The Jerusalem Council

15 ^(A)But some men came down from Judea and were teaching ^(B)the brothers, “Unless you are ^(C)circumcised ^(D)according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

⁶ For in Christ Jesus ^(A)neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but ^(B)only faith working through love.

⁵ But some believers who belonged to ^(A)the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ^(B)“It is necessary ^(C)to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by ^(A)philosophy and ^(B)empty deceit, according to ^(C)human tradition, according to the ^(D)elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.

³ And on the ^(A)eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

Christ Has Set Us Free

5 For ^(A)freedom Christ has ^(B)set us free; ^(C)stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to ^(D)a yoke of ^(E)slavery.

² Look: I, Paul, say to you that ^(F)if you accept circumcision, ^(G)Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³ I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that ^(H)he is obligated to keep the whole law. ⁴ You are ^(I)severed from Christ, ^(J)you who would be justified^[a] by the law; ^(K)you have fallen away from grace.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ But ^(A)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(B)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, ^(C)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(D)the circumcision party.^{[a] 13} And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their ^(E)conduct was not in step with ^(F)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(G)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(H)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁸ Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? ^(A)Let him not seek circumcision. ^19 (B)For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but ^(C)keeping the commandments of God.

⁹ Is this blessing then only for ^(B)the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? ^(C)For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ^11 (D)He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was ^(E)to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, ¹² and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.