Paul, ^aan apostle (^bnot commissioned and sent from men nor through the agency of man, but ^cthrough Jesus Christ—the Messiah—and God the Father, who ^draised Him from the dead), 2 and all ^athe brothers who are with me,

To ^bthe churches of Galatia:

3 ^aGrace to you and peace inner calm and spiritual well-being from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who ^agave Himself as a sacrifice to atone for our sins to save and sanctify us so that He might rescue us from ^bthis present evil ¹age, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of ^cour God and Father— 5 ^ato Him be ascribed all the glory through the ages of the ages. Amen.

6 I am astonished and extremely irritated that you are so quickly shifting your allegiance and deserting ^aHim who called you by the grace of Christ, for a ^bdifferent even contrary gospel; 7 which is really not another gospel; but there are obviously ¹some people masquerading as teachers who are ^adisturbing and confusing you with a misleading, counterfeit teaching and want to distort the gospel of Christ twisting it into something which it absolutely is not. 8 But even if we, or ^aan angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we originally preached to you, let him be ^bcondemned to destruction! 9 As we ^ahave said before, so I now say again, ^bif anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from that which you received from us, let him be ^ccondemned to destruction!

10 Am I now ^1atrying to win the favor and approval of men, or of God? Or am I seeking to please someone? If I were still trying to be popular with men, I would not be a ^bbond-servant of Christ.

11 For ^aI want you to know, ¹believers, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^bnot man’s gospel it is not a human invention, patterned after any human concept. 12 For indeed ^aI did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a direct ^brevelation of Jesus Christ.

13 You have heard of ^amy career and former manner of life in Judaism, how I ^bused to hunt down and persecute ^cthe church of God extensively and with fanatical zeal ^dtried my best to destroy it. 14 And you have heard how I ^asurpassed many of my contemporaries among my countrymen in my advanced study of the laws of Judaism, as I was extremely loyal to the ^btraditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had chosen me and set me apart before I was born, and ^acalled me through His grace, was pleased Is 49:1; Jer 1:5 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^apreach Him among the Gentiles as the good news—the way of salvation, ^bI did not immediately consult with ^1canyone for guidance regarding God’s call and His revelation to me. 17 ^aNor did I even go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia and stayed awhile, and afterward returned once more to ^bDamascus.

18 Then ^athree years later I did go up ^bto Jerusalem to get acquainted with ^cCephas (Peter) , and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other apostle except ^aJames, the half- brother of the Lord. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you as if I were standing ^abefore God that I am not lying.) 21 Then ^aI went into the regions of ^bSyria and ^cCilicia. 22 And I was still unknown by sight to ^athe churches which were ^bin Christ in Judea (Jerusalem and the surrounding region) ; 23 they only kept hearing, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching ^athe good news of the faith which he once ^bwas trying to destroy.” 24 And they ^awere glorifying God as the Author and Source of what had taken place and all that had been accomplished in me.