[In doing this] I am not trying to disregard God’s unearned favor, for if a person could become right with God by [perfect obedience to the requirements of] the Law of Moses, then Christ died for nothing.
(For the Pharisees and all the Jews would not eat anything unless they first scrubbed their hands [i.e., up to the wrists] in accordance with the [long-established] tradition of the Jewish elders).
[for] he opposes [the true Gospel message] and exalts himself against everything that is called “God” or that which is worshiped. So, he sits in God’s temple [i.e., the church (?)] displaying himself as [though he were] God.
Do we then [intend to] destroy law [observance] because faith [in Christ is now required]? Certainly not! But [instead], we uphold [the validity of] law.
The Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the traditions of the Jewish elders, but [instead] eat their food with contaminated [i.e., ceremonially unwashed] hands?”
For if someone comes [to you] proclaiming another “Jesus,” whom we [apostles] had not preached, or if you people receive a different “spirit” from the one you have [already] received, or a different “gospel” from the one you have [already] accepted, you put up with him quite well.
I advanced in the Jewish religion beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen. I have been extremely more zealous in advocating the traditions [taught] by my forefathers.