Romains 15
La Bible du Semeur
Le soutien des frères et sœurs en la foi
15 Nous qui sommes forts, nous devons porter les faiblesses de ceux qui ne le sont pas, sans chercher notre propre satisfaction. 2 Que chacun de nous recherche la satisfaction de son prochain pour le bien de celui-ci, en vue de l’aider à grandir dans la foi. 3 Car Christ n’a pas cherché sa propre satisfaction, mais il a dit, comme le déclare l’Ecriture : Les insultes des hommes qui t’insultent sont retombées sur moi[a]. 4 Or tout ce qui a été consigné autrefois dans l’Ecriture l’a été pour nous instruire, afin que la patience et l’encouragement qu’apporte l’Ecriture produisent en nous l’espérance. 5 Que Dieu, source de toute patience et de tout encouragement, vous donne de vivre en plein accord les uns avec les autres, conformément à l’enseignement de Jésus-Christ[b]. 6 Ainsi, d’un commun accord et d’une seule voix, vous célébrerez la gloire du Dieu et Père de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ.
Jésus-Christ est venu pour les Juifs et pour les non-Juifs
7 Accueillez-vous donc les uns les autres, tout comme Christ vous a accueillis, pour la gloire de Dieu. 8 Voici, en effet, ce que j’affirme : c’est, d’abord, que Christ est venu se mettre au service des Juifs pour montrer que Dieu est véridique en accomplissant les promesses faites à leurs ancêtres ; 9 c’est, ensuite, qu’il est venu pour que les non-Juifs, de leur côté, louent Dieu à cause de sa compassion, comme le dit l’Ecriture :
Aussi je publie tes louanges parmi les peuples,
je te célèbre par mes chants[c] .
10 Et ailleurs :
Peuples, réjouissez-vous avec son peuple[d] .
11 Ou encore :
Louez le Seigneur, vous, gens de toutes les nations,
que tous les peuples disent ses louanges[e] !
12 Esaïe dit de son côté :
Un rejeton naîtra d’Isaï,
on le verra se lever pour gouverner tous les peuples,
les peuples étrangers mettront en lui leur espérance[f] .
13 Que le Dieu de l’espérance, vous comble de toute joie et de sa paix par votre confiance en lui. Ainsi votre cœur débordera d’espérance par la puissance du Saint-Esprit.
Projets
14 Frères et sœurs, j’ai personnellement la conviction que vous êtes pleins de bonté, remplis de toute la connaissance, et tout à fait capables, par conséquent, de vous conseiller les uns les autres. 15 Cependant, je vous ai écrit avec une certaine audace sur quelques points ; car je désirais raviver vos souvenirs, à cause de la grâce que Dieu m’a accordée. 16 En effet, il a fait de moi le serviteur de Jésus-Christ pour les non-Juifs. J’accomplis ainsi la tâche d’un prêtre[g] en annonçant l’Evangile de Dieu aux non-Juifs pour que ceux-ci deviennent une offrande agréable à Dieu[h], consacrée par l’Esprit Saint. 17 Voilà pourquoi, grâce à Jésus-Christ, je suis fier de mon travail pour Dieu. 18 Car si j’ose parler, c’est seulement de ce que Christ a accompli par mon moyen pour amener les non-Juifs à obéir à Dieu. Il l’a fait par mes paroles et mes actes, 19 par sa puissance qui s’est manifestée dans les miracles et les prodiges, par la puissance de l’Esprit de Dieu. Ainsi, à partir de Jérusalem jusqu’en Illyrie[i], en rayonnant en tous sens, j’ai fait partout retentir l’Evangile de Christ. 20 Je me suis fait un point d’honneur de proclamer l’Evangile là où le nom de Christ n’était pas encore connu. Je ne voulais en aucun cas bâtir sur des fondations posées par d’autres. 21 J’ai agi selon cette parole de l’Ecriture :
Ceux à qui l’on n’avait rien dit de lui le verront,
et ceux qui n’avaient pas entendu parler de lui
comprendront[j] .
22 C’est aussi cette raison qui m’a empêché bien des fois d’aller chez vous.
23 A présent, je n’ai plus de champ d’action dans ces régions. Or, depuis plusieurs années, je désire aller chez vous 24 et cela pourra se réaliser quand j’irai en Espagne. En effet, j’espère vous voir en passant, et je compte sur vous pour m’aider à me rendre dans ce pays[k] après avoir satisfait au moins en partie mon désir de vous rencontrer. 25 Pour l’instant, je vais à Jérusalem pour le service des membres du peuple saint. 26 En effet, les Eglises de la Macédoine et de l’Achaïe ont décidé de donner une part de leurs biens pour venir en aide aux croyants pauvres de Jérusalem. 27 C’est une décision de leur part et elles le leur devaient : car si les non-Juifs ont eu leur part des biens spirituels des Juifs, ils doivent bien, à leur tour, les assister de leurs biens matériels. 28 Lorsque je me serai acquitté de ce service et que j’aurai remis en bonne et due forme à ses destinataires le fruit de cette initiative, je prendrai le chemin de l’Espagne et passerai donc par chez vous. 29 Et je sais que lorsque je viendrai chez vous, ce sera avec la pleine bénédiction de Christ.
30 Je vous le demande, frères et sœurs, par notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ et par l’amour que donne l’Esprit : combattez avec moi, en priant Dieu pour moi. 31 Qu’il me fasse échapper aux incrédules de la Judée[l] et permette que l’aide que j’apporte à Jérusalem puisse être reçue favorablement par les membres du peuple saint. 32 Ainsi je pourrai venir chez vous le cœur plein de joie, si Dieu le veut, et trouver quelque repos parmi vous. 33 Que le Dieu qui donne la paix soit avec vous tous. Amen.
Footnotes
- 15.3 Ps 69.10.
- 15.5 Autre traduction : selon ce que Jésus-Christ voudra.
- 15.9 Ps 18.50.
- 15.10 Dt 32.43.
- 15.11 Ps 117.1.
- 15.12 Es 11.1, 10 cité selon l’ancienne version grecque.
- 15.16 Paul emploie un mot qui signifie : officiant.
- 15.16 Paul voulait présenter les non-Juifs convertis à Dieu comme le prêtre juif présentait au Seigneur des offrandes qu’il agréait.
- 15.19 Province romaine correspondant à l’ancienne Yougoslavie.
- 15.21 Es 52.15 cité selon l’ancienne version grecque.
- 15.24 D’après les coutumes de l’époque, cette aide demandée par Paul comprenait des indications, des recommandations, des provisions de route et, éventuellement, des compagnons de voyage.
- 15.31 C’est-à-dire aux Juifs de Jérusalem et de Judée qui étaient ses adversaires parce qu’ils ne voulaient pas croire en l’Evangile.
Romans 15
EasyEnglish Bible
15 Some of us trust God with strong faith. We must help those believers whose faith is weaker. We must be patient with them. We should not just do things that will make us happy ourselves. 2 Instead, each of us should do things that will make other believers happy. We should help them to trust God more strongly. 3 Even Christ did not just do things that would make himself happy. It is written in the Bible that he said this: ‘People have insulted you, God. In that way they have also insulted me.’[a]
4 Everything that people wrote in the Bible in past times is there to teach us something. Those words help us to be patient and strong. As a result, we can trust God to do what he has promised.
5 It is God himself who helps us to be patient and strong. So I pray that he will help you to agree with each other and to be friends. That is how Christ Jesus wants you to live. 6 As a result, all of you will praise God together with the same thoughts. You will all agree that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is very great.
Christ saves both Jews and Gentiles
7 Christ has accepted you, so you must accept each other. In that way you will be praising God. 8 Remember this: Christ became a servant of the Jews so that they could understand God's true message. He showed them that God has now done what he promised to their ancestors.[b] 9 The Gentiles also praise God because he has been kind to them. This is written in the Bible:
‘I will tell the Gentiles about you, God.
I will praise you with songs, to show how great you are.’[c]
10 It says also in the Bible:
‘Be very happy, you Gentiles!
Praise God together with his people.’[d]
11 It also says this:
‘Say how great the Lord is, all you Gentiles.
All people, from every country, should say how great he is.’[e]
12 God's prophet Isaiah says this:
‘The root of Jesse will arrive.
He will come to rule the Gentiles.
The Gentiles will trust him to save them.’[f]
13 God is the one who causes us to hope for good things. I pray that God will bless you very much. I pray that he will cause you to be happy and to have peace in your minds. He will do this because you believe in him. As a result, God's Holy Spirit will make you strong with his power, so that you hope even more certainly.
Paul's reason for writing this letter
14 My Christian friends, I myself am completely sure that you are always good. You know everything about God's message, so that you are able to teach one another what is right. 15 I know that is true, but I still needed to write this letter to you. I have written to you strongly, so that you would remember certain things. Because God is kind, he has chosen me to serve him in this way. 16 I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I tell people God's good news. I work like a priest so that God will accept the Gentiles. I offer them to God. The Holy Spirit has made them clean and so God accepts them.
17 So I can be proud about my work. I can serve God well because I belong to Christ Jesus. 18 But I will only speak about the work that Christ has made me able to do. I have lived among the Gentiles and I have spoken God's message to them. They have obeyed God as a result of Christ's work through me. 19 God's Holy Spirit used his power to do many miracles. He caused many great and powerful things to happen. As a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to many people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.[g]
20 I want to go to places where nobody has ever told people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to people in those places. That is what I have always wanted to do. I do not want to work in a place where someone else has already started to teach God's message. 21 This is written in the Bible about God's Messiah:
‘Those people that nobody ever told them about him will now see.
Those people who have never heard about him will now understand.’[h]
Paul hopes to visit Rome
22 That is why, many times, I have not had a chance to visit you. 23 For many years I have been waiting for the chance to come. But now I have finished my work in these places here. 24 So I hope to visit you while I am travelling to Spain. I will stay with you in Rome for a short time. I will really enjoy having some time together with you there. Then you can help me to continue my journey.
25 But now, I am ready to go to Jerusalem to help God's people there. 26 Some of them are poor, and the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they got some money to send to those people. 27 The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia were happy to share what they had.[i] But really, they have a duty to help the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It is the Jews who shared good things from God to help the Gentiles in their spirits. So now the Gentiles ought to help the Jewish Christians with things that they need for their bodies.
28 So I must take their gift safely to the Christians in Jerusalem. When I have finished that job, I will come to visit you. Then I will continue my journey to Spain. 29 When I visit you, I know that Christ will bless us very much while we are together.
30 My Christian friends, please pray for me as I do this difficult work. Together we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. God's Spirit has given us love for each other. So I ask you to help me and to pray with me. 31 Pray that God will keep me safe from those people in Judea who have refused to believe in Jesus. Pray also that God's people at Jerusalem will happily accept the gift that I am taking to them.[j]
32 If God agrees, I will then be able to come to you, and we will be happy together. I will enjoy having some rest while I stay there with you. 33 I pray that God will give you peace in your minds. I pray that he will be with all of you and help you. Amen.
Footnotes
- 15:3 See Psalms 69:9.
- 15:8 God had promised to the Jews that he would send his Messiah to save them. Jesus showed them that he himself is God's Messiah. When Jesus lived on the earth, God's promise became true.
- 15:9 King David said this in Psalms 18:49.
- 15:10 See Deuteronomy 32:43.
- 15:11 See Psalms 117:1.
- 15:12 See Isaiah 11:10. Jesse was King David's father. See 1 Samuel 16:1. Jesus was born many years after Jesse and David lived on the earth. The ‘root of Jesse’ means that Jesus belonged to Jesse and David's family. See Matthew 1:1-16. But it means also that Jesse and David come from Jesus. Jesus caused them to be alive, as a plant grows up from its root. Jesus is God. He has always been alive in God's home beyond the earth. He made everything and everyone.
- 15:19 Illyricum was a region near the Adriatic Sea, north and west from Greece. It was where the north part of Albania is now.
- 15:21 See Isaiah 52:15.
- 15:27 Macedonia included the north part of the country that we call Greece. It also included the south part of the country that we call North Macedonia. Achaia was the south part of Greece.
- 15:31 Judea was a region in the south part of Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, was in Judea.
Romans 15
New King James Version
Bearing Others’ Burdens
15 We (A)then who are strong ought to bear with the [a]scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 (B)Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to [b]edification. 3 (C)For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, (D)“The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 4 For (E)whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the [c]patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 (F)Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may (G)with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Glorify God Together
7 Therefore (H)receive one another, just (I)as Christ also received [d]us, to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that (J)Jesus Christ has become a [e]servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, (K)to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and (L)that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:
(M)“For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,
And sing to Your name.”
10 And again he says:
(N)“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
11 And again:
(O)“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!
Laud Him, all you peoples!”
12 And again, Isaiah says:
(P)“There shall be a root of Jesse;
And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all (Q)joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
From Jerusalem to Illyricum
14 Now (R)I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, (S)filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish [f]one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, (T)because of the grace given to me by God, 16 that (U)I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the (V)offering [g]of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus (W)in the things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things (X)which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, (Y)to make the Gentiles obedient— 19 (Z)in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, (AA)lest I should build on another man’s foundation, 21 but as it is written:
(AB)“To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
And those who have not heard shall understand.”
Plan to Visit Rome
22 For this reason (AC)I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and (AD)having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, [h]I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, (AE)and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may (AF)enjoy your company for a while. 25 But now (AG)I am going to Jerusalem to [i]minister to the saints. 26 For (AH)it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. 27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For (AI)if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, (AJ)their duty is also to minister to them in material things. 28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them (AK)this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. 29 (AL)But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing [j]of the gospel of Christ.
30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and (AM)through the love of the Spirit, (AN)that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 (AO)that I may be delivered from those in Judea who [k]do not believe, and that (AP)my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 (AQ)that I may come to you with joy (AR)by the will of God, and may (AS)be refreshed together with you. 33 Now (AT)the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Footnotes
- Romans 15:1 weaknesses
- Romans 15:2 building up
- Romans 15:4 perseverance
- Romans 15:7 NU, M you
- Romans 15:8 minister
- Romans 15:14 M others
- Romans 15:16 Consisting of
- Romans 15:24 NU omits I shall come to you and joins Spain with the next sentence.
- Romans 15:25 serve
- Romans 15:29 NU omits of the gospel
- Romans 15:31 are disobedient
La Bible Du Semeur (The Bible of the Sower) Copyright © 1992, 1999 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
