en_tn/gal/02/01.md

Connecting Statement:

Paul continues to give the history of how he learned the gospel from God, not the apostles.

went up

"traveled." Jerusalem is located in hilly country. The Jews also viewed Jerusalem as the place on earth that is closest to heaven, so Paul may have been speaking figuratively, or it may be that it was reflecting the difficult, uphill, journey to get to Jerusalem.

those who seemed to be important

"the most important leaders among the believers"

I was not running—or had not run—in vain

Paul uses running as a metaphor for work, and he uses a double negative to emphasize that the work he had done was profitable. AT: "I was doing, or had done, profitable work" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-doublenegatives and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)

in vain

"for no benefit" or "for nothing"