Galatians 2:9 - Prayer Tents



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Galatians 2
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2Fourteen years after that first visit, Barnabas and I went up to Jerusalem and took Titus with us.G1899G1180G2094G1223G305G3825G1519G2414G3326G921G4838G5103G4838G2532 2I went to clarify with them what had been revealed to me. At that time I placed before them exactly what I was preaching to the non-Jews. I did this in private with the leaders, those held in esteem by the church, so that our concern would not become a controversial public issue, marred by ethnic tensions, exposing my years of work to denigration and endangering my present ministry.G1161G305G2596G602G2532G394G846G2098G3739G2784G1722G1484G1161G2596G2398G1380G3381G4458G5143G2228G5143G1519G2756 3Significantly, Titus, non-Jewish though he was, was not required to be circumcised.G235G3761G5103G3588G4862G1698G5607G1672G315G4059 4While we were in conference we were infiltrated by spies pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are. Their ulterior motive was to reduce us to their brand of servitude.G1161G1223G5569G3920G3748G3922G2684G2257G1657G3739G2192G1722G5547G2424G2443G2615G2248G2615 5We didn't give them the time of day. We were determined to preserve the truth of the Message for you.G3739G1502G5292G3761G4314G5610G2443G225G2098G1265G4314G5209 6As for those who were considered important in the church, their reputation doesn't concern me. God isn't impressed with mere appearances, and neither am I. And of course these leaders were able to add nothing to the message I had been preaching.G1161G575G1380G1511G5100G3697G4218G2258G1308G3762G1308G3427G2316G2983G3756G444G4383G1063G1380G4323G3762G1698 7It was soon evident that God had entrusted me with the same message to the non-Jews as Peter had been preaching to the Jews.G235G5121G1492G3754G2098G203G4100G2531G4061G4074 8(SEE 2:7)G1063G1754G4074G1519G651G4061G2532G1754G1698G1519G1484 9Recognizing that my calling had been given by God, James, Peter, and John—the pillars of the church—shook hands with me and Barnabas, assigning us to a ministry to the non-Jews, while they continued to be responsible for reaching out to the Jews.G2532G2385G2532G2786G2532G2491G3588G1380G1511G4769G1097G5485G1325G3427G1325G1698G2532G921G1188G2842G2443G2249G1519G1484G1161G846G1519G4061 10The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that.G3440G2443G3421G4434G846G5124G3739G4704G2532G4704G4160 11Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line.G1161G3753G4074G2064G1519G490G436G846G2596G4383G3754G2258G2607 12Here's the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That's how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that's been pushing the old system of circumcision.G1063G4253G5100G2064G575G2385G4906G3326G1484G1161G3753G2064G5288G2532G873G1438G5399G1537G4061 13Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.G2532G3062G2453G4942G2532G846G5620G921G2532G4879G846G5272 14But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?"G235G3753G1492G3754G3716G3756G3716G4314G225G2098G2036G4074G1715G3956G1487G4771G5225G2453G2198G1483G2532G3756G2452G5101G315G1484G2450 15We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners."G2249G2453G5449G2532G3756G268G1537G1484 16We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.G1492G3754G444G1344G3756G1344G1537G2041G3551G3362G1223G4102G2424G5547G2532G2249G4100G1519G2424G5547G2443G1344G1537G4102G5547G2532G3756G1537G2041G3551G1360G1537G2041G3551G1344G3756G3956G4561G1344 17Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous.G1161G1487G2212G1344G1722G5547G2147G846G2532G2147G268G687G5547G1249G266G3361G1096 18If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.G1063G1487G3618G3825G5023G3739G2647G4921G1683G3848 19What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man.G1063G1473G1223G3551G599G3551G2443G2198G2316 20Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.G4957G5547G1161G2198G3765G1473G1161G5547G2198G1722G1698G1161G3739G2198G3568G2198G1722G4561G2198G1722G4102G5207G2316G3588G25G3165G2532G3860G1438G5228G1700 21I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.G114G3756G114G5485G2316G1063G1487G1343G1223G3551G686G5547G599G1432


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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