Galatians 1

Lexham English Bible

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle not from men nor by men but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ² and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia. ³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,^{[a] 4} who gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

A Different Gospel

⁶ I am astonished that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by the grace of Christ to a different gospel, ⁷ not that there is a different gospel, except there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim a gospel to you contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! ⁹ As we said before, and now I say again, if anyone is proclaiming a gospel to you contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed! ¹⁰ For am I now making an appeal to people or to God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Paul’s Defense of His Apostleship

¹¹ For I make known to you, brothers, the gospel that has been proclaimed by me, that it is not of human origin^[b]. ¹² For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism, that to an extraordinary degree I was persecuting the church of God, and trying to destroy it, ¹⁴ and was progressing in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my nation, because^[c] I was a far more zealous adherent of the traditions handed down by my forefathers.

¹⁵ But when the one who set me apart^[d] from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me in order that I would proclaim the gospel about him among the Gentiles, immediately I did not consult with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days, ¹⁹ but I did not see any others of the apostles except James, the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ (Now the things which I am writing to you, behold, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) ²¹ Then I came to the regions of Syria and of Cilicia, ²² but I was unknown in person^[e] to the churches of Judea that are in Christ, ²³ and they were only hearing, “The one formerly persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith that formerly he was attempting to destroy,” ²⁴ and they were glorifying God because of me.