me.

However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.

Now those who were reputed to be important added nothing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God pays no attention to outward appearances.)

In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.

So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.

The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.

But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, "Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?"

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do.

Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.