Galatians 1:1

Paul knew many of the Christians to whom he was writing. God had sent Paul and Barnabas out to *preach the *good news about Jesus. At first, Paul always went to the *Jews to teach them about Jesus. Some *Jews believed Paul, but other *Jews did not believe him. Great crowds listened to Paul. Some *Jews became jealous about Paul’s success. They spoke against Paul and they caused trouble for him. So Paul and Barnabas decided to *preach to the *Gentiles. They went to the region called Galatia. Again, many people opposed them. In one city, the *Jews nearly killed Paul. However, many people trusted Jesus and they became strong Christians. (You can read about these events in Acts 13:42-14.) Many *Jews were not pleased with the Christians. So the *Jewish false teachers tried to prove that Paul lied. They said that he was not a true *apostle. They also said that he had not taught the truth. Some Christians began to doubt Paul. And they doubted what he had taught.

At the start of his letter, Paul wanted to emphasise to the Christians that he was a true *apostle. An *apostle is someone whom God sends out to teach about Jesus. Paul did not become an *apostle because of any person’s action. God himself appointed Paul to be an *apostle. Jesus Christ had appeared to Paul. He sent Paul out to tell people the *good news about Jesus (Acts 26:15-18).

Paul briefly referred to the *good news in this verse. Jesus came to this world. He died on our behalf to free us from our *sins. Then God made Jesus alive again. Jesus forgives *sins. This is the most important part of the Christian message.

Paul showed that the authority of Jesus is the same as the authority of God the Father. Both God the Father and Jesus chose Paul as an *apostle. Therefore, Paul taught with God’s authority.