Righteousness shared with others
Paul seems to be expecting aid when he comes to Rome, for he tells the Romans, “I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.” Those plans, however, are for the future. For the moment they will have to wait.
Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
A recurring theme in the New Testament record of early church life is a concern for the poor and needy “saints” (believers) in Palestine. Accepting Christ and his gospel apparently deprived these Jewish Christians in the homeland of the support system they previously had in the synagogue and the local structures for emergency help and relief.
Recall the appointment of the seven deacons in Jerusalem to handle the relief work when that task became too burdensome for the Twelve to administer effectively (Acts 6:1-6). In Acts 11:27-30 Luke speaks of a collection taken by the predominantly gentile congregation in Antioch to alleviate the hardships of Jewish Christians caused by a famine. Paul’s account of a meeting in Jerusalem at which the Christian “pillars” James, Peter, and John recognized Paul as their lead missionary to the Gentiles concludes with this intriguing encouragement: “They agreed that we [Paul and Barnabas] should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:9,10). Both of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians also have key sections dealing with the collection that they and other congregations were gathering for the saints in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8,9).
The collection Paul is referring to in the Corinthian correspondence apparently was finished just prior to Paul’s arrival at Corinth in the fall of A.D. 57, where it seems he spent the winter (1 Corinthians 16:5,6; Acts 20:2,3). Now at the time of the writing of his letter to the Romans, Paul is about to leave for Jerusalem to deliver the collection.
Wisely Paul had invited representatives from the participating congregations to serve as a committee to carry the money. In writing to Rome, Paul mentions only the European participants in the collection, Macedonia and Achaia (Greece). From Luke’s listing of the seven-man committee in Acts 20:4, we know that the Asia Minor congregations also participated. The Asia Minor congregations were represented on the committee by Gaius from Derbe, Timothy from Lystra, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia, presumably from Ephesus.
This collection was a major event in the life of the early church, for its intent was not merely to provide physical relief for the Jewish component of the church. It was also to show the spiritual unity that existed in Christ between Jewish and gentile Christians (2 Corinthians 9:12-14).
Recall that Paul spent a great deal of space in this letter to Rome stressing the need for Jewish-gentile solidarity. It will not surprise us, then, to see Paul take the opportunity here once more to make that point with his readers. Speaking of the mostly gentile participants in the collection, he writes, “They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.