4 We went there because of those who pretended to be followers and had sneaked in among us as spies. They had come to take away the freedom Christ Jesus had given us, and they were trying to make us their slaves.
5 But we wanted you to have the true message. This is why we didn't give in to them, not even for a second.
6 Some of them were supposed to be important leaders, but I didn't care who they were. God doesn't have any favorites! None of these so-called special leaders added anything to my message.
7 They realized God had sent me with the good news for Gentiles, and he had sent Peter with the same message for Jews.
8 God, who had sent Peter on a mission to the Jews, was now using me to preach to the Gentiles.
9 James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his gift of undeserved grace. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews.
10 They only asked us to remember the poor, and this was something I had always been eager to do.