[1,3-5] Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of God is the gift by virtue of which sins are forgiven us to obtain reconciliation with him; Peace, on the other hand, is the gift through which we obtain this reconciliation. Who gave himself up for our sins to free us from the current evil world. It must be understood that the present world is evil because of the evil men in it, just as we speak of an evil house because of the evil people who inhabit it. According to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. When men perform a good deed they should not arrogantly refer to themselves. It is obvious that even the Son of God himself said in the Gospel that he was not seeking his glory (Cf Jn 8,50) nor had he come to do his will, but the will of him who sent him (Cf Jn 6,38). That will and glory of the Father is what the Apostle just mentioned now to mean that he himself, following the example of the Lord who sent him, does not seek his glory or does his own will when he announces the gospel, as he says shortly after: Yes ( seek) to please men, would not be a servant of Christ (Ga 1,10).

[1,6-9] I am surprised that as soon as you have passed from the one who called you to the glory of Christ, to another gospel, which is no other. Because, if there is another gospel different from that which the Lord gave, be By itself, by some other person, can no longer be called gospel property. After having said: you have gone from the one who called you, very appropriately he added: to the glory of Christ, which they intended to annul, as if Christ had come in vain. (That would be the case) if the circumcision of the flesh and the other works prescribed by the law were of such value that men could obtain salvation through them. But there are some who disturb you and want to turn the gospel of Christ upside down. Although they manage to disturb you, they do not have such success in turning the gospel of Christ upside down, since it remains immovable. The purpose, however, of those who divert the attention of believers from spiritual to carnal goods is to turn it upside down. But even if they turn to carnal goods, the gospel remains unchanged. That is the reason why, after saying: you are disturbed, you did not follow: and you go backwards, but: you want to turn the gospel of Christ upside down. But, even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven announced to you a gospel other than the one we have announced to you, let it be anathema! The truth must be loved by itself, not in attention to the man or the angel who announces it. Whoever loves her in attention to her advertisers can also love lies, if, eventually, they proffer their own. As we already told you, and now I repeat it to you: if anyone announces a gospel different from the one you received, let him be anathema! We told you this can be understood in two ways: either that he had said it on another occasion, or that he repeats what has been said little. In any case, repetition itself guides in a very healthy way the intention to firmly retain what is recommended with such vigor.

[1,10] So, do I try to convince men or God? Or what I'm looking for is to please men? If he still pleased men, he would not be a servant of Christ. No one tries to convince God, since everything is manifest to him, but he tries to convince men properly who does not want to be the one who likes them, but rather tries to convince them. He who pleases men, but not seeking his own glory, but God's, so that they may be saved, no longer pleases men, but God; or next to God also pleases men, but not men (only). It is one thing to please men and another to please God and men. Moreover, who pleases men for the sake of truth, is not he and who pleases them, but the truth. It will please, he said, insofar as it is in his power, insofar as it concerns his will; as if to say: Try to please. Because if, by not procuring it, it pleases someone as if by itself and not in attention to God and to the gospel that announces, it should not be attributed to his pride, but rather to the error of the one whom he likes in an inadequate way. This is, therefore, the meaning: So, do I try to convince men, or God? Or in the fact of convincing men I seek to please men? If he still sought to please men, he would not be a servant of Christ. The reason is that he commands his servants to learn from him to be meek and humble of heart (Cf Mt 11,29). Something completely impossible for anyone who seeks to please men thinking about himself, that is, for the sake of a glory that was as private and particular to him. We convince men, but for God we are exposed (2Co 5,11). So also write in another passage so that you understand these words: do I try to convince men, or God? It is not about convincing God, but about men. Therefore, it should not cause perplexity what it says in another passage: As I also like everyone in everything, he added: not seeking my own interest, but that of many, so that they may be saved (1Co 10,33). But no one takes advantage of it, with a view to his salvation, for a man to like him for what he personally is. Such pleasure is only useful when it pleases him in relation to God: when the pleasure that man produces makes him like God and leads him to glorify him, either when he contemplates his gifts in man, and when he receives them through the ministry of some man. But when a man pleases for that reason, it is no longer man, but God who pleases. Therefore, "I like" and "I do not like" can be affirmed with the same correction. If there is a good listener who knows how to call with pity, it will be clear one and the other and there will be no opposition that throws back the one who tries to enter.

[1,13-14] For you have heard about my past conduct in Judaism: how I unjustly persecuted the Church of God, and ravaged it and made more progress in Judaism than many of my race and age , surpassing them in zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. If making progress in Judaism manifested itself in persecuting and overthrowing the Church of God, it is obvious that Judaism is opposed to the Church of God, not because of the spiritual law that the Jews received, but because of the life according to the flesh, proper to his slavery. And if Paul persecuted the Church of God as jealous, that is, imitating the traditions of their parents, it is these traditions that are contrary to the Church of God. Do not make the law responsible for it. The law is spiritual (Cf Rm 7,14) and does not oblige it to be understood in a carnal sense. The evil is in those who understood in a carnal sense what they received and, in addition, they transmitted many things of their harvest, repealing the mandate of the Lord to maintain their traditions (Cf Mt 15,3).

[1,15-19] But when the Lord who chose me from the womb of my mother and called me by his grace, it pleased him to reveal his Son in me so that he might announce it among the Gentiles, I did not condescend with the flesh nor the blood and it without delay. It is chosen in a certain way from the bosom of its mother who is separated from the habit of blindly following the carnal parents; in turn, condescending with the flesh and the blood all those who give their assent to the proposals, with their origin in the flesh, of the relatives and people of their environment, also carnal. I did not come to Jerusalem to visit the apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and from there I returned again to Damascus. Then, three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to see Pedro and stayed with him for fifteen days. Paul saw Peter after he had announced the gospel in Arabia; consequently, he did not come to visit him to teach him the gospel, otherwise he would have met him first. If he visited it, it was to strengthen fraternal charity through personal knowledge. I did not see any other apostle, except for James, the Lord's brother. It must be understood that James was a brother of the Lord or as the son of Joseph, the fruit of a previous marriage, or as a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

[1,20-24] Regarding this that I write to you, God is a witness that I am not lying. Whoever says God is a witness that I do not lie utters an oath. And is there something more sacred than this oath? But the oath that comes from evil does not go against the precept, (Mt 5,37) not from the one who pronounces it, but from the evil of the unbelief of the one before whom he is forced to swear. From this text is understood the sense of the Lord's prohibition regarding the oath. It means that no one swears as far as it depends on him, something that many people always have at the end of their tongue, the oath, as if it were a noble and tasty reality. The Apostle knew without a doubt the precept of the Lord and, nevertheless, he pronounced that oath. There is no need to pay attention to those who believe that expressions such as the one mentioned do not constitute an oath. What will they say of this other: I die day by day, for your glory, brothers, the one I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord? (1Co 15,31) The Greek-language examples leave no doubt that this is an oath . So, as far as it depends on him, the Apostle does not swear, since he does not seek to swear on a whim or because he finds it pleasing to do so. It's more than saying Yes, yes; no, no (Mt 5,37), and, for that very reason, it comes from evil, but from the evil of weakness or of the disbelief of those who only in that way feel impelled to give credit. Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia, but by sight it was unknown to the Churches of Judea that are in Christ. It should be noted that not only in Jerusalem did they believe Jews in Christ and that they were not so few that they were diluted among the Jews. Gentile churches; on the contrary, they were so many that they alone constituted Churches. They had only heard: "He who persecuted us on other occasions now announces the good news of the faith that he used to devastate", and for my sake proclaimed the greatness of God. It is the same as he said before, namely, that he did not seek to please men by thinking of himself, but in proclaiming the greatness of God. It is also the same as the Lord says: Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Mt 5,16).