ጳውሎስን ሐዋርያት ተቀበሉት
1ከዐሥራ አራት ዓመት በኋላም፣ ዳግመኛ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ወጣሁ፤ በዚህ ጊዜ ከበርናባስ ጋር ነበርሁ፤ ቲቶንም ይዤው ሄጄ ነበር። 2ካገኘሁትም መገለጥ የተነሣ ወደዚያ ሄድሁ፤ በአሕዛብ መካከል የምሰብከውን ወንጌል ለእነርሱም ገለጥሁላቸው። ይሁን እንጂ፣ ምናልባት በከንቱ እየሮጥሁ ወይም ሮጬ እንዳይሆን በመሥጋት፣ ዋነኞች ለሚመስሉት ብቻ በግል ይህን አስታወቅኋቸው። 3ከእኔ ጋር የነበረው ቲቶ እንኳ የግሪክ ሰው ቢሆንም፣ እንዲገረዝ አልተገደደም ነበር። 4ይህ ጕዳይ የተነሣው አንዳንድ ሐሰተኞች ወንድሞች በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ያገኘነውን ነጻነት ሊሰልሉና ባሪያዎች ሊያደርጉን ወደ እኛ ሾልከው በመግባታቸው ነው።
5ለእነዚህ ሰዎች ለአንድ አፍታ እንኳ አልተገዛንላቸውም፤ ይኸውም፣ የወንጌል እውነት ከእናንተ ጋር ጸንቶ እንዲኖር ነው።
6ዋነኛ መስለው ስለሚታዩት ሰዎች ማንነት እኔን አይገደኝም፤ እግዚአብሔር የሰውን ፊት አይቶ አያደላም፤ እነዚህም ሰዎች ለመልእክቴ የጨመሩልኝ ነገር የለም። 7ነገር ግን ጴጥሮስ ለተገረዙት2፥7 ወይም ለአይሁድ ወንጌልን እንዲሰብክ ዐደራ እንደ ተሰጠው፣ እኔም ላልተገረዙት2፥7 ወይም ለአረማዊያን እንዲሁም 8 እና 9 ይመ ወንጌልን እንድሰብክ ዐደራ እንደ ተሰጠኝ ተገነዘቡ፤ 8ጴጥሮስን ለአይሁድ ሐዋርያ እንዲሆን የሠራ እግዚአብሔር፣ በእኔ የአሕዛብ ሐዋርያዊ አገልግሎትም ሠርቷል። 9እንደ አዕማድ የሚቈጠሩት ያዕቆብ፣ ጴጥሮስና2፥9 ግሪኩ ኬፋ ይላል፤ እንዲሁም 11 እና 14 ይመ ዮሐንስም የተሰጠኝን ጸጋ ባስተዋሉ ጊዜ፣ ለእኔና ለበርናባስ የትብብር ቀኝ እጃቸውን ሰጡን፤ ከዚያም እኛ ወደ አሕዛብ፣ እነርሱ ደግሞ ወደ አይሁድ እንድንሄድ ተስማሙ። 10አጥብቀው ዐደራ ያሉን ድኾችን ማሰባችንን እንዳናቋርጥ ብቻ ነው፤ እኔም ይህንኑ ለማድረግ ጓጕቼ ነበር።
ጳውሎስ ጴጥሮስን ተቃወመው
11ጴጥሮስ ወደ አንጾኪያ በመጣ ጊዜ በግልጥ ስቶ ስለ ነበር፣ ፊት ለፊት ተቃወምሁት። 12አንዳንድ ሰዎች ከያዕቆብ ዘንድ ከመምጣታቸው በፊት፣ ከአሕዛብ ጋር ይበላ ነበር፤ እነርሱ በመጡ ጊዜ ግን፣ የተገረዙትን ወገኖች ፈርቶ ከአሕዛብ ራሱን በመለየት ገሸሽ ማለት ጀመረ፤ 13በርናባስም እንኳ በእነርሱ ግብዝነት እስኪወሰድ ድረስ፣ ሌሎቹም አይሁድ በግብዝነቱ ተባበሩት።
14ተግባራቸው እንደ ወንጌል እውነት አለመሆኑን በተረዳሁ ጊዜ፣ በሁሉም ፊት ጴጥሮስን እንዲህ አልሁት፤ “አንተ አይሁዳዊ ነህ፤ ሆኖም በአሕዛብ ሥርዐት እንጂ በአይሁድ ሥርዐት አትኖርም፤ ታዲያ አሕዛብ የአይሁድን ሥርዐት እንዲከተሉ እንዴት ታስገድዳቸዋለህ?
15“እኛ በትውልዳችን አይሁድ እንጂ፣ ‘ኀጢአተኞች አሕዛብ’ ያልሆንን፣ 16ሰው በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ በማመን እንጂ፣ ሕግን በመጠበቅ እንደማይጸድቅ እናውቃለን። ስለዚህ ሕግን በመጠበቅ ሳይሆን፣ በክርስቶስ በማመን እንጸድቅ ዘንድ እኛም ደግሞ በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ አምነናል፤ ሕግን በመጠበቅ ማንም አይጸድቅምና።
17“በክርስቶስ ለመጽደቅ ስንፈልግ፣ እኛ ራሳችን ኀጢአተኞች መሆናችን ግልጽ ነው፤ ታዲያ ክርስቶስ ኀጢአት እንዲስፋፋ ያደርጋልን? ፈጽሞ አይደለም! 18ያፈረስሁትን መልሼ የምገነባ ከሆነማ፣ ሕግ ተላላፊ መሆኔን አረጋግጣለሁ። 19ለእግዚአብሔር እኖር ዘንድ በሕግ በኩል ለሕግ ሞቻለሁና። 20ከክርስቶስ ጋር ተሰቅያለሁ፤ ከእንግዲህ እኔ አልኖርም፤ ነገር ግን ክርስቶስ በውስጤ ይኖራል። አሁንም በሥጋ የምኖረው ኑሮ በወደደኝና ስለ እኔ ራሱን አሳልፎ በሰጠው በእግዚአብሔር ልጅ ላይ ባለኝ እምነት ነው። 21የእግዚአብሔርን ጸጋ አላቃልልም፤ ጽድቅ በሕግ በኩል የሚገኝ ከሆነማ፣ ክርስቶስ እንዲያው በከንቱ ሞተ ማለት ነዋ!”2፥21 አንዳንድ ተርጓሚዎች ትምህርተ ጥቅሱን ከ14 በኋላ ያደርጋሉ።
Paul Accepted by the Apostles
1Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
6As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,2:7 That is, Gentiles just as Peter had been to the circumcised.2:7 That is, Jews; also in verses 8 and 9 8For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9James, Cephas2:9 That is, Peter; also in verses 11 and 14 and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
Paul Opposes Cephas
11When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. 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. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in2:16 Or but through the faithfulness of… justified on the basis of the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”2:21 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 14.
