< Galatians 1 >
1 Paul, an apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised him from the dead;
2 with all the brothers who are with me. To the churches of Galatia greeting.
3 Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age in accordance with the will of our God and Father, (aiōn )
5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (aiōn )
6 I am amazed that you are so soon shifting your ground, and deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ,
7 for another gospel, which indeed is not another; only there are certain individuals who are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even though I myself or an angel from heaven were to preach any gospel other than that which I did preach to you, let him be accursed.
9 I have said it before, and I now repeat it, if any one is preaching a gospel to you other than that which you have received, let him be accursed.
10 Think you that I am now trying to conciliate men or God? Or am I "seeking to please men"? If I were still seeking to please men, I should not be a slave of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel I preach is not man-made;
12 for neither did I myself receive it from man, nor by man was I taught it, but by a revelation an apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how furiously I used to persecute the church of God, and how I kept seeking to root it out;
14 and how in my zeal for Judaism I outstripped many of my own age and nation, in my special zeal for the traditions of my forefathers.
15 But when God who had set me apart from my very birth,
16 and had called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach his gospel among the Gentiles, without consulting a human being,
17 or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return came back to Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter, and spent two weeks with him.
19 I saw no other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother.
20 (In what I am now writing, I call God to witness that I am telling the truth.)
21 Then I went into the districts of Syria and Cilicia.
22 But to the churches of Christ in Judea I was personally unknown;
23 only they used to hear it said, "He who was once persecuting us is now preaching the gospel of the very faith which he once tried to ruin."
24 And they were giving glory to God on my account.