but now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints;
Near the end of Romans, Paul lays out his travel plans: Rome, then Spain. But he must go the other way first, to Jerusalem with money — which raises three questions: what was this service, why did an apostle carry it himself, and was the journey wise?
The trip west had to wait. Believers in Jerusalem were in hardship, and Paul meant to bring them help himself.
In the meantime he had another form of ministry to fulfil. There were saints at Jerusalem in poverty. The believers in Macedonia and Achaia were glad to make a contribution for them, and Paul was anxious to take it to Jerusalem... When he had finished this service, Paul planned to visit the saints at Rome.
The need had two roots, and the givers were not the wealthy ones.
The Philippians were poor compared with the Corinthians, yet they were far more liberal. They talked less and gave more. The Acts of the Apostles gives two explanations of how the need arose. There was a famine in those days. Sharing their goods at the beginning had also left the believers in Jerusalem especially poor. Yet their poverty gave the occasion for cementing practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
Paul does not treat this money as charity. He treats it as something owed.
Meanwhile he had an errand of compassion in hand for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. The saints of Macedonia and Achaia had raised money to help their brothers and sisters. The apostle treats this as a debt of love rather than as a simple outflow of love. If the Gentiles shared in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, ought they not to remember their poor saints in material things?
Paul carried the money himself. Commentators read that choice in two ways. One sees an apostle who thought no service too small:
The apostle did not think a deacon's service beneath him. He was inspired to write of it all for our building up, sure of a fullness of Christ's blessing for the saints at Rome when he came.
Another looks at what pulled Paul toward Jerusalem:
We see that his heart turns to the Jews; they occupied his thoughts. He wanted to put the seal of performance on the grace this collection showed. Yet he was preoccupied with them as Jews, as those who had a claim. Perhaps this was a mixed feeling in one who was anxious to show that he did not forget them; for, in fact, he loved his nation. This service belonged properly to a deacon. Pleasing as it might be, we have to learn whether he was at the height of his mission as apostle in carrying it out.
Commentators differ here, and none treat it as settled. One sets the journey beside the warnings Paul was given, and finds his love for Israel blinding him to them:
The apostle is first told, plainly and unmistakably, not to go to Jerusalem. Then he is shown what going will cost him... Despite it all, the apostle sees nothing of the kind. There is a veil over his eyes, and it is a very solemn one. It is the veil of an impulse that holds him — his love for Israel, which he himself has recorded for us in the letter to the Romans. He wrote that letter with this very journey in view.
Another writer leaves the question open and looks at what came of the prayer Paul asked for.
Paul clearly considered this collection a very important matter, and he insisted on carrying the money himself. He was quite aware of the danger he ran... Whether he was right to go to Jerusalem has been much discussed. We need not try to answer that here. But we should note this: God answered the prayer he asked the Roman saints to join him in, though not in the way he hoped. He was delivered, but not as a free man.
Paul did reach Rome — in chains, not as the free traveller of these verses.
His circumstances were very different from the ones he had pictured when he wrote ahead about what he planned to do. But he did come to them with a certain measure of joy by the will of God, and "the fullness of the blessing of Christ" marked him. God's hand was still over him.
- Need. Famine and the early sharing of goods left the believers in Jerusalem poor. Their hardship became an opening for others to give.
- Gift. The money came from Macedonia and Achaia, and the poorer givers gave the most — they talked less and gave more.
- Debt. Paul treats the money as a debt of love. Those who received spiritual things owe material things in return.
- Bond. The collection cemented practical fellowship between Gentile and Jew. Paul knew the danger and still insisted on carrying the money himself.
- Result. Commentators still debate whether the journey was wise. God answered his prayer through imprisonment, and he reached Rome in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
for Macedonia and Achaia have been well pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who [are] in Jerusalem.
Paul is about to leave for Jerusalem with money raised in the churches of Greece, and he tells the Christians in Rome about it. Two questions follow: why were the believers in Jerusalem poor, and why did churches hundreds of miles away want to help?
Macedonia and Achaia were the two Roman provinces that together made up Greece. The order in which Paul names them is not accidental. The record of the early church also explains why the need arose.
We find a reference to this collection for the saints in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, and again at much greater length in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. If you read those passages, you can see at once why the Apostle here places Macedonia before Achaia. The Philippians were poor compared with the Corinthians, yet they were far more generous. They talked less and gave more. The Acts of the Apostles gives two reasons for the need. There was a famine in those days (Acts 11:27-30). The believers in Jerusalem had also grown especially poor through the "Christian communism" they practised at the beginning (Acts 2:44-45).
The word behind "contribution" is one the New Testament usually uses for something else.
The word "koinonia" means to share a thing in common. The New Testament translates it nineteen times — twelve times as "Fellowship," four times as "Communion," and once each as "Communication," "Contribution," "Distribution."
The words "it pleased them" set a principle for Christian giving. Liberty rules out force, but it does not cancel what is owed.
If you take the trouble to read Romans 15:26, you will find that "Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem." So on this point, the principle recognised in the word of God is the full liberty of the saints, and under certain aspects their moral obligation. "It pleased them." So when it pleases us, we do it, often acknowledging that it is an obligation. If you wish to see the spirit in which the thing was done, you can read 2 Corinthians 8 where the apostle says he does not speak this as a command.
So why did the Greeks owe anything? Paul points to what they had already received.
Meanwhile he was on an errand of compassion for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. Long before this, the Romans had divided Greece into the two provinces of Macedonia and Achaia. The saints there had raised money to help their brothers. The apostle treats this as a debt of love rather than as love simply flowing out. If the Gentiles shared in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, should they not remember their poor saints in material things? They were pleased, he repeats, but they are their debtors.
The gift did more than relieve hunger. It worked against a split that was opening in the early church.
In those days Jew and Gentile tended strongly to fall apart, and teachers from Jerusalem who pressed the law of Moses made the split worse by their scheming. So Paul clearly saw this collection as very important, and he insisted on carrying the money himself. He knew well the danger he was running. Verses 30 and 31 of this chapter show that he sensed trouble coming.
Commentators differ. One leaves the question open and looks instead at how the journey ended.
Whether he was really right in going to Jerusalem has been a much discussed question. We need not try to answer it here. But note that God answered the prayer Paul asked the Roman Christians to join in, though not in the way he hoped. He was delivered, but not as a free man. His imprisonment by Caesar's officers delivered him from his persecutors.
Another writer reads Paul's silence about any spiritual motive as telling.
No doubt it was a sweet testimony of affection and unity — so valuable at the time. Yet we may be sure that this was not all that moved Paul's heart. He has already told us (Rom. 10:1) of his deep longing for Israel's salvation... Why then does he not speak of it here? Can it be that he mentions no spiritual reason for going because he had a sense that it would bear no spiritual fruit? Indeed, we know from elsewhere that he did not have the direct leading of the Spirit of God to go to Jerusalem — in fact the Spirit warned him not to go. Another brother could just as well have carried this practical service to the poor saints.
- Debt — Spiritual blessing came out of Jerusalem to Greece. So Paul treats the money going back as a debt of love, not just love overflowing.
- Pleasure — No one ordered the debt paid. "It pleased them" — full liberty, with moral obligation beside it.
- Sharing — The word translated "contribution" is the word for fellowship. The gift was shared life, not charity from a distance.
- Bond — Jew and Gentile were pulling apart. This collection tied them together, and Paul carried it himself.
- Cost — He knew the danger and asked for prayer. God answered, but delivered him as a prisoner, not a free man.
They have been well pleased indeed, and they are their debtors; for if the nations have participated in their spiritual things, they ought also in fleshly to minister to them.
Paul is heading to Jerusalem with money collected from believers in Macedonia and Achaia for poor Christians there. This verse gives his reason, and it raises a question far bigger than one relief fund: when does a gift become a debt?
Paul says two things at once about the same collection. It pleased the givers, and they were under obligation. One commentator notes how he refuses to leave it at spontaneous generosity:
Meanwhile he was busy with an errand of compassion for the poor believers at Jerusalem. The believers of Macedonia and Achaia had raised money to help them. The apostle treats this as a debt of love rather than simply love flowing out. If the Gentiles shared in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, should they not remember their poor believers with physical things? They were pleased, he repeats, but they are their debtors.
The obligation is not just sentiment. It rests on where the gospel came from:
The Gentiles were in some sense debtors to Jerusalem. "Salvation is from the Jews," and the gospel had started in this favoured though guilty city. So if spiritual blessing had come from there to the Gentiles, it is only right — and a chance to show thankfulness — that when the Jews are in need, the Gentiles gladly serve them with material things.
The words "owe" and "ought" here come from one Greek verb. It is the language of accounts, not of advice:
Bengel says that the Greek word opheilo means "obligation," while the word dei means "necessity." Opheilo means to be under moral obligation, bound by duty, one ought — and especially in personal matters. Opheilo, and the words built from it, is with one exception the word for "owing" and for what is owed. In Romans 15:27 the older translation renders it "debtor" and "duty."
The older translation says "carnal things." That can mislead a reader today, since the same word carries a moral sense elsewhere. Here it means physical:
In Romans 7:14 the word means "fleshly" in a moral sense — the state of a newborn soul under bondage, doing the things he hates. In Romans 15:27 it means "fleshly" in a physical sense.
The need at Jerusalem had a traceable cause, and the relief did more than feed people:
The Acts of the Apostles gives us two reasons for the need. There was a famine in those days (Acts 11:27-30). The believers in Jerusalem had also become especially poor through the "Christian communism" they practised at the beginning (Acts 2:44-45). Their poverty, however, gave the occasion for building strong practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
Giving was only half of it. One writer weighs what receiving such help admits:
When one church receives financial aid from another, that is a full and complete recognition of practical fellowship, founded on the confessed unity of the body.
Paul does not leave the principle with Macedonia and Achaia. He hints rather than presses when he turns to the readers at Rome:
This points to an important principle. If the Gentiles get blessing in spiritual things, they ought to treat it as their duty to give from their material things. There is a kind of obligation here. The apostle gently suggests to the believers at Rome that they might send a little help to their Jewish fellow-Christians in their present need.
Commentators read this verse as a working principle, not a one-off. One writer applies it to those who teach the word:
What the apostle commands is that the one who is taught the word should share his "good things" with the teacher. That is, the one taught has the privilege of meeting the teacher's material needs. The apostle states the same principle from another angle when he says that if the Gentiles have shared in the spiritual things of the Jewish believers, it is their duty to serve them in material things too. It is for the reader, not the writer, to say whether people generally recognise this obligation.
- Received — The Gentiles got the gospel through Jerusalem. Salvation is from the Jews, and the blessing travelled outward from that city.
- Owed — Paul's word is the language of debt: moral obligation, bound by duty. The older translation renders it both "debtor" and "duty" in this one verse.
- Willing — Yet the givers were pleased to give. One commentator calls it a debt of love rather than simple generosity — both, not either.
- Repaid — Not in kind. Spiritual things came down and material things went back. "Fleshly" here means physical, not sinful.
- Bonded — The money did what argument could not. Relief for believers hit by famine built practical fellowship between Jew and Gentile. The same rule still binds those taught to support those who teach.
Having finished this therefore, and having sealed to them this fruit, I will set off by you into Spain.
Paul is writing about a delivery. He is holding money from Gentile churches for poor believers in Jerusalem. It must reach them before he can turn west toward Rome and Spain.
Some translations render the middle of the verse "having sealed to them this fruit." One writer lists the meanings sealing carries in Scripture, and puts this verse under the closing of a transaction:
In Scripture, one of the meanings of sealing is the closing of a transaction, as in Romans 15:28. It is the putting into a person's hands of something designed for him and prepared for him, so that he can have it and use it.
One writer names two events that had drained the believers in Jerusalem, then draws out what their poverty made possible:
The Acts of the Apostles gives us two reasons for the need. There was a famine in those days (Acts 11:27-30). The believers in Jerusalem had also been made poor in a special way by the "Christian communism" they practised at the beginning (Acts 2:44-45). Their poverty, however, gave the occasion for building practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
The same writer describes how Paul handled the collection he was trusted with:
Paul himself was the chief trustee of this collection made among the Gentile churches. He took great care to handle everything with openness and integrity. His own words are that they take this course "so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us." They aim "at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man" (2 Corinthians 8:20-21). Because of this care, he took with him no fewer than three brothers. One of them was Titus, whom Paul himself chose for the task.
(The quotation there follows an older translation; the ESV reads, "We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man.")
One writer points out which place Paul was aiming for, and what his hope for the visit shows:
Notice that Spain, not Rome, was the point he sought. This was no doubt in keeping with the measure of the sphere God assigned him. His eye was on the regions beyond. But he hoped to see the Roman believers on the way, and to be sent forward from there by them. He asks first to enjoy their company "for a while," for he will not allow that any time could exhaust his love for them or his enjoyment of talking with them.
Whether he ever arrived is another matter, and the record stops short:
The New Testament mentions Spain only in connection with Paul's plan to visit it. Whether he went there between his first and second imprisonments is not known.
The plan in this verse sounds simple: finish, then travel. What followed was neither simple nor short.
He did indeed get to Rome; whether to Spain or not we are not told. But how much came in between that he had not counted on! After Jerusalem came two years in prison at Caesarea. Then came the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean, with three months at Malta, and a full two years in a Roman prison before release. He had meant only to stop there for a short time. But God had work for him, and he was kept there by force.
One writer leaves the much-argued question of the Jerusalem trip open, and points instead to what came of the prayer Paul asked for:
Whether he was right to go to Jerusalem has been much discussed. We need not try to answer it here. But we should note this: God answered the prayer he asked the Roman believers to join him in, though not in just the way he hoped. He was delivered, but not as a free man. He was delivered from his persecutors by his imprisonment at the hands of the representatives of Caesar.
- Seal — sealing closes a transaction. It puts into someone's hands what was prepared for them, and Paul will not leave for the west until the gift is delivered.
- Need — famine and early poverty had drained Jerusalem. That need became the occasion for real bonds between Gentile and Jewish believers.
- Trustee — as chief trustee of the collection, Paul took three companions with him. He aimed at what is honourable before men as well as before the Lord.
- Beyond — Spain, not Rome, was the goal. His eye was on the regions beyond, with the Roman believers as a stop and a send-off.
- Overruled — prison at Caesarea, a dangerous voyage, Malta, two years in Rome. He was delivered, but as a prisoner, and God had work for him there.