[Chapter
Synopsis: Paul explains how years later he went to Jerusalem
and obtained the approval of the church leaders of his preaching.
A while later Peter had gone to Antioch but had to be confronted
by Paul for being two-faced over the way he behaved before the
different groups.]
v.1-10
Paul accepted by the Jerusalem apostles
[Passage
Synopsis: A long while later he went to Jerusalem explaining
what he preached to the Gentiles and the leaders there accepted
that.]
v.1
(14 years later he returned
to Jerusalem with two others) Then
after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time
with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
v.2
(God led me and
I shared with the leaders what I shared with the Gentiles, to
ensure I was on the right track) I
went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those
esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach
among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and
had not been running my race in vain.
v.3
(but circumcision didn't
come into it) Yet
not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised,
even though he was a Greek.
v.4
(it only arose because
some Jews, not Christians, spied on us) This
matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our
ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make
us slaves.
v.5
(we held off their accusations
on your behalf) We
did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the
gospel might be preserved for you.
v.6
(the church leaders in
Jerusalem added nothing to my message) As
for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes
no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing
to my message.
v.7
(but recognised my calling
to the Gentiles) On
the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the
task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter
had been to the circumcised.
v.
8 (Peter & I had
complementary callings) For
God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised,
was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.
v.9
(the leaders there accepted
my ministry) James,
Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas
the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given
to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they
to the circumcised.
v.10
(they just asked we should
care for the poor) All
they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the
very thing I had been eager to do all along.
v.11-21
Yet Paul had to oppose Cephas (Peter)
[Passage
Synopsis: Later Peter came to Antioch but appeared two-faced
and was confronted by Paul.]
v.11
(Yet when Peter came
to us at Antioch I had cause to rebuke him) When
Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he
stood condemned.
v.12
(because initially he
ate with Gentiles but then withdrew when the Jews majoring on
circumcision turned up) For
before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.
But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself
from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged
to the circumcision group.
v.13
(the other Jewish Christians
also drew back) The
other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy
even Barnabas was led astray.
v.14
(I confronted Cephas
before them) When
I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the
gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew,
yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then,
that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
v.15-17
(I pointed out that we
realise you cannot be justified by the Law but only by faith in
Christ) “We
who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person
is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we
may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the
law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves
also among the sinners, doesn't that mean that Christ promotes
sin? Absolutely not!
v.18
(if I went back to what
I had been I would become a lawbreaker) If
I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
v.19
(the law made me die
and drove me to God) “For
through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
v.20
(so I consider I have
died [to the old life] and now it is Christ who lives in me, a
life of faith in Christ) I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
v.21
(I hold on to grace otherwise
Christ died for nothing) I
do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could
be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Continue
to Chapter 3