Galatians 1 — FBV
1Verse 1This letter comes from Paul, an apostle not appointed by any human organization or human authority.+Quite the contrary: I was appointed by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.Verse 2All the brothers and sisters here with me join in sending this letter to the churches in Galatia.Verse 3May the grace and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!Verse 4Jesus gave himself for our sins to set us free from this current world of evil, following the will of our God and Father.Verse 5To him be glory forever and ever! Amen.Verse 6I'm shocked at how quickly you're abandoning the God who by the grace of Christ called you. You are turning to a different kind of good newsVerse 7that isn't good news at all! Some people there are confusing you, wanting to pervert the good news of Christ.Verse 8But if anyone, even we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, should promote any other kind of good news+than what we have already told you, let them be condemned!Verse 9I repeat what we've told you before: if anyone promotes any other kind of good news+than what you've already accepted, let them be condemned!Verse 10Whose approval do you think I want—that of people, or of God? Do you think I'm trying to please people? If I wanted to please people I wouldn't be a servant of Christ!Verse 11Let me make it clear, my friends, regarding the good news I'm declaring—it did not come from any human being.Verse 12I didn't receive it from anyone, and nobody taught it to me—it was Jesus Christ who revealed it to me.Verse 13You heard how I behaved as a follower of the Jewish religion—how I fanatically persecuted God's church, savagely trying to destroy it.Verse 14I surpassed my contemporaries in the practice of the Jewish religion because I was so fervently devoted to the traditions of my ancestors.Verse 15But when God (who had set me apart from birth) called me through his grace, and was pleasedVerse 16to reveal his Son to me so that I could announce the good news to the nations,+I didn't discuss this with anyone.Verse 17I didn't go to Jerusalem to talk to those who preceded me as apostles; instead I left for Arabia, and then later returned to Damascus.Verse 18After three years I went to Jerusalem to visit Peter. I stayed with him for two weeks.Verse 19I didn't see any other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.Verse 20(Let me assure you before God that I'm not lying about what I'm writing to you!)Verse 21Then I went to Syria and Cilicia.Verse 22Even so, my face wasn't known to those in the churches of Judea.Verse 23They had only heard people say, “The man who used to persecute us is now spreading the faith he once tried to destroy!”Verse 24—and they praised God because of me.