1:1 From Paul-an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead- |
1:2 and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches in Galatia. |
1:3 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be yours! |
1:4 He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. |
1:5 To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. |
1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow a different gospel, |
1:7 which is not really another one. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about Christ. |
1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned! |
1:9 What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned! |
1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ's servant. |
1:11 For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin. |
1:12 For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. |
1:13 For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism-how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it. |
1:14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. |
1:15 But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased |
1:16 to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time, |
1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus. |
1:18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. |
1:19 But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother. |
1:20 (I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.) |
1:21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. |
1:22 But I was unknown by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea. |
1:23 The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!" |
1:24 So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me. |