In virtue of my office, I tell everyone of your number who is self-important, that he is not to think more of himself than he ought to think; he must take a sane view of himself, corresponding to the degree of faith which God has assigned to each.
But by God's grace I am what I am. The grace he showed me did not go for nothing; no, I have done far more work than all of them — though it was not I but God's grace at my side.
And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord means salvation; as indeed our beloved brother Paul has written to you out of the wisdom vouchsafed to him,
By the hand of Silvanus, a faithful brother (in my opinion), I have written you these few lines of encouragement, to testify that this is what the true grace of God means. Stand in that grace.
Lay this before the brotherhood, and you will be an excellent minister of Christ Jesus, brought up on the truths of the faith and on the lessons of the good doctrine you have already followed.
and when they recognized the grace I had been given, then the so-called 'pillars' of the church, James and Cephas and John, gave myself and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. Our sphere was to be the Gentiles, theirs the circumcised.
In virtue of my commission from God, I laid the foundation of the house like an expert master-builder. It remains for another to build on this foundation. Whoever he is, let him be careful how he builds.