Romans 15
15
1So those of us who have a strong ⌞faith⌟ must be patient with the weaknesses of those whose ⌞faith⌟ is not so strong. We must not think only of ourselves. 2We should all be concerned about our neighbor and the good things that will build his faith. 3Christ did not think only of himself. Rather, as Scripture says, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
God Gives Us Unity
4Everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. 5May God, who gives you this endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other by following the example of Christ Jesus. 6Then, having the same goal, you will praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Therefore, accept each other in the same way that Christ accepted you. He did this to bring glory to God. 8Let me explain. Christ became a servant for the Jewish people to reveal God’s truth. As a result, he fulfilled God’s promise to the ancestors of the Jewish people. 9People who are not Jewish praise God for his mercy as well. This is what the Scriptures say,
“That is why I will give thanks to you among the nations
and I will sing praises to your name.”
10And Scripture says again,
“You nations, be happy together with his people!”
11And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Praise him, all you people of the world!”
12Again, Isaiah says,
“There will be a root from Jesse.
He will rise to rule the nations,
and he will give the nations hope.”
13May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s Desire to Tell the Good News to the World
14I’m convinced, brothers and sisters, that you, too, are filled with goodness. I’m also convinced that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to instruct each other. 15However, I’ve written you a letter, parts of which are rather bold, as a reminder to you. I’m doing this because God gave me the gift 16to be a servant of Christ Jesus to people who are not Jewish. I serve as a priest by spreading the Good News of God. I do this in order that I might bring the nations to God as an acceptable offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit. 17So Christ Jesus gives me the right to brag about what I’m doing for God. 18I’m bold enough to tell you only what Christ has done through me to bring people who are not Jewish to obedience. By what I have said and done, 19by the power of miraculous and amazing signs, and by the power of God’s Spirit, I have finished spreading the Good News about Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum.
20My goal was to spread the Good News where the name of Christ was not known. I didn’t want to build on a foundation which others had laid. 21As Scripture says,
“Those who were never told about him will see,
and those who never heard will understand.”
22This is what has so often kept me from visiting you. 23But now I have no new opportunities for work in this region. For many years I have wanted to visit you. 24Now I am on my way to Spain, so I hope to see you when I come your way. After I have enjoyed your company for a while, I hope that you will support my trip to Spain.
25Right now I’m going to Jerusalem to bring help to the Christians there. 26Because the believers in Macedonia and Greece owe a debt to the Christians in Jerusalem, they have decided to take up a collection for the poor among the Christians in Jerusalem. 27These Macedonians and Greeks have shared the spiritual wealth of the Christians in Jerusalem. So they are obligated to use their earthly wealth to help them.
28When the collection is completed and I have officially turned the money over to the Christians in Jerusalem, I will visit you on my way to Spain. 29I know that when I come to you I will bring the full blessing of Christ.
30Brothers and sisters, I encourage you through our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit creates, to join me in my struggle. Pray to God for me 31that I will be rescued from those people in Judea who refuse to believe. Pray that God’s people in Jerusalem will accept the help I bring. 32Also pray that by the will of God I may come to you with joy and be refreshed when I am with you.
33May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
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Romans 15: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Romans 15
15
1Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. 3For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. 4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. 5Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: 6that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God. 8For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, 9and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written,
Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles,
And sing unto thy name.
10And again he saith,
Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
11And again,
Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles;
And let all the peoples praise him.
12And again, Isaiah saith,
There shall be the root of Jesse,
And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles;
On him shall the Gentiles hope.
13Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
14And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15But I write the more boldly unto you in some measure, as putting you again in remembrance, because of the grace that was given me of God, 16that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17I have therefore my glorying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God. 18For I will not dare to speak of any things save those which Christ wrought through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, 19in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ; 20yea, making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation; 21but, as it is written,
They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came,
And they who have not heard shall understand.
22Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you: 23but now, having no more any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come unto you, 24whensoever I go unto Spain (for I hope to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first in some measure I shall have been satisfied with your company)— 25but now, I say, I go unto Jerusalem, ministering unto the saints. 26For it hath been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints that are at Jerusalem. 27Yea, it hath been their good pleasure; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to minister unto them in carnal things. 28When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain. 29And I know that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.
30Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judæa, and that my ministration which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints; 32that I may come unto you in joy through the will of God, and together with you find rest. 33Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
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