God Speaks
This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
2 All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.
3 May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: As we begin the book of Galatians, please use the link below to view the highly informative illustrated summary by the folks at The Bible Project. Chapter one begins with an introduction in which Paul summarizes the gospel and prays a blessing over the churches in Galatia. He then states his purpose for writing, which is to correct their misconceptions and bring them back to a true understanding of the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ. Next, he presented his credentials for the ministry God had called him to–preaching to the Gentiles.
Galatians | BibleProject: Read Scripture – New Testament | Videos | YouVersion
Prayer: Dear great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved me not by my own merits or efforts but by raising Jesus from the dead after He had suffered and died on my behalf. Thank You, Jesus, that You gave Your life for my sins, just as God our Father planned. You did this to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen. Please don’t let me turn away to anything other than this truly good news. I know that You deal very sternly with anyone who does this or leads others to do so. Help me to strive not to please myself or other people, but instead strive to please You alone. May the Gospel I share with others not be from a merely human view of the world. May my worldview flow out of my personal interaction with You, the Living Word of God. I should seek to be guided by the Holy Spirit through prayer and study of the Bible, the written word of God. As I grow in the faith, may other people notice the changes that trusting Jesus is making in my life. By the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and my obedience, I will move from a person who reviles Christ, Christians, and Christian principles to a person who revels in bringing others to faith and life in Him. May the people around me glorify God because of Your work in me. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will thank Jesus that He died and rose again on my behalf.
- I will speak with a friend who is not yet a believer about what Jesus has and will do for them and how they should respond.
- I will write out what I consider my credentials regarding sharing the gospel.
- I will write out a summary or definition of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.