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Greeting

¹ Paul,^(C1) an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father^(C2) who raised him from the dead^(C3)— ² and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.^(C1)

³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord^(F1) Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins^(C1) to rescue us from this present evil age,^(C2) according to the will of our God and Father.^{(C3) 5} To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called^(C1) you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel,^(C1) but there are some^(C2) who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel^(C1) from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,^(C2) a curse be on him!^{(F1) 9} As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received,^(C1) a curse be on him!

¹⁰ For am I now trying to persuade people,^(F1) or God?^(C1) Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Apostleship

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. ¹² For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation^(C1) of Jesus Christ.^(C2)

¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life^(C1) in Judaism:^(C2) I intensely persecuted^(C3) God’s church and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.^{(C1) 15} But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called^(C1) me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son^(C1) in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.^{(F1) 17} I did not go up to Jerusalem^(C1) to those who had become apostles^(C2) before me; instead I went to Arabia^(C3) and came back to Damascus.^(C4)

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem^(C1) to get to know Cephas,^(F1)(C2) and I stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,^(C1) the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

²¹ Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria^(C1) and Cilicia.^{(C2) 22} I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. ²³ They simply kept hearing: “He who formerly persecuted^(C1) us now preaches the faith^(C2) he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.^(F1)