Galatians 1
1
The Only Good News
1From Paul, an apostle.
I was not chosen to be an apostle by men. I was not sent from men. It was Jesus Christ and God the Father who made me an apostle. God is the One who raised Jesus from death.
2This letter is also from all the brothers who are with me.
To the churches in Galatia.# Probably the same country where Paul preached and began churches on his first missionary trip. Read the book of Acts, chapters 13 and 14.
3I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be good to you and give you peace. 4Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in. This is what God the Father wanted. 5The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.
6A short time ago God called you to follow him. He called you by his grace that came through Christ. But now I am amazed at you! You are already turning away and believing something different than the Good News. 7Really, there is no other Good News. But some people are confusing you and want to change the Good News of Christ. 8We preached to you the Good News. So if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, preach to you something different than the Good News, he should be condemned! 9I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If anyone tells you another way to be saved, he should be condemned!
10Do 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 men? If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul’s Authority Is from God
11Brothers, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made by men. 12I did not get it from men, nor did any man teach it to me. Jesus Christ showed it to me.
13You have heard about my past life. I belonged to the Jewish religion. I hurt the church of God very much and tried to destroy it. 14I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion. I did better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the old rules. These rules were the customs handed down by our ancestors.
15But God had special plans for me even before I was born. So he called me through his grace that I might 16tell the Good News about his Son to the non-Jewish people. So God showed me about his Son. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any man. 17I 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.
18After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for 15 days. 19I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. 20God knows that these things I write are not lies. 21Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.
22In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me. 23They had only heard this about me: “This man was trying to hurt us. But now he is preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy.” 24And these believers praised God because of me.
Currently Selected:
Galatians 1: ICB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.