1 After fourteen years {eton: extended period}, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and I took {symparalabon: travel companion} Titus along with me.
2 I went up in response to a revelation {apokalypsin: divine disclosure} and presented to them the gospel I proclaim among the Gentiles, though I did so privately with those deemed to be influential, so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain {kenon: fruitlessly empty}.
3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek {Hellen: non-Jewish Gentile}, was compelled to be circumcised {peritmetheinai: Jewish covenant sign}.
4 But it was because of the secretly introduced false brothers, who had slipped in to spy out the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus {Christo Iesou: Messiah Deliverer}, so that they might enslave {katadoulosousin: bring into bondage} us.
5 To whom we did not yield {eiksamen: give way} for even an hour, in submission, so that the truth {aletheia: reliable reality} of the gospel might continue with you.
6 But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they once were makes no difference to me; God {Theos, Impartial Judge} does not receive the face {prosopon: outward standing} of a man, for to me those who seemed to be something added nothing.
7 But on the contrary, when they saw that I have been entrusted {pepisteumai: divinely commissioned} with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter {Petros: mission to Jews} had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.
8 For the One who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship {apostolen: commissioned service} to the circumcised, He {Theos, Empowering Sender} also worked in me for the nations.
9 And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship {koinonia: shared partnership}, so that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision {peritome: covenant-marked Jews}.
10 Only they asked that we remember the poor {ptochon: materially needy}; the very thing I was also eager {espoudasa: earnestly pursued} to do.
11 But when Cephas {Kephas: Recognized Apostle} came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was condemned {kategnosmenos: judged as blameworthy}.
12 For before certain men from James came, he was eating with the Gentiles, but when they arrived, he began to draw back and to separate himself, fearing {phobeomai: intimidated by them} those from the circumcision {peritome: Jewish covenant sign}.
13 And the rest of the Jews also acted hypocritically with him, so that even Barnabas {Barnabas: respected coworker} was carried away by their hypocrisy {hupokrisis: shared deceptive behavior}.
14 But when I saw that they were not walking uprightly toward the truth of the gospel {euangelion: good news}, I said to Cephas {Kephas: Aramaic name} before everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live as Jews?”
15 We, by nature {phusis: inherited status}, are Jews and not sinners from among the Gentiles {ethnon: non-Jewish nations}.
16 But knowing that a person is not justified from works of law, except through faith in Jesus Christ {Iesous Christos, Covenant Justifier}, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be justified from faith in Christ, and not from works of law; because from works of law no flesh {sarx: human nature} will be justified.
17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ {Christos, Justifying Lord}, we ourselves also were found to be sinners {hamartōloi: guilty before God}, is Christ then a servant of sin? May it never be!
18 For if I build {oikodomo: rebuild obligations} again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor {parabaten: law violator}.
19 For I, through the law, died to the law, so that I might live {zēsō: new vital existence} to God {Theos, New Life Focus}.
20 I have been crucified with Christ {Christos, Crucified Lord}. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God {huios tou theou, Loving Redeemer}, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God {Theos, Giver of Righteousness}, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ {Christos, Sacrificial Redeemer} died without purpose.