Galatians 1
1 [I], Paul, [write this letter to you. I remind you that I am] an apostle. That is not because a group of people [appointed me], nor because a human being [sent me to be an apostle]. Instead, Jesus Christ and God [our heavenly] Father, who caused Jesus to become alive again after he died, have [appointed and] sent [me to be an apostle].
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 fellow believers [who are here] with me [approve of this message that I am writing. I am sending this letter] to the congregations that [are] in Galatia [province].
All the brothers and sisters here with me join in sending this letter to the churches in Galatia.
3 [I pray that] God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will kindly [help] you and enable [you to have inner] peace.
May the grace and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
4 Christ offered himself [as a sacrifice] in order that [he might remove the guilt for] our sins. He did that in order that he might enable us to not [do the evil things that people who do not know him] do. [He did this] because God, who is our Father, wanted it. (aiōn g165)
Jesus gave himself for our sins to set us free from this current world of evil, following the will of our God and Father. (aiōn g165)
To him be glory forever and ever! Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 I am very disappointed [IRO] that so soon [after you trusted in Christ] you have turned away from [God]. He chose you in order that [you might have what] Christ freely/kindly gives. I am also disappointed that so soon you are believing a different [message which some say is] “good news.”
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 Their message is not a true message. [What is happening is that] certain persons are confusing your [minds]. They are desiring to change the good message (that Christ [revealed/about] Christ) [and are creating another message].
that isn't good news at all! Some people there are confusing you, wanting to pervert the good news of Christ.
8 But even if we [(exc) apostles] or an angel from heaven would tell you a message that is different from the good message that we told you [before], I [appeal to God] that [he] punish such a person [forever].
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 As I told you previously, so now I tell you this once more: Someone is telling you [what he says is] a good message, but it is a message that is different from [the good message] that I gave you. So I [appeal to God] that [he] severely punish that person.
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 [I said that] because [RHQ] I do not desire that people approve me, [contrary to what some have said about me]. It is God whom I desire to approve me. [Specifically, I do not say and do] [RHQ] things just to please people. If it were still people whom I was trying to please, then I would not be one who [willingly and completely] serves Christ.
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 My fellow believers, I want you to know that the message about Christ that I proclaim to people is not one that some person [created/thought up].
Let me make it clear, my friends, regarding the good news I'm declaring—it did not come from any human being.
12 I did not receive this message from a human [messenger], and no [human being] taught it to me. Instead, Jesus Christ revealed it to me.
I didn't receive it from anyone, and nobody taught it to me—it was Jesus Christ who revealed it to me.
13 People have told you how I used to behave when [I practiced] the Jewish religion. They told you that I continually did very harmful things to the groups of believers that God [established], and they told you that I tried to get rid of those people.
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 practiced the Jewish religion more thoroughly than many [other Jews] who were my age practiced it. I much more enthusiastically tried to get others to obey the traditions that my ancestors [kept].
I surpassed my contemporaries in the practice of the Jewish religion because I was so fervently devoted to the traditions of my ancestors.
15 Nevertheless, before I was born, [God] (set me apart/selected me). He chose me [to live eternally], something that I did not deserve.
But when God (who had set me apart from birth) called me through his grace, and was pleased
16 He wanted me to know that Jesus is (his Son/the man who is also God), so that I would tell others the message about him in regions where non-Jews live. But I did not immediately go to any human beings [SYN] in order to gain [an understanding of that message. I received it directly from Christ!]!
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 did not [immediately] leave Damascus and go to Jerusalem [for that purpose] to those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away to Arabia [region, a desert area]. Later I returned once more to Damascus [city].
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 Then three years after [God revealed this good message to me], I went up to Jerusalem in order that I might meet Peter. But I stayed with him for [only] 15 days, [which was not long enough for him to teach me thoroughly about Christ].
After three years I went to Jerusalem to visit Peter. I stayed with him for two weeks.
19 I also saw James, the brother of our Lord [Jesus and the leader of the believers there, but] I did not see any other apostle.
I didn't see any other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.
20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true [LIT]!
(Let me assure you before God that I'm not lying about what I'm writing to you!)
21 After [I left Jerusalem], I went to [the regions of] Syria and Cilicia.
Then I went to Syria and Cilicia.
22 [At that time, people in] the Christian congregations that are in Judea [province] still had not met me [SYN] personally.
Even so, my face wasn't known to those in the churches of Judea.
23 They only heard [others say about me] repeatedly, “[Paul], the one who was formerly doing harmful things to us, is now telling the [same message] which we believe and which formerly he was trying (to destroy/to cause people to stop believing)!”
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 [what had happened to] me.
—and they praised God because of me.
