Galatians 1

_1-2From the apostle Paul and from all the Lord's followers with me.

I was chosen to be an apostle by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised him from death. No mere human chose or appointed me to this work.

To the churches in Galatia.

₃I pray that God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace! ₄Christ obeyed God our Father and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins to rescue us from this evil world. ₅God will be given glory for ever and ever. Amen.

₆I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you because of his wonderful kindness. You have believed another message, ₇when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. ₈I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn't matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. ₉I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.

₁₀I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ.

₁₁My friends, I want you to know that no one made up the message I preach. ₁₂It wasn't given or taught to me by some mere human. My message came directly from Jesus Christ when he appeared to me.

₁₃You know how I used to live as a Jew. I was cruel to God's church and even tried to destroy it. ₁₄I was a much better Jew than anyone else my own age, and I obeyed every law that our ancestors had given us. ₁₅But even before I was born, God had chosen me. He was kind and had decided ₁₆to show me his Son, so that I would announce his message to the Gentiles. I didn't talk this over with anyone. ₁₇I didn't say a word, not even to the men in Jerusalem who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

₁₈Three years later I went to visit Peter in Jerusalem and stayed with him for fifteen days. ₁₉The only other apostle I saw was James, the Lord's brother. ₂₀And in the presence of God I swear I am telling the truth.

₂₁Later, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ₂₂But no one who belonged to Christ's churches in Judea had ever seen me in person. ₂₃They had only heard that the one who had been cruel to them was now preaching the message that he had once tried to destroy. ₂₄And because of me, they praised God.