The gospel by revelation

Says Paul wants them to know that the gospel he preached “was not devised by man”. He did not receive it from a man and was not taught it; it came δι’ ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (di’ apokalypseōs Iēsou Christou, “through a revelation of Jesus Christ”). The BSB has “by revelation from Jesus Christ”; the genitive is not itself “from.” He then recites his former life in Judaism, the call, the journey to Arabia and back to Damascus, the fifteen days with Cephas, James the Lord’s brother, and the years in Syria and Cilicia, when the churches of Judea heard that the former persecutor now preached the faith and glorified God because of him.

Implies The gospel and the apostleship stand on the same claim: they are not from man. The narrative of 1:13–24 is given as the proof of 1:11–12.

Uncertain The sense of the genitive in 1:12, of “in me” in 1:16, the purpose of the Arabia stay, the count of the three years, the first visit beside Acts 9, and the sense in which James is the Lord’s brother, are taken up in the notes that follow and in the commentary; no verdict is given here.