Galatians 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

¹Paul, ^aan apostle (^bnot sent from men nor through the agency of man, but ^cthrough Jesus Christ and God the Father, who ^draised Him from the dead),

²and all ^athe brethren who are with me,

To ^bthe churches of Galatia:

^3aGrace to you and peace from ¹God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

⁴who ^agave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from ^bthis present evil ¹age, according to the will of ^cour God and Father,

^5ato whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Perversion of the Gospel

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting ^aHim who called you ¹by the grace of Christ, for a ^bdifferent gospel;

⁷which is really not another; only there are some who are ^adisturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

⁸But even if we, or ^aan angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel ¹contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^2baccursed!

⁹As we ^ahave said before, so I say again now, ^bif any man is preaching to you a gospel ¹contrary to what you received, he is to be ^2caccursed!

¹⁰For am I now ^aseeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a ^bbond-servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹For ^aI would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^bnot according to man.

¹²For ^aI neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^brevelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of ^amy former manner of life in Judaism, how I ^bused to persecute ^cthe church of God beyond measure and ^dtried to destroy it;

¹⁴and I ^awas advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my ¹countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ^bancestral traditions.

¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and ^acalled me through His grace, was pleased

¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^apreach Him among the Gentiles, ^bI did not immediately consult with ^1cflesh and blood,

^17anor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to ^bDamascus.

¹⁸Then ^athree years later I went up ^bto Jerusalem to ¹become acquainted with ^cCephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.

¹⁹But I did not see any other of the apostles except ^1aJames, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰(Now in what I am writing to you, ¹I assure you ^abefore God that I am not lying.)

²¹Then ^aI went into the regions of ^bSyria and ^cCilicia.

²²I was still unknown by ¹sight to ^athe churches of Judea which were ^bin Christ;

²³but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching ^athe faith which he once ^btried to destroy.”

²⁴And they ^awere glorifying God ¹because of me.