BRS.GALATIANS.02

1 After 14 years I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me. 2 I went there because Alahim showed me by revelation that I should go. I explained to them the message that I tell the Gentile nations (non-Jewish people). I also met alone with those who were considered to be the leaders. I wanted to be sure we agreed so that my past work and the work I do now would not be wasted.

3 Titus, who was with me, is a Greek. But these leaders still did not force him to be circumcised. 4 We needed to talk about these problems, because some who pretended to be our brothers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to find out about the freedom we have in MESSIAH YAHUSHA. They wanted to make us slaves again, 5 but we did not agree with anything those false brothers wanted. We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you.

6 Those men who were considered to be important did not change the Good News message I tell people. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were “important” or not. To YAHUSHA, everyone is the same.) 7 But these leaders saw that Alahim had given me a special work, the same as Peter. Alahim gave Peter the work of telling the Good News to the Jews. But Alahim gave me the work of telling the Good News to the Gentile nations. 8 Alahim gave Peter the power to work as a Disciple for the Jewish people. Alahim gave me the power to work as a Disciple too, but for those who are not Jews. 9 James, Peter, and John seemed to be the leaders. And they saw that Alahim had given me this special gift of favour, so they accepted Barnabas and me. They said to us, “We agree that you should go to those who are not Jews, and we will go to the Jews.” 10 They asked us to do only one thing—to remember to help those who are poor. And this was something that I really wanted to do.

11 When Peter came to Antioch, he did something that was not right. I stood against him because he was wrong. 12 This is what happened: When Peter first came to Antioch, he ate and associated with the Gentile people. But when some Jewish men came from James, Peter separated himself from the Gentiles. He stopped eating with them, because he was afraid of the Jews who believe that all non-Jewish people must be circumcised. 13 So Peter was a hypocrite. The other Jewish believers joined with him, so they were hypocrites too. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did. 14 They were not following the truth of the Good News. When I saw this, I spoke to Peter in front of everyone. I said, “Peter, you are a Jew, but you don’t live like one. You live like someone who is not a Jew. So why are you trying to force those who are not Jewish to live like Jews?”

15 We are Jews by birth. We were not born “sinners,” as we call those who are not Jews. 16 But we know that no one is made right with Alahim by following the Torah Law. It is trusting in YAHUSHA MESSIAH that makes a person right with Alahim. So we have put our trusting-belief in MESSIAH YAHUSHA, because we wanted to be made right with Alahim. And we are right with Him because we trusted in Messiah—not because we followed the Torah Law. I can say this because no one can be made right with Alahim by following the old Torah Law.

17 We Jews came to Messiah to be made right with Alahim, so it is clear that we were sinners too. Does this mean that Messiah makes us sinners? Of course not. 18 But I would be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up. 19 It was the Torah Law itself that caused me to end my life under it. I died to the old Torah Law so that I could live for Alahim. I have been nailed to the Torture Stake with Messiah. 20 So I am not the one living now—it is Messiah living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by belief in the Son of Alahim. He is the One Who loved me and gave Himself to deliver me. 21 I am not the one destroying the meaning of Alahim’s favour. If following the Torah Law is how people are made right with Alahim, then Messiah did not have to die then, did He?

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