Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the believers, “If you aren’t circumcised the way Moses commanded, you can’t be saved.”
When they heard this, they praised God. But then they said to Paul, “Brother, you see that thousands of Jews have become believers. All of them try very hard to obey the law.
“We’ve found that this Paul is a troublemaker. Everywhere he goes in the world, riots break out among the Jews. He’s the leader of a cult called the Nazarenes.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, John said to them, “You little snakes! Who warned you to try to escape the punishment that’s coming?
It is true that I worship the God of our people as a follower of the Way of Jesus. They call it a cult, but everything I believe agrees with the Law and the Prophets.
If a man was already circumcised when he was called, then he shouldn’t become uncircumcised. If he was uncircumcised when he was called, then he shouldn’t be circumcised.
When I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the good news, I spoke to Peter in front of everyone. I said, “You’re a Jew, but you live like a Gentile, not a Jew. So why are you trying force the Gentiles to follow Jewish ways?