Galatians 1

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Paul, writing as an apostle sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father along with the brothers with him, addresses the churches of Galatia with a greeting of grace and peace. He expresses astonishment that the Galatians are so quickly turning to a different, distorted message, and pronounces a curse on anyone preaching a gospel contrary to the one they received. Defending his apostolic authority, Paul explains that his message came through a direct revelation from Jesus Christ rather than from human origin. He recounts his former life of violently persecuting the church of God in Judaism and his subsequent calling by God’s grace to preach His Son among the Gentiles. Following this revelation, Paul states that he did not consult human advisors immediately, but instead went to Arabia, returned to Damascus, and three years later visited Jerusalem to meet with Cephas and James. Afterward, he traveled to the regions of Syria and Cilicia, remaining personally unknown to the churches of Judea, whose members only heard that their former persecutor was now preaching the faith.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead— ²and all the brothers with me, To the churches of Galatia: ³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ⁶I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse! ¹⁰Am I now seeking the approval 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 servant of Christ. ¹¹For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man. ¹²I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. ¹³For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. ¹⁸Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie. ²¹Later I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²I was personally unknown, however, to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³They only heard the account: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.