Chapter 15

  Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  

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  Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying.  

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  For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.  

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  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.  

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  Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus:  

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  that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

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  Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.  

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  For 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,  

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  and 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.  

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  And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.  

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  And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise him.  

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  And 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.  

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  Now 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.  

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  And 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.  

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  But 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,  

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  that 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.  

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  I have therefore my glorifying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.  

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  For 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,  

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  in 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;  

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  yea, 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;  

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  but, as it is written, They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came, And they who have not heard shall understand.  

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  Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you:  

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  but now, having no more any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come unto you,  

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  whensoever 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)--  

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  but now, I [say], I go unto Jerusalem, ministering unto the saints.  

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  For 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.  

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  Yea, 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.  

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  When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain.  

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  And I know that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.  

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  Now 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;  

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  that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judaea, and [that] my ministration which [I have] for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;  

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  that I may come unto you in joy through the will of God, and together with you find rest.  

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  Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  

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