10 I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11 My friends, I want you to know that no one made up the message I preach.
12 It wasn't given or taught to me by some mere human. My message came directly from Jesus Christ when he appeared to me.
13 You know how I used to live as a Jew. I was cruel to God's church and even tried to destroy it.
14 I was a much better Jew than anyone else my own age, and I obeyed every law our ancestors had given us.
15 But even before I was born, God had chosen me by his gift of undeserved grace and had decided
16 to show me his Son, so I would announce his message to the Gentiles. I didn't talk this over with anyone.