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].
PAUL, a legate, not from men, nor by man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God his Father, who raised him 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].
and all the brethren who are with me; unto the churches which are 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.
Grace be with you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus the Messiah;
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)
who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this evil world, agreeably to the pleasure of God our Father: (aiōn g165)
to whom be glory for ever 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 admire, how soon ye have turned from the Messiah, who called you by his grace, unto another gospel;
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].
which doth not exist, except as there are some who would disquiet you, and are disposed to pervert the gospel of the Messiah.
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 we, or an angel from heaven, should announce to you differently from what we have announced to you, let him be accursed.
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.
As I have just said, and now I again say it, that if any one announce to you differently from what ye received, let him be accursed.
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.
For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I had till now pleased men, I should not have been a servant of the Messiah.
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].
But I make known to you, my brethren, that the gospel announced by me, was not from man.
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.
For I did not receive it and learn it from man, but I had it by revelation from Jesus the Messiah.
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.
For ye have heard of my former course of life in Judaism, that I persecuted the church of God exceedingly, and destroyed 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].
and that I went much farther in Judaism than many of my contemporaries who were of my nation, and was peculiarly zealous for the doctrine of my fathers.
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 it pleased him, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
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 by me, that I should proclaim him among the Gentiles; forthwith, I did not open it to flesh and blood;
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].
nor did I go to Jerusalem, to them who were legates before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again 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].
and after three years, I went to Jerusalem to see Cephas; and I remained with him fifteen days.
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.
But others of the legates I saw not, except James, our Lord's brother.
20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true [LIT]!
In the things which I am writing to you, behold, before God! I lie not.
21 After [I left Jerusalem], I went to [the regions of] Syria and Cilicia.
And after that, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 [At that time, people in] the Christian congregations that are in Judea [province] still had not met me [SYN] personally.
And the churches in Judaea which were in the Messiah; did not know me personally:
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)!”
but this only had they heard, that he who before persecuted us, now preacheth that faith which in time preceding he subverted:
24 And they praised God because of [what had happened to] me.
and they glorified God in me.
