1 This 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. 2 All the brothers and sisters here with me join in sending this letter to the churches in Galatia.

3 May the grace and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

4 Jesus gave himself for our sins to set us free from this current world of evil, following the will of our God and Father. 5 To him be glory forever and ever! Amen.

6 I'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 news 7 that isn't good news at all! Some people there are confusing you, wanting to pervert the good news of Christ. 8 But 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! 9 I 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!

10 Whose 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!

11 Let me make it clear, my friends, regarding the good news I'm declaring—it did not come from any human being. 12 I didn't receive it from anyone, and nobody taught it to me—it was Jesus Christ who revealed it to me. 13 You heard how I behaved as a follower of the Jewish religion—how I fanatically persecuted God's church, savagely trying to destroy it. 14 I surpassed my contemporaries in the practice of the Jewish religion because I was so fervently devoted to the traditions of my ancestors.

15 But when God (who had set me apart from birth) called me through his grace, and was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I could announce the good news to the nations,§ I didn't discuss this with anyone. 17 I 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. 18 After three years I went to Jerusalem to visit Peter. I stayed with him for two weeks. 19 I didn't see any other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. 20 (Let me assure you before God that I'm not lying about what I'm writing to you!) 21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 Even so, my face wasn't known to those in the churches of Judea. 23 They had only heard people say, “The man who used to persecute us is now spreading the faith he once tried to destroy!” 24 —and they praised God because of me.