17. That is why I feel so good about what I have done for God in my service to Christ Jesus.
18. I will not talk about anything I did myself. I will talk only about what Christ has done with me in leading the non-Jewish people to obey God. They have obeyed him because of what I have said and done.
19. And they obeyed him because of the power of the miraculous signs and wonders that happened—all because of the power of God’s Spirit. I have told people the Good News about Christ in every place from Jerusalem to Illyricum. And so I have finished that part of my work.
20. I always want to tell the Good News in places where people have never heard of Christ. I do this because I don’t want to build on the work that someone else has already started.
21. But as the Scriptures say, “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard about him will understand.” Isaiah 52:15
22. That’s what has kept me so busy and prevented my coming to see you even though I have wanted to come many times.
23. Now I have finished my work in these areas. And for many years I have wanted to visit you.
24. So I will visit you when I go to Spain. Yes, I hope to visit you while I am traveling to Spain, and I will stay and enjoy being with you. Then you can help me continue on my trip.
25. Now I am going to Jerusalem to help God’s people there.
26. Some of them are poor, and the believers in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they gathered some money to send them.
27. They were happy to do this. And it was like paying something they owed them, because as non-Jews they have been blessed spiritually by the Jews. So now they should use the material blessings they have to help the Jews.