Paul rebukes them because they had fallen away from the gospel. He recounts his own life, emphasizes his office and apostleship, and declares himself to be equal with the high apostles.

1 Paul, an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and by God the Father who raised him from death, ² and all the brethren who are with me.

To the congregations of Galatia.

³ Grace be with you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God our Father, ⁵ to whom be praise for ever and ever. Amen.

⁶ I marvel that you are so soon turned away from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to another gospel – ⁷ which is nothing other than that there are some who trouble you and intend to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ Nevertheless, even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you other than that which we have preached to you, hold him as accursed. ⁹ As I said before, so I say now again: if anyone preaches any other thing to you than that which you have received, hold him as accursed. ¹⁰ Do I preach man’s doctrine, or God’s? Or do I go about to please men? If I sought to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ.

¹¹ I tell you, brethren, that the gospel I preached was not after the manner of men. I neither received it from man, ¹² nor was I taught it, but I received it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard of my conduct in time past, in the ways of the Jews – how beyond measure I persecuted the congregation of God, and ravaged it, ¹⁴ and prevailed in the law of the Jews above many of my companions who were of my own nation, and was a much more fervent maintainer of the precepts of the elders.

¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, ¹⁶ in order to declare his Son by me, to preach him among the heathen, I did not immediately commune of the matter with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor return to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but went my ways into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸ Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ I did not see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ The things that I write, lo, God knows I do not speak untruly.

²¹ After that, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was not personally known to the congregations of Judea that were in Christ, ²³ but they only heard that he who persecuted them in time past, now preaches the faith that before he destroyed. ²⁴ And they glorified God in my behalf.