Montgomery - Galatians - 1

1:1  Paul, an apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised him from the dead;

1:2  with all the brothers who are with me. To the churches of Galatia greeting.

1:3  Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

1:4  who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age in accordance with the will of our God and Father,

1:5  to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

1:6  I am amazed that you are so soon shifting your ground, and deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ,

1:7  for another gospel, which indeed is not another; only there are certain individuals who are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ.

1:8  But even though I myself or an angel from heaven were to preach any gospel other than that which I did preach to you, let him be accursed.

1:9  I have said it before, and I now repeat it, if any one is preaching a gospel to you other than that which you have received, let him be accursed.

1:10  Think you that I am now trying to conciliate men or God? Or am I "seeking to please men"? If I were still seeking to please men, I should not be a slave of Christ.

1:11  For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel I preach is not man-made;

1:12  for neither did I myself receive it from man, nor by man was I taught it, but by a revelation an apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

1:13  For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how furiously I used to persecute the church of God, and how I kept seeking to root it out;

1:14  and how in my zeal for Judaism I outstripped many of my own age and nation, in my special zeal for the traditions of my forefathers.

1:15  But when God who had set me apart from my very birth,

1:16  and had called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach his gospel among the Gentiles, without consulting a human being,

1:17  or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return came back to Damascus.

1:18  Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter, and spent two weeks with him.

1:19  I saw no other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother.

1:20  (In what I am now writing, I call God to witness that I am telling the truth.)

1:21  Then I went into the districts of Syria and Cilicia.

1:22  But to the churches of Christ in Judea I was personally unknown;

1:23  only they used to hear it said, "He who was once persecuting us is now preaching the gospel of the very faith which he once tried to ruin."

1:24  And they were giving glory to God on my account.