11For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man.
12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
16to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,
17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
18Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.
19But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
20I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie.
21Later I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22I was personally unknown, however, to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
23They only heard the account: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
24And they glorified God because of me.