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Galatians 1:11-12 (JDV)

Galatians 1:11 You see – I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel announced by me is not of human origin

Galatians 1:12 because I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation from Jesus Christ.

not through human tradition

Paul had just accused the Galatian Christians of adopting a different gospel than the one he and his team had taught. Now he appears to be answering the unasked question of why they should accept his version of the gospel instead of the one they were being taught. His answer is that Paul got the gospel by direct revelation from Christ himself, not through human tradition.

Paul knew what it was like to rely on human tradition to explain divine truth. Most of his life, he had followed strictly the tenets of the Pharisees. It took a jolt to his world-view on the Damascus Road for him to shake free from that bondage. That made Paul the perfect instrument for ridding early Christianity of the disease of legalism.

Lord, thank you for the gospel that sets us free from slavery to tradition.