Galatians:1

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* From Paul —an apostle not sent from men or by a man , but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead — * and all the brothers who are with me , to the churches in Galatia . * May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be yours ! * He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father . * To him be the glory forever and ever ! Amen . * I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow a different gospel , * which is not really another one . To be sure , there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about Christ . * But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you , let that person be condemned ! * What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again : If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received , let that person be condemned ! * Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God ? Or am I trying to please people ? If I were still trying to please people , I would not be Christ 's servant . * For I want you to know , brothers , that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin . * For I did not receive it from a man , nor was I taught it , but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ . * For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism —how I kept violently persecuting God 's church and was trying to destroy it . * I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries , because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors . * But when God , who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace , was pleased * to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles , I did not confer with another human being at any time , * nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me . Instead , I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus . * Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas , and I stayed with him for fifteen days . * But I did not see any other apostle except James , the Lord 's brother . * (I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie .) * Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia . * But I was unknown by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea . * The only thing they kept hearing was this : “The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy !” * So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me .

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