Galatians 1

New Century Version

1 From Paul, an apostle. I was not chosen to be an apostle by human beings, nor was I sent from human beings. I was made an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. ² This letter is also from all those of God’s family^[a] who are with me.

To the churches in Galatia:^[b]

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in, as God the Father planned. ⁵ The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.

The Only Good News

⁶ God, by his grace through Christ, called you to become his people. So I am amazed that you are turning away so quickly and believing something different than the Good News. ⁷ Really, there is no other Good News. But some people are confusing you; they want to change the Good News of Christ. ⁸ We preached to you the Good News. So if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, should preach to you something different, we should be judged guilty! ⁹ I said this before, and now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If anyone is preaching something different to you, let that person be judged guilty!

¹⁰ Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul’s Authority Is from God

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made up by human beings. ¹² I did not get it from humans, nor did anyone teach it to me, but Jesus Christ showed it to me.

¹³ You have heard about my past life in the Jewish religion. I attacked the church of God and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion, doing better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the teachings handed down by our ancestors.

¹⁵ But God had special plans for me and set me apart for his work even before I was born. He called me through his grace ¹⁶ and showed his son to me so that I might tell the Good News about him to those who are not Jewish. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any person. ¹⁷ I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia and later went back to Damascus.

¹⁸ After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ God knows that these things I write are not lies. ²¹ Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.

²² In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me. ²³ They had only heard it said, “This man who was attacking us is now preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And these believers praised God because of me.