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.
1 Fourteen years later I went to Jerusalem with Barnabas. I also took along Titus. 2 But I went there because God had told me to go, and I explained the good news I had been preaching to the Gentiles. Then I met privately with the ones who seemed to be the most important leaders. I wanted to make sure my work in the past and my future work would not be for nothing.
3 Titus went to Jerusalem with me. He was a Greek, but still he wasn't forced to be circumcised. 4 We went there because of those who pretended to be followers and had sneaked in among us as spies. They had come to take away the freedom Christ Jesus had given us, and they were trying to make us their slaves. 5 But we wanted you to have the true message. This is why we didn't give in to them, not even for a second.
6 Some of them were supposed to be important leaders, but I didn't care who they were. God doesn't have any favorites! None of these so-called special leaders added anything to my message. 7 They realized God had sent me with the good news for Gentiles, and he had sent Peter with the same message for Jews. 8 God, who had sent Peter on a mission to the Jews, was now using me to preach to the Gentiles.
9 James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his gift of undeserved grace. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews. 10 They only asked us to remember the poor, and this was something I had always been eager to do.
Paul Corrects Peter at Antioch
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I told him face to face that he was wrong. 12 He used to eat with Gentile followers of the Lord, until James sent some Jewish followers. Peter was afraid of the Jews and soon stopped eating with Gentiles. 13 He and the others hid their true feelings so well that even Barnabas was fooled. 14 But when I saw they were not really obeying the truth that is in the good news, I corrected Peter in front of everyone and said:
Peter, you are a Jew, but you live like a Gentile. So how can you force Gentiles to live like Jews?
15 We are Jews by birth and are not sinners like Gentiles. 16 But we know that God accepts only those who have faith in Jesus Christ. No one can please God by simply obeying the Law. So we put our faith in Christ Jesus, and God accepted us because of our faith.
17 When we Jews started looking for a way to please God, we discovered that we are sinners too. Does this mean that Christ is the one who makes us sinners? No, it doesn't! 18 But if I tear down something and then build it again, I prove that I was wrong at first. 19 It was the Law itself that killed me and freed me from its power, so I could live for God.
I have been nailed to the cross with Christ. 20 I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. 21 I don't turn my back on God's gift of undeserved grace. If we can be acceptable to God by obeying the Law, it was useless for Christ to die.