Galatians 2:3

2:3 Yet ¹  not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

Galatians 2:14

2:14 But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ²  in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force ³  the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Acts 15:1

The Jerusalem Council

15:1 Now some men came down from Judea ⁴  and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised ⁵  according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 15:5

15:5 But some from the religious party of the Pharisees ⁶  who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary ⁷  to circumcise the Gentiles ⁸  and to order them to observe ⁹  the law of Moses.”

¹ tn Grk “But,” translated here as “Yet” for stylistic reasons (note the use of “but” in v. 2).

² sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

³ tn Here ἀναγκάζεις (anankazei") has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

⁴ sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.

⁵ tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.

⁶ sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.

⁷ sn The Greek word used here (δεῖ, dei) is a strong term that expresses divine necessity. The claim is that God commanded the circumcision of Gentiles.

⁸ tn Grk “them”; the referent (the Gentiles) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Or “keep.”