"Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ." (NIV)
"Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ." (ESV)
The wording of the ESV here makes this passage more understandable to me. Previously, Paul had been on a mission to eradicate Christians. But the churches in Judea had never personally experienced Saul's persecution, and they didn't know who Paul was—"the man who formerly persecuted us... now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy" (v.23). The story of Paul was kept quiet in Jewish territory, while he moved on to Gentile territory to preach. Again we see how God uses the Gentiles to share the gospel with the Jews (see the reference to Mark 5 in the notes on Galatians 1:20).
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