---
title: Galatians 1:12
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/galatians-1-12/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/galatians-1-12.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Galatians 1:12
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Galatians 1:12

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

## JW Usage

JWs read Galatians 1:12 — "I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, except through revelation from Jesus Christ" — as describing Paul's apostolic commissioning. The parallel the Watchtower draws is Jehovah communicating to his people today through the faithful and discreet slave: authorised channel, then downstream distribution to the congregation.

## Protestant Usage

Paul's claim about his gospel is precisely what the Governing Body does *not* claim. Paul says his gospel came "by a revelation of Jesus Christ" — direct, personal, from the risen Lord himself. Paul had seen the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8), had been commissioned by the mouth of Christ on the Damascus road (Acts 9), and spoke signs-confirmed apostolic truth (2 Corinthians 12:12). The Governing Body explicitly disclaims inspiration ("neither inspired nor infallible… can err in doctrinal matters" — February 2017 Watchtower p. 26), has never seen the risen Christ, and performs no apostolic signs. The Galatians 1:12 pattern is what disqualifies the Watchtower from the Pauline role it sometimes borrows for itself. And the warning three verses earlier still stands: "even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond what we declared to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). Any "good news" delivered by a later channel and differing from Paul's apostolic gospel is excluded.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Angel from Heaven](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/angel-from-heaven.md) — Galatians 1:8 — Three-Way Angel Parallel [Deity of Christ]