(Acts 15:5–21)
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Then after fourteen years again I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, having also taken Titus with me;
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and I went up by revelation, and submitted the good news to them that I preach among the nations, and privately to those esteemed, lest I ran or might run in vain;
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but not even Titus, who [is] with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised—
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and [that] because of the false brothers brought in unaware, who came in secretly to spy out our liberty that we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us under bondage,
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to whom not even for an hour we gave place by subjection, that the truth of the good news might remain to you.
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And from those who were esteemed to be something—whatever they were then, it makes no difference to me. God does not accept the face of man, for to me those esteemed added nothing,
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but on the contrary, having seen that I have been entrusted with the good news of the uncircumcision, as Peter with [that] of the circumcision,
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for He who worked with Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, worked also in me in regard to the nations,
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and having known the grace that was given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who were esteemed to be pillars, they gave to me a right hand of fellowship, and to Barnabas, that we may go to the nations, and they to the circumcision,
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only, that we should be mindful of the poor, which I also was diligent—this very thing—to do.
Paul Confronts Cephas
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And when Peter came to Antioch, I stood up against him to the face, because he was blameworthy,
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for before the coming of some from James, he was eating with the nations, and when they came, he was withdrawing and separating himself, fearing those of circumcision,
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and the other Jews acted hypocritically with him, so that Barnabas was also carried away by their hypocrisy.
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But when I saw that they are not walking uprightly to the truth of the good news, I said to Peter before all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of the nations, and not in the manner of the Jews, how do you compel the nations to live like Jews?
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We by nature Jews, and not sinners of the nations,
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having also known that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, but through faith from Jesus Christ, we also believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be declared righteous by faith from Christ, and not by works of law, because no flesh will be declared righteous by works of law.”
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And if, seeking to be declared righteous in Christ, we were also ourselves found sinners, [is] Christ then a servant of sin? Let it not be!
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For if the things I threw down, these again I build up, I set myself forth [as] a transgressor;
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for I died through law that I may live to God;
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I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and that which I now live in the flesh—I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me;
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I do not make the grace of God void, for if righteousness [is] through law—then Christ died in vain.
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