¹⁴ When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

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.

²⁸ Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

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? ¹¹ We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

²⁰ Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others.

¹² Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.

¹³ Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.