¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

⁹ But now that you know God—or rather are known by God^(A)—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces^[a]? Do you wish to be enslaved^(B) by them all over again?^{(C) 10} You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!^{(D) 11} I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.^(E)

¹² I plead with you, brothers and sisters,^(F) become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.

⁴ This matter arose because some false believers^(A) had infiltrated our ranks to spy on^(B) the freedom^(C) we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. ⁵ We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel^(D) might be preserved for you.

¹² For before certain men came from James,^(A) he used to eat with the Gentiles.^(B) But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.^{(C) 13} The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas^(D) was led astray.

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,^(E) I said to Cephas^(F) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.^(G) How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?^(H)

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth^(I) and not sinful Gentiles^{(J) 16} know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,^(K) but by faith in Jesus Christ.^(L) So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.^(M)

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?^(A) In that case the offense^(B) of the cross has been abolished.

²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,^(A) Christ died for nothing!”^[a]

¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed^(A) by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them^(B) in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.^(C)

¹⁵ If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.^(A) Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.^(B)