¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather ^(A)to be known by God, ^(B)how can you turn back again to ^(C)the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? ^10 (D)You observe days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹ I am afraid ^(E)I may have labored over you in vain.

¹² Brothers,^{[a] (F)}I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. ^(G)You did me no wrong.

¹¹ But if I, brothers,^[a] still preach^[b] circumcision, ^(A)why am I still being persecuted? In that case ^(B)the offense of the cross has been removed.

¹² For before certain men came from James, ^(A)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(B)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 ^(C)conduct was not in step with ^(D)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(E)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(F)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(G)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that ^(H)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(I)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(J)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

^4 (A)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(B)slipped in to spy out ^(C)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(D)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(E)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

¹¹ And so by your knowledge this weak person is ^(A)destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹² Thus, sinning against your brothers^[a] and ^(B)wounding their conscience when it is weak, ^(C)you sin against Christ.

¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^(A)you are no longer walking in love. ^(B)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(A)if righteousness^[a] were through the law, ^(B)then Christ died for no purpose.