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Galatians 1:23
ESV They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
NIV They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
NASB but they only kept hearing, 'The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.'
CSB They simply kept hearing: "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy."
NLT All they knew was that people were saying, 'The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!'
KJV But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
NKJV But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

What does Galatians 1:23 mean?

Paul is making the case for why the Judaizers are wrong that he learned about Christ from the apostles. He has shown he wasn't really even around the apostles for the first several years of his ministry.

In fact, he was gone from Jerusalem and Judea for so long that the Christians in that region only knew him by his two wildly different reputations: Paul—then called Saul—was originally a Pharisee who vehemently persecuted and tried to destroy the church back when he was in Jerusalem. Those who knew of his exploits would have been shocked to hear that the same man was reported to be out in Syria and Cilicia preaching that people could be saved by God's grace through faith in Christ!

In fact, Paul learned about the gospel of God's grace through Jesus from Jesus Himself. He was, truthfully, an apostle, and he wanted his Galatian readers to know they could trust his message about Jesus.
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