1 From: Paul an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead
2 and all the brothers who are with me. To: The churches in Galatia.
3 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
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.
5 To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah and, instead, are following a different gospel,
7 not that another one really exists. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah.
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!
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!
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 the Messiah's servant.
11 For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin.
12 For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah.
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.
14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased
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,
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.
18 Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.
19 But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother.
20 (Before God, what I'm writing to you is the truth.)
21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 But the churches of the Messiah that are in Judea did not yet know me personally.
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!"
24 So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me.