Greeting
1 Paul, a an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father b who raised him from the dead c— 2 and all the brothers who are with me:
To the churches of Galatia. d
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins e to rescue us from this present evil age, f according to the will of our God and Father. g 5 To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called h you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another gospel, i but there are some j who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel k from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, l a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, m a curse be on him!
10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? n Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul Defends His Apostleship
11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation o of Jesus Christ. p
13 For you have heard about my former way of life q in Judaism: r I intensely persecuted s God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. t 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called u me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son v in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem w to those who had become apostles x before me; instead I went to Arabia y and came back to Damascus. z
18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem a to get to know Cephas, ,b and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, c the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.
21 Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria d and Cilicia. e 22 I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. 23 They simply kept hearing: “He who formerly persecuted f us now preaches the faith g he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
A. Salutation (1:1–5). The apostle Paul follows typical Greek letter-writing protocol with an introduction that cites the name of the author and those addressed, followed by a greeting. Contrary to his other letters, here Paul gives only the briefest of greetings. His style is proper and a bit curt and immediately evidences a defense of his apostolic origin. The attacks against him appear to have revolved around the origin of his apostleship and, with it, the basis of his authority in that role. Unfortunately for him, his claim to the same apostolic authority as that of the original disciples of Jesus (Gl 2:6–10; 1 Co 9:1–27) was one that could not be independently verified.
B. Occasion for writing (1:6–9). 1:6–7. Paul moves quickly to express condemnation for the Galatians’ recent actions in a paragraph that is noteworthy for its emotional intensity. He is “amazed” (1:6) not only by the apparent departure of the Galatians from what he will argue is the core of the gospel but also by their lack of endurance with the truth. Such a desertion is a rejection of God himself!
1:8–9. The seriousness of the situation is established by the two “curse” (Gk anathema, “a curse be on him!”) statements. Anathema referred to the dedication of an object, usually in pagan temples, for the purpose of its destruction. Quite simply, nothing or no one had the authority to override the truth of the gospel (including Paul himself or even angels; 1:8). Ultimately it is not to the messenger that one gives allegiance but to the one whom the message is about.
C. Review of accusations (1:10). Because most of Paul’s Letters were occasional letters (prompted in response to problems existing in the churches addressed), we must reconstruct the sense of the whole conversation with only a few clues on which to proceed. Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions, each with an intended negative answer. They give us an indication of the types of accusations being made by those who were casting doubt on Paul.
A. Preconversion days (1:11–14). 1:11–12. As when he denied human agency in his apostolic calling (1:1), Paul makes it clear that no one has been involved in his own understanding of the gospel. This denial involves three specific areas that may have been alleged sources for the gospel Paul represents (1:11–12a): (1) it is not “of human origin” (from him or anyone else); (2) it has not been handed down by tradition; (3) he has not been instructed in it.
1:13–14. Paul appeals to their own knowledge of his former superior standing in Judaism and his own attempts to “destroy” the church (1:13). As a conscientious Pharisee, Paul was highly acclaimed among his peers and was able to name the revered rabbi Gamaliel as his mentor (see Ac 22:3). He mentions his advancement in the “traditions of my ancestors” (1:14), which would have involved intense study of the Scriptures and the teachings of the rabbinical sages.
B. Conversion (1:15–17). What becomes clear is Paul’s emphasis on the full agency of God in his commissioning as an emissary of the gospel message (1:15). Paul expresses this calling in terms reminiscent of the callings of the prophets Isaiah (Is 49:1) and Jeremiah (Jr 1:5). Such terminology would, no doubt, sting his Jewish-oriented opponents.
1:18–20. Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem is said to have occurred “after three years” (1:18). This reference and the one in 2:1 to “fourteen years” have proved to be problematic in understanding Pauline chronology. In general, many scholars prefer to see Paul’s conversion to be the operative starting point (with AD 32–33 as a likely date for it) and AD 35–36 as the date of the visit Paul mentions here. This occasion most likely aligns with the reference in Ac 9:26–30.
1:21–24. After Jerusalem, it was on to the regions of Syria and Cilicia (Antioch was in Syria, Tarsus in Cilicia), with no further contact with Jerusalem or anywhere else in Judea (1:21). The news about his changed life was known in Judea only by reputation (1:22–23). While that evoked glory to God (1:24), it brought no formal relationship between Paul and Jerusalem.