1 Paul,  * 1:1 Ac 13:9 an apostle — not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father  * 1:1 Mt 5:16; 6:1; 11:27; Jn 8:42 who raised him from the dead  * 1:1 Ac 9:6; 20:24; 22:10–21; 26:16  —  2 and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.  * 1:2 Ac 16:6; 18:23; 1Co 16:1; 2Tm 4:10; 1Pt 1:1

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord  * 1:3 Other mss read God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins  * 1:4 Rm 6:23; Ti 2:14 to rescue us from this present evil age,  * 1:4 Mt 20:28; Rm 4:25; 1Co 15:3; Gl 2:20 according to the will of our God and Father.  * 1:4 Php 4:20; 1Th 1:3; 3:11,13; Heb 10:7; 1Pt 3:17; Rv 10:75 To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called  * 1:6 Col 3:15; 1Pt 1:15 you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —  7 not that there is another gospel,  * 1:7 Ac 4:12; 1Co 3:11 but there are some  * 1:7 Jd 4 who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel  * 1:8 Gn 16:7; Mt 13:49; Lk 1:11; Ac 5:19; Rv 14:6 from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,  * 1:8 Rm 15:20 a curse be on him!  * 1:8 Or you, let him be condemned, or you, let him be condemned to hell; Gk anathema9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received,  * 1:9 Jd 3 a curse be on him!

10 For am I now trying to persuade people,  * 1:10 Or win the approval of people or God?  * 1:10 1Th 2:4 Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation  * 1:12 1Pt 4:13 of Jesus Christ.  * 1:12 1Co 11:23; 15:3

13 For you have heard about my former way of life  * 1:13 2Pt 3:11 in Judaism:  * 1:13 Ac 8:1–9:2; 26:4; Php 3:5–6 I intensely persecuted  * 1:13 Php 3:6; 2Tm 3:12 God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.  * 1:14 Mk 7:315 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called  * 1:15 Mt 24:22; Col 3:15 me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son  * 1:16 Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2 in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.  * 1:16 Lit flesh and blood17 I did not go up to Jerusalem  * 1:17 Mt 23:37; Ac 8:1 to those who had become apostles  * 1:17 Jd 17 before me; instead I went to Arabia  * 1:17 Is 21:13; Jr 25:24; Ezk 27:21; Gl 4:25 and came back to Damascus.  * 1:17 2Sm 8:5

18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem  * 1:18 Ac 9:26 to get to know Cephas,  * 1:18 Other mss read Peter,* 1:18 Jn 1:42 and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,  * 1:19 Jd 1 the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

21 Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria  * 1:21 Nm 23:7; Lk 2:2 and Cilicia.  * 1:21 Ac 9:30; 11:25–2622 I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. 23 They simply kept hearing, "He who formerly persecuted  * 1:23 Ac 8:1–3 us now preaches the faith  * 1:23 Jd 3 he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.  * 1:24 Or in me