Galatians 1:11-24 - Paul's Defense Of His Apostleship
11 No, brothers, I tell you the gospel that I preach is not a human affair; 12 no man put it into my hands, no man taught me what it meant, I had it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 You know the story of my past career in Judaism; you know how furiously I persecuted the church of God and harried it, 14 and how I outstripped many of my own age and race in my special ardour for the ancestral traditions of my house. 15 But the God who had set me apart from my very birth called me by his grace, 16 and when he chose to reveal his Son to me, that I might preach him to the Gentiles, instead of consulting with any human being, 17 instead of going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return I came back to Damascus.
18 Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Cephas. I stayed a fortnight with him. 19 I saw no other apostle, only James the brother of the Lord. 20 (I am writing you the sheer truth, I swear it before God!)
21 Then I went to the districts of Syria and of Cilicia. 22 Personally I was quite unknown to the Christian churches of Judaea; 23 they merely heard that 'our former persecutor is now preaching the faith he once harried,' 24 which made them praise God for me.