16. It helps me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I’m working as a priest of God’s gospel so that the offering of the Gentiles can be acceptable and made holy by the Holy Spirit.
17. So in Christ Jesus I brag about things that have to do with God.
18. I don’t dare speak about anything except what Christ has done through me to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles. He did it by what I’ve said and what I’ve done,
19. by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. So I’ve completed the circuit of preaching Christ’s gospel from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.
20. In this way, I have a goal to preach the gospel where they haven’t heard of Christ yet, so that I won’t be building on someone else’s foundation.
21. Instead, as it’s written, Those who hadn’t been told about him will see, and those who hadn’t heard will understand.
22. That’s why I’ve been stopped so many times from coming to see you.
23. But now, since I don’t have any place to work in these regions anymore, and since I’ve wanted to come to see you for many years,
24. I’ll visit you when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while I’m passing through. And I hope you will send me on my way there, after I have first been reenergized by some time in your company.
25. But now I’m going to Jerusalem, to serve God’s people.