First Reading

I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters,

that you yourselves are full of goodness,

filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.

But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you,

because of the grace given me by God

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles

in performing the priestly service of the Gospel of God,

so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable,

sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast in what pertains to God.

For I will not dare to speak of anything

except what Christ has accomplished through me

to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

by the power of signs and wonders,

by the power of the Spirit of God,

so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum

I have finished preaching the Gospel of Christ.

Thus I aspire to proclaim the Gospel

not where Christ has already been named,

so that I do not build on another’s foundation,

but as it is written:

Those who have never been told of him shall see,

and those who have never heard of him shall understand.