Chapter 15

  And we ought -- we who are strong -- to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves;  

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  for let each one of us please the neighbor for good, unto edification,  

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  for even the Christ did not please himself, but, according as it hath been written, 'The reproaches of those reproaching Thee fell upon 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 -- ye may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;  

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  wherefore receive ye one another, according as also the Christ did receive us, to the glory of God.  

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  And I say Jesus Christ to have become a ministrant 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 hath been written, 'Because of this I will confess to Thee among nations, and to Thy name I will sing praise,'  

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  and again it saith, 'Rejoice ye nations, with His people;'  

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  and again, 'Praise the Lord, all ye nations; and laud Him, all ye peoples;'  

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  and again, Isaiah saith, 'There shall be the root of Jesse, and he who is rising to rule nations -- upon him shall nations hope;'  

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  and the God of the hope shall fill you with all joy and peace in the believing, for your abounding in the hope in power of the Holy Spirit.  

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  And I am persuaded, my brethren -- I myself also -- concerning you, that ye yourselves also are full of goodness, having been filled with all knowledge, able also one another to admonish;  

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  and the more boldly I did write to you, brethren, 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 honour to proclaim good news, not where Christ was named -- that upon another's foundation I might not build --  

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  but according as it hath been written, 'To whom it was not told concerning him, they shall see; and they who have not heard, shall understand.'  

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  Wherefore, also, I was hindered many times from coming unto you,  

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  and now, no longer having place in these parts, and having a longing to come unto you for many years,  

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  when I may go on to Spain I will come unto you, for I hope in going through, to see you, and by you to be set forward thither, if of you first, in part, I shall be filled.  

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  And, now, I go on to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints;  

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  for it pleased Macedonia and Achaia well to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who [are] in Jerusalem;  

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  for it pleased well, and their debtors they are, for if in their spiritual things the nations did participate, 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 unto you -- in the fulness of the blessing of the good news of Christ I shall come.  

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  And I call upon you, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in the prayers for me unto God,  

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  that I may be delivered from those not believing in Judea, and that my ministration, that [is] for Jerusalem, may become acceptable to the saints;  

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  that in joy I may come unto you, through the will of God, and may be refreshed with you,  

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  and the God of the peace [be] with you all. Amen.  

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