Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle not from men nor by men but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, 2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia. 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,[a] 4 who gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
A Different Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by the grace of Christ to a different gospel, 7 not that there is a different gospel, except there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim a gospel to you contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! 9 As we said before, and now I say again, if anyone is proclaiming a gospel to you contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed! 10 For am I now making an appeal to people or to God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.
Paul’s Defense of His Apostleship
11 For I make known to you, brothers, the gospel that has been proclaimed by me, that it is not of human origin[b]. 12 For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism, that to an extraordinary degree I was persecuting the church of God, and trying to destroy it, 14 and was progressing in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my nation, because[c] I was a far more zealous adherent of the traditions handed down by my forefathers.
15 But when the one who set me apart[d] from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me in order that I would proclaim the gospel about him among the Gentiles, immediately I did not consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days, 19 but I did not see any others of the apostles except James, the brother of the Lord. 20 (Now the things which I am writing to you, behold, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and of Cilicia, 22 but I was unknown in person[e] to the churches of Judea that are in Christ, 23 and they were only hearing, “The one formerly persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith that formerly he was attempting to destroy,” 24 and they were glorifying God because of me.
Footnotes
- Galatians 1:3 Some manuscripts have “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”
- Galatians 1:11 Literally “according to man”
- Galatians 1:14 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was”) which is understood as causal
- Galatians 1:15 Some manuscripts have “when God who set me apart”
- Galatians 1:22 Literally “by face”