Paul and the Other Apostles
1 Fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went because God revealed to me that I should go. In a private meeting with the leaders I explained the gospel message that I preach to the Gentiles. I did not want my work in the past or in the present to be a failure. 3 My companion Titus, even though he is Greek, was not forced to be circumcised, 4 although some wanted it done. Pretending to be believers, these men slipped into our group as spies, in order to find out about the freedom we have through our union with Christ Jesus. They wanted to make slaves of us, 5 but in order to keep the truth of the gospel safe for you, we did not give in to them for a minute.
6 But those who seemed to be the leaders—I say this because it makes no difference to me what they were; God does not judge by outward appearances—those leaders, I say, made no new suggestions to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that God had given me the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the task of preaching the gospel to the Jews. 8 For by God's power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was made an apostle to the Jews. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, recognized that God had given me this special task; so they shook hands with Barnabas and me, as a sign that we were all partners. We agreed that Barnabas and I would work among the Gentiles and they among the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should remember the needy in their group, which is the very thing I have been eager to do.
Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. 12 Before some men who had been sent by James arrived there, Peter had been eating with the Gentile believers. But after these men arrived, he drew back and would not eat with the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who were in favor of circumcising them. 13 The other Jewish believers also started acting like cowards along with Peter; and even Barnabas was swept along by their cowardly action. 14 When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Jews and Gentiles Are Saved by Faith
15 Indeed, we are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” as they are called. 16 Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires. 17 If, then, as we try to be put right with God by our union with Christ, we are found to be sinners, as much as the Gentiles are—does this mean that Christ is serving the cause of sin? By no means! 18 If I start to rebuild the system of Law that I tore down, then I show myself to be someone who breaks the Law. 19 So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead—killed by the Law itself—in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, 20 so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. 21 I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!
Paulo ne batumwa bamwe
1 Shule kwe makole ali gumi lina manna (14), ndakayenda kakale ku Jerusalema ndina Bhanabhasi na Tito. 2 Ndakayenda, ngobe Ndzimu wakandizumbunulila kuti ndiyendeko. Ndakatjenesela batungamili pakasumbikala ngekwe ndebo mbuya yandinosumikilila Bezwitjaba. Ndakathama saikoko ngobe ndakabe ndisingade kuti nshingo wangu wandakashinga ne wandinoshinga ngwenu usibe suli. 3 Nanga Tito iye wandakabe ndi naye, aazokombeledzwa kuthumbigwa, nenguba ali N'giriki. 4 Ikoku kwakashingikala ngobe zwikamu zwe manyepkhwa zwakangina mu gubungano ledu nge butjakwani, bali shodzi, kuti babone kusununguka kwatinako muna Kirisiti Jesu. Bakabe beshaka kutithama balanda, 5 koga kuti ndizo malebeswa e Ndebo mbuya abiganyike mu muli, atizodumana nabo.
6 Ngono ibabo bakabe bekaiwa bali bapezhugwi, tjabakabe bali itjo aatjitodwa tjimwe kundili, Ndzimu auna shalaulo, bathu ibabo akuna tjimwe tjabakapapha mundili. 7 Koga mu bumo gwa ikoku bakabona kuti Ndzimu wakandipa nshingo we kusumikila ndebo mbuya kuna basakathumba koga sekwa kwakapiwa Pita nshingo we kusumikila ndebo mbuya kuna bakathumbigwa, 8 ngobe Ndzimu sekwa wakatungamila Pita mu nshingo uwe se ntumwa kuna bakathumbigwa wakanditungamilabo mu nshingo wangu we butumwa kuna Bezwitjaba.
9 Jakubo, na Pita na Johani, ibabo bakabe betogwa bali nshongoshongo wakabhata mbadu, bakati babona ngoni dzandakathamigwa nge Ndzimu, bakatibhata maboko, imi na Bhanabhasi kuli tjilakidzo tjekuti tibang'ompela, iswi tishinge pakati kwe Bezwitjaba, ngono ibo bashinge pakati kwe bakathumbigwa. 10 Tjabakakumbila koga hwuti tikumbule bashayi, itjo tjithu tjandakabe nditukutilila tjishinga.
Paulo unotjemela Pita ku Antiyoki
11 Koga Pita wakati azha ku Antiyoki, ha n'nyanyayidza pa mesho e mmwe ne mmwe ngobe wakabe etjinya. 12 Kwakati bathu bakatumwa ndi Jakubo basathu bakaswika ikoko, Pita wakabe eja ne Bezwitjaba. Koga bathu ibabo bakati batjizha, kazwithubukanya ne Bezwitjaba kasitjaje nabo, ngobe wakabe etja goko lebakathumbigwa. 13 Ngono bamwe Bajuta bakakuzhuka mu bupitipiti gwa Pita; ngono na Bhanabhasi kalashiwa nge kutobelela bupitipiti gwabo. 14 Ndakati ndibona kuti abatoshinga bali mu ndongoloso ye malebeswa e ndebo mbuya, ati kuna Pita mbeli kwabo bose, “Iwe u Njuta, koga unotjila se we zwitjaba. Ungakombeledza Bezwitjaba kutjila se Bajuta tjini wali?”
15 Iswi ti Bajuta ngozwagwa, ate tili Bezwitjaba batjinyi, 16 toziba kuti nthu atolulwamisiwa ngolondolodza nlayo, unolulwamisiwa ngogalamoyo muna Jesu Kirisiti. Ndizo naswibo takagalamoyo muna Kirisiti Jesu, kuti tilulwamisiwe ngogalamoyo muna Kirisiti, kusi nge kulondolodza tjinoshakwa nge nlayo. Ngolondolodza tjinoshakwa nge nlayo akuna ungalulwamisiwa.
17 Ndizo ha tishaka kululwamisiwa muna Kirisiti, koga tiwang'wabo tili batjinyi, apa ikoku kodwa kuti Kirisiti unokudza jinyo kene? Dumbu akuzojalo! 18 Ha ndibaka kakale tjandakakolomola, ipapo ndowobe ndilakidza kuti ndotjuluka nlayo. 19 Ngekwe nlayo ndakafa, ndibulawa nge nlayo, kuti nditjilile Ndzimu. 20 Ndakabambugwa na Kirisiti, ndizo akutji imi ndinotjila, koga ndi Kirisiti unotjila mundili. Butjilo gwandinotjila ngwenu mu nyama, ndotjila nge kugalamoyo mu Nkololo we Ndzimu, iye wakandida, kakale wakandifila. 21 Anditolamba ngoni dze Ndzimu, koga ha nthu elulwamisiwa mbeli kwe Ndzimu nge nlayo, kodwa kuti Kirisiti wakafila suli.