You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus.

You have been told how I used to live when I was devoted to the Jewish religion, how I persecuted without mercy the church of God and did my best to destroy it.

For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people.

The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.

God has appointed me as an apostle and teacher to proclaim the Good News,

I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ,

Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.

The Lord said to him, "Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel.

While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them."

But Paul and Barnabas spoke out even more boldly: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles.

'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "

I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you.

You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.'

Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey.

I am speaking now to you Gentiles: As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my work.

And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.

But in this letter I have been quite bold about certain subjects of which I have reminded you. I have been bold because of the privilege God has given me

of being a servant of Christ Jesus to work for the Gentiles. I serve like a priest in preaching the Good News from God, in order that the Gentiles may be an offering acceptable to God, dedicated to him by the Holy Spirit.

You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths.

If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task.

I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible.

In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law.

But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided

to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice,

For by God's power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was made an apostle to the Jews.

James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, recognized that God had given me this special task; so they shook hands with Barnabas and me, as a sign that we were all partners. We agreed that Barnabas and I would work among the Gentiles and they among the Jews.

And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message,

God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.

That teaching is found in the gospel that was entrusted to me to announce, the Good News from the glorious and blessed God.

and that is why I was sent as an apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, to proclaim the message of faith and truth. I am not lying; I am telling the truth!

God has appointed me as an apostle and teacher to proclaim the Good News,