The Council at Jerusalem

15 Certain people^(A) came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:^(B) “Unless you are circumcised,^(C) according to the custom taught by Moses,^(D) you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem^(E) to see the apostles and elders^(F) about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia^(G) and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted.^(H) This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.^(I)

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party^(J) of the Pharisees^(K) stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”^(L)

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth^(A) and not sinful Gentiles^{(B) 16} know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,^(C) but by faith in Jesus Christ.^(D) So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.^(E)

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners,^(F) doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!^{(G) 18} If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law^(H) so that I might live for God.^{(I) 20} I have been crucified with Christ^(J) and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.^(K) The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,^(L) who loved me^(M) and gave himself for me.^{(N) 21} I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,^(O) Christ died for nothing!”^[b]

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds,^(A) and I will show you my faith^(B) by my deeds.^{(C) 19} You believe that there is one God.^(D) Good! Even the demons believe that^(E)—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]?^{(F) 21} Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?^{(G) 22} You see that his faith and his actions were working together,^(H) and his faith was made complete by what he did.^{(I) 23} And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[b](J) and he was called God’s friend.^{(K) 24} You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?^{(L) 26} As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.^(M)