1Greetings from Paul, an apostle.
2Greetings also from all those in God’s family who are with me. To the churches (groups of believers) in Galatia.
3I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be good to you and give you peace.
4Jesus gave himself for our sins. Jesus did this to free us from this evil world we live in. This is what God the Father wanted.
5The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.
There Is Only One Good News Message
6A short time ago God called you to follow him. He called you through his grace (kindness) that came through Christ. But now I am amazed at you people! You are already turning away and believing something different from the Good News
7There is no other message that is good news. But some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ.
8We told you the true Good News message. So if anyone tells you a different message, they should be condemned—even if it’s one of us or even an angel from heaven!
9I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If any person tells you another way to be saved, they should be condemned!
10Now do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No! God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Authority Is from God
11Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News
12I did not get my message from any other human. The Good News is not something I learned from other people. Jesus Christ himself gave it to me. He showed me the Good News that I should tell people.
13You have heard about my past life. I was in the Jewish religion. I persecuted the church of God very much. I tried to destroy the church (believers).
14I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion. I did better than most other Jews my own age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the old rules. These rules were the customs we got from our ancestors.
15But God had special plans for me even before I was born. So God called me with his grace (kindness). God wanted me
16to tell the Good News
17I did not go to see the apostles
18Three years later I went to Jerusalem; I wanted to meet Peter.
19I met no other apostles
20God knows that these things I write are not lies.
21Later I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.
22In Judea the churches (groups of believers) in Christ had never met me before.
23They had only heard this about me: “This man was persecuting us. But now he is telling people about the same faith that he once tried to destroy.”
24These believers praised God because of me.