³¹ And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.

³ For we who worship by the Spirit of God^[a] are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,

Freedom in Christ

5 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

⁴ Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really^[a]—who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. ⁵ But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.

⁵ So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day.

¹⁰ So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers^[a] with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?

The Council at Jerusalem

15 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers^[a]: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”