Believers must follow Christ
1If our faith is strong, then we have to help believers whose faith is weak. We must not do only what pleases us 2but we must do things that please other people, because then we are doing what is good for them and we are helping them so that their faith can grow stronger. 3You know that Christ did not do things that pleased Him. He suffered to help us. It is like it is written in the Old_Testament:
‘The people who cursed You
were the people who cursed Me.’
4Everything that is written in the Old_Testament was written long ago to teach us so that we can keep on believing in God. It was written to help us, and to encourage us so that we can have hope and can know that God will save us. 5It is God who helps us to keep on believing and who encourages us. I pray that He will always help you to be ready to work together with each other. This is what Christ Jesus wants. 6Then you will all think the same about Him and you will praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God wants to save everyone
7You must accept each other as Christ accepted you, then people will praise God. 8I am telling you that Christ came to serve the Jews so that everyone will know that God does what He has promised. God promised to bless the forefathers of the Jews and Christ came to show that God does what He has promised. 9Christ has also come so that the Gentiles will praise God because He is also good to them. It is like it is written in the Old_Testament:
‘That is why I will praise You
so that the Gentiles can hear it.
I will sing to your name.’
10It is also written in the Old_Testament:
‘You Gentiles must rejoice
with the people who belong to God.’
11It is also written in the Old_Testament:
‘All the Gentiles must praise the Lord.
Everyone must praise Him.’
12And the prophet Isaiah says:
‘The king, the descendant of Jesse,
will come and he will start to rule
over the Gentiles.
The Gentiles will know
that He will save them.’
13God gives us hope. I pray that He will make you happy and fill you with his peace, you who believe in Him. Then the Holy_Spirit will give you power and you will be sure that the things you hope for will happen.
Paul talks about his work
14Friends, I am sure that you are doing good things for each other. You know everything that you should know and you can teach each other how to live in the right way. 15I have used some strong words in this letter when I wrote about some things, but I want you to remember what God has done for you. God has been very good to me 16and He chose me to work for Jesus Christ. He sent me to the Gentiles and my work is to tell them the Good_News of God like a priest would do it. If the Gentiles believe in Christ, they become like an offering that I give to God and God will accept this offering because the Holy_Spirit consecrated these believers to God. 17I belong to Christ Jesus and that is why I am proud of everything that I do for God. 18I don't want to boast. I will just tell you about the things that I have done because Christ gave me the power to do them. He used me to make the Gentiles listen to Him. I did and said what Christ wanted 19and the Holy_Spirit gave me the power to do signs and miracles. Yes, I have preached the Good_News of Christ everywhere to people, from Jerusalem to the province of Illyricum near Italy. 20I want to preach the Good_News in places where no one has yet told the people about Christ. I don't want to preach where other people have already preached. 21It is like it is written in the Old_Testament:
‘No one told them about Him,
but they will see Him.
They did not know Him or hear of Him,
but they will understand.’
Paul wants to go to the city of Rome
22I went to many places to preach the message of Christ and that is why I could not come to you. 23But now I have been to all the places in this part of the world, telling people about Christ. For many years I have wanted to come to you. 24I want to come to you now when I go to the land of Spain. Yes, I hope to see you on my way to Spain. I want to stay with you for some time so that we can be together. I hope that you can help me then so that I can go further.
25But now I am first going to Jerusalem. I am going to help and serve the believers in Jerusalem 26because the believers in the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia have decided to send some of their money to the poor believers in Jerusalem. 27The believers in Macedonia and Achaia are Gentiles and the believers in Jerusalem are Jews. Now the Gentiles are sending money to the Jews, and that is right, because the Holy_Spirit has blessed the Jews with wonderful blessings and the Gentiles have also received some of their blessings. That is why it is right that the Gentiles now send some of their money to the Jews. 28When I have finished this work and I have given this money safely to the believers in Jerusalem, I will come to you and I will go on to Spain later. 29I know that when I come to you, Christ will bless us a lot.
30Friends, we all belong to our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy_Spirit helps us to love each other. So I ask you, I beg you to pray with me that God will help me. 31There are people in the province of Judea who do not believe in Christ and they want to persecute me and make me suffer. That is why I ask you to pray that God will protect me from them. Also pray that God will help me so that the believers in Judea will be satisfied with the work that I do there. 32If God wants, I will come to you then, and I will rejoice. It will be wonderful for me to visit you and to rest. 33I pray that the God of peace will be with you all. Amen.
