Bible Verses About Religious Zeal

that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit.

I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.

For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.

Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.

Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

However, I have written you a bold reminder on some points, because of the grace God has given me

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I exult in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

That is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

But now that there are no further opportunities for me in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to visit you,

I hope to see you on my way to Spain. And after I have enjoyed your company for a while, you can equip me for my journey.

Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints there.