1
And we ought—we who are strong—to bear the weaknesses of the powerless, and not to please ourselves;
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for let each one of us please the neighbor for good, for edification,
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for even the Christ did not please Himself, but according as it has been written: “The reproaches of those reproaching You fell on Me”;
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for as many things as were written before, for our instruction were written before, that through the endurance, and the exhortation of the Writings, we might have the hope.
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And may the God of the endurance, and of the exhortation, give to you to have the same mind toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,
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that with one accord—with one mouth—you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Christ the Servant of Jews and Gentiles
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for this reason receive one another, according as also the Christ received us, to the glory of God.
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And I say Jesus Christ to have become a servant of circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers,
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and the nations for kindness to glorify God, according as it has been written: “Because of this I will confess to You among nations, and to Your Name I will sing praise”;
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and again it says, “Rejoice you nations, with His people”;
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and again, “Praise the LORD, all you nations; and laud Him, all you peoples”;
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and again, Isaiah says, “There will be the root of Jesse, and He who is rising to rule nations—on Him will nations hope”;
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and the God of the hope will fill you with all joy and peace in the believing, for your abounding in the hope in power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul the Minister to the Gentiles
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And I am persuaded, my brothers—I myself also—concerning you, that you yourselves also are full of goodness, having been filled with all knowledge, also able to admonish one another;
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and the more boldly I wrote to you, brothers, in part, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me by God,
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for my being a servant of Jesus Christ to the nations, acting as priest in the good news of God, that the offering up of the nations may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
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I have, then, a boasting in Christ Jesus, in the things pertaining to God,
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for I will not dare to speak anything of the things that Christ did not work through me, to obedience of nations, by word and deed,
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in power of signs and wonders, in power of the Spirit of God; so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circle as far as Illyricum, have fully preached the good news of the Christ;
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and so counting it honor to proclaim good news, not where Christ was named—that on another’s foundation I might not build—
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but according as it has been written: “To whom it was not told concerning Him, they will see; and they who have not heard, will understand.”
22
For this reason, also, I was hindered many times from coming to you,
Paul’s Travel Plans
(1 Corinthians 16:5–9)
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and now, no longer having place in these parts, and having a longing to come to you for many years,
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when I may go on to Spain I will come to you, for I hope in going through, to see you, and by you to be set forward there, if of you first, in part, I will be filled.
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And now, I go on to Jerusalem, ministering to the holy ones;
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for it pleased Macedonia and Achaia well to make a certain contribution for the poor of the holy ones who [are] in Jerusalem;
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for it pleased well, and their debtors they are, for if the nations participated in their spiritual things, they ought also, in the fleshly things, to minister to them.
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This, then, having finished, and having sealed to them this fruit, I will return through you, to Spain;
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and I have known that coming to you—in the fullness of the blessing of the good news of Christ I will come.
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And I call on you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in the prayers for me to God,
31
that I may be delivered from those not believing in Judea, and that my ministry, that [is] for Jerusalem, may become acceptable to the holy ones;
32
that in joy I may come to you, through the will of God, and may be refreshed with you,
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and the God of peace [be] with you all. Amen.
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