But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not accordin to man.  (12) For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(13) For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.  (14) And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

(15) But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, (16) to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, (17) nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to 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) But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

The letter to the Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul.  He founded Christian churches in what was known politically as southern Galatia and it is believed this letter was written to those believers.  Paul preached salvation by God’s free grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for the redemption of sin – he did not teach that conformity to Jewish law and the Jewish rite of circumcision brought salvation to sinners.

After Paul had moved on from the Galatians in his missionary journeys he heard that conservative Jewish teachers – called legalizers – had arrived from Jerusalem.  These legalizers claimed authority from the Christian church in Jerusalem to teach that the converted Christians had to obey the Law of Moses and also be circumcised.  These men challenged Paul’s apostolic authority as a genuine apostle and rejected his teaching.  Paul wrote in response to the subsequent situation in the Galatian churches where the believers were abandoning the gospel.

In the early chapters of this letter Paul writes the story of his life emphasizing that his apostolic teaching came by revelation from God.  He cites the recognition of this authority by the other apostles as confirming his apostolic standing.  Most importantly in this letter Paul addresses the issue of the law providing the path for salvation and states that the basis of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer.

Paul stresses that the gospel he preaches is of divine origin –  the conditions and trajectory of his life to the time of his conversion proves he could not have received this gospel from men.  Paul was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” and not only opposed but actively persecuted the early church.  He was a fanatic against the church.  Paul stresses that only God could – and did – accomplish a conversion in him and called him by His grace,  Paul began to preach Christianity immediately.  He insists that he did not consult anyone, particularly the Jerusalem apostles but instead he went to Arabia.  Paul was not under the authority of the Apostles but was on his own.  His revelation was directly from God.  Paul taught that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and NO work can earn salvation.  Any other thinking contradicts the truth and is a turning away from God.