Bearing Others’ Burdens
1 Wethen who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let each of us pleasehisneighbor forhisgood, leading to edification.
3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written,“The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”
4 Forwhatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,
6 that you maywith one mindandone mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Glorify God Together
7 Thereforereceive one another, justas Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
8 Now I say thatJesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God,to confirm the promisesmadeto the fathers,
9 andthat the Gentiles might glorify God forHismercy, as it is written:
# “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,
And sing to Your name.”
10 And again he says:
# “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
11 And again:
# “Praise theLord, all you Gentiles!
Laud Him, all you peoples!”
12 And again, Isaiah says:
# “There shall be a root of Jesse;
And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with alljoy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
From Jerusalem to Illyricum
14 NowI myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness,filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you onsomepoints, as reminding you,because of the grace given to me by God,
16 thatI might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that theoffering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesusin the thingswhichpertainto God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those thingswhich Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed,to make the Gentiles obedient—
19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named,lest I should build on another man’s foundation,
21 but as it is written:
# “To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
And those who have not heard shall understand.”
Plan to Visit Rome
22 For this reasonI also have been much hindered from coming to you.
23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, andhaving a great desire these many years to come to you,
24 whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey,and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I mayenjoy yourcompanyfor a while.
25 But nowI am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.
26 Forit pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.
27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. Forif the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things,their duty is also to minister to them in material things.
28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to themthis fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.
29 But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, andthrough the love of the Spirit,that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,
31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and thatmy service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
32 that I may come to you with joyby the will of God, and maybe refreshed together with you.
33 Nowthe God of peacebewith you all. Amen.