Paul received his message of good news from God
11 The good news that I tell people did not come from human ideas. I want you to know that, my friends. 12 Nobody on earth gave it to me. Nobody taught it to me. No, it was Jesus Christ himself who showed it to me clearly.
13 You know about the things that I did before, when I obeyed the Jewish rules. I caused the people of God's church to suffer very much. I tried to destroy those people completely. 14 I obeyed the Jewish rules better than many other Jews who were the same age as me. I tried very much to obey the ideas that our Jewish ancestors taught.
15 But God had chosen me to serve him even before I was born. I did not deserve this, but God is very kind. 16 He chose to show his Son clearly to me, so that I could tell the Gentiles about him. When God chose me to do that, I did not talk about it with any person. 17 Nor did I go to Jerusalem to see Christ's apostles there. Those men were already his apostles before I was. But I did not go to talk to them. Instead, I went immediately to the region of Arabia. Later, I went back to the city of Damascus.
1:16Jesus showed himself to Paul near the city of Damascus. See Acts 9:1-5. 1:17Arabia was a place south-east of Israel.
18 Then, three years later, I did go to Jerusalem to meet with Peter. I stayed with him for 15 days. 19 I did not see any other apostles, except James, the Lord's brother. 20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true! 21 Later, I went to different places in Syria and Cilicia. 22 The Christians in the churches in Judea had never met me. 23 They had only heard people say this about me: ‘At one time, this man caused us to suffer as Christians. He tried to destroy God's message about Jesus. But now he himself is telling people the good news about Jesus.’ 24 When the believers in Judea heard that, they praised God because of me.
1:18Peter was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
1:21Syria and Cilicia were places north of Israel, south-east of Galatia, near to the Mediterranean Sea.
1:22Judea was the south region of Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, was in Judea.
