Chapter 1

¹Paul, an apostle not from men nor sent by any man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead— ²and all the brothers who are here with me, to the churches of Galatia; ³blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who to save us from the present wicked world gave himself for our sins at the will of our God and Father. ⁵To him be glory forever and ever! Amen.

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the mercy of Christ, to some different good news— ⁷not that there is any other, only that there are some people who are trying to unsettle you and want to turn the good news of the Christ around. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven preach to you good news that contradicts the good news we have preached to you, a curse upon him! ⁹We have said it before, and I repeat it now—if anyone is preaching to you good news that contradicts the good news you have already received, a curse upon him!

¹⁰Is that appealing to men’s weaknesses, or to God? Is that trying to suit men? If I were still doing that, I would be no slave of Christ. ¹¹For I tell you plainly, brothers, that the good news that I preached is not a human affair. ¹²I did not receive it from any man, and I was not taught it, but it came to me through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³You have heard of my former conduct when I was attached to the Jewish religion—how furiously I used to persecute the church of God and ravage it, ¹⁴and how I surpassed many of my own age among my people in my devotion to Judaism, I was so fanatically devoted to what my forefathers had handed down. ¹⁵And when God, who had set me apart from my birth and had called me in his mercy, saw fit ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the good news about him to the heathen, immediately, instead of consulting with any human being, ¹⁷or going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off to Arabia, and on my return came back to Damascus. ¹⁸Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem, to become acquainted with Cephas, and I spent two weeks with him; ¹⁹but I did not see any other apostle, except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(In writing you this, I call God to witness that I am telling the truth!) ²¹After that, I went to the districts of Syria and Cilicia. ²²I was still personally unknown to the Christian churches of Judea; ²³they only heard people say, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the good news of the faith he tried to destroy,” ²⁴and they praised God for me.