Galatians 1

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Greeting

1 Paul,^(A) an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father^(B) who raised Him from the dead^(C)— ² and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.^[a](D)

³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord^[b] Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins^(E) to rescue us from this present evil age,^(F) according to the will of our God and Father.^{(G) 5} To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called^(H) you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel,^(I) but there are some^(J) who are troubling you and want to change the good news^[c] about the Messiah. ⁸ But even if we or an angel^(K) from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you,^(L) a curse be on him!^{[d] 9} As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received,^(M) a curse be on him!

¹⁰ For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God?^(N) Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Paul Defends His Apostleship

¹¹ Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not based on human thought.^{[e] 12} For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation^(O) from Jesus Christ.^(P)

¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life^(Q) in Judaism:^(R) I persecuted^(S) God’s church to an extreme degree 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.^{(T) 15} But when God, who from my birth set me apart and called^(U) me by His grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal His Son^(V) in me, so that I could preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.^{[f] 17} I did not go up to Jerusalem^(W) to those who had become apostles^(X) before me; instead I went to Arabia^(Y) and came back to Damascus.^(Z)

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem^(AA) to get to know Cephas,^[g](AB) and I stayed with him 15 days. ¹⁹ But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,^(AC) the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ Now I am not lying in what I write to you. God is my witness.^[h]

²¹ Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria^(AD) and Cilicia.^{(AE) 22} I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches in Christ; ²³ they simply kept hearing: “He who formerly persecuted^(AF) us now preaches the faith^(AG) he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.