Romans 15:25–33. This is a short section, but it ties together much of Romans. Paul has spent chapters discussing the relationship between Jew and Gentile. Now we see that theology turned into something very practical: Gentile Christians are sending money to help poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.

There is also an interesting phrase in verse 27. Paul says the Gentiles “owe it” to the Jewish believers. We need to ask exactly what he means by that.

GENTILES HELPING JEWISH CHRISTIANS

Romans 15:25–33

Paul has told the Romans that he hopes eventually to visit them on his way to Spain.

But first:

Jerusalem.

He says:

“At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.”
— Romans 15:25

Paul is carrying financial help to Christians who are:

in need.

WHERE DID THE MONEY COME FROM?

Paul tells us:

“For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.”
— Romans 15:26

Macedonia and Achaia were largely:

Gentile territory.

Churches there had collected money for poor Christians in:

Jerusalem.

Think about that.

Gentile Christians are helping:

Jewish Christians.

After everything Paul has written in Romans about Jew and Gentile, this collection becomes a living demonstration of:

the gospel.

THIS WAS MORE THAN CHARITY

Of course the money met a real need.

Poor Christians needed:

food and help.

But something bigger was happening.

For centuries Jews and Gentiles had been separated.

Now Gentiles who worship Israel's Messiah are sending their own money to help Jewish believers in Jerusalem.

The gospel has created:

one family.

Romans isn't merely theology written on a page.

Here theology becomes:

a gift carried to Jerusalem.

THEY GAVE WILLINGLY

Paul says Macedonia and Achaia:

“Have been pleased to make some contribution.”

Then he repeats:

“For they were pleased to do it.”
— Romans 15:27

They wanted to help.

This wasn't simply money being extracted from them.

They recognized a genuine need and responded.

But then Paul says something surprising.

“INDEED THEY OWE IT TO THEM”

Paul says:

“And indeed they owe it to them.”

Why would Gentile Christians owe anything to Jewish Christians?

Paul explains:

“For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.”

There is Paul's reasoning.

The Gentiles had received:

spiritual blessings

that came through God's work among:

Israel.

WHAT SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS?

Think back through Romans.

Paul has already told us that Israel received:

“The oracles of God.”
— Romans 3:2

And in Romans 9 he listed Israel's privileges:

the adoption,

the glory,

the covenants,

the giving of the Law,

the worship,

the promises,

and:

the patriarchs.

Then Paul said:

“From their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.”
— Romans 9:5

The Gentiles didn't invent the gospel.

The Messiah came through:

Israel.

The Scriptures came through:

Israel.

The promises came through:

Israel.

The apostles were:

Jewish.

The earliest church was:

Jewish.

Gentile Christians had become beneficiaries of a story God had been working through Israel for centuries.

SO PAUL SAYS: GIVE SOMETHING BACK

Paul's reasoning is beautifully simple.

If Gentiles have shared in Jewish:

spiritual blessings,

then it is appropriate for Gentiles to share their:

material blessings.

This isn't payment for salvation.

Grace cannot be purchased.

It is:

gratitude expressed through generosity.

They had received something priceless.

Now their Jewish brothers and sisters were poor.

So they helped them.

NOTICE THE WORD “SHARE”

Paul says the Gentiles:

“Have come to share in their spiritual blessings.”

That sounds very much like the olive tree of Romans 11.

Gentiles didn't plant another tree.

They were:

grafted in.

They became participants in blessings rooted in God's promises.

Now that spiritual sharing produces:

material sharing.

The theology of Romans 11 becomes the generosity of:

Romans 15.

THIS DOES NOT CREATE TWO PEOPLES OF GOD

Paul isn't describing one Jewish church and another Gentile church that happen to cooperate occasionally.

He has spent Romans bringing them together.

One olive tree.

One Lord.

One gospel.

One body.

And now:

one people helping one another.

Jewish believers had spiritual blessings that Gentiles came to share.

Gentile believers had material resources that Jewish believers now needed.

Each could:

serve the other.

PAUL INTENDS TO DELIVER IT PERSONALLY

Paul says:

“When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.”
— Romans 15:28

Paul has a plan.

First:

Jerusalem.

Then:

Rome.

Then:

Spain.

That is what Paul expects.

But as we noticed in the previous study, things will not happen exactly as Paul might expect.

PAUL WILL REACH ROME

Paul says:

“I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.”
— Romans 15:29

Paul does eventually reach Rome.

But not simply as a missionary traveling freely toward Spain.

He arrives:

under Roman guard.

That makes the next verses especially interesting.

Paul knows Jerusalem may be:

dangerous.

PAUL ASKS THEM TO PRAY

Paul says:

“I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.”
— Romans 15:30

Notice his language:

“Strive together with me.”

Prayer isn't pictured as casual.

Paul is going into a difficult situation.

He wants the Roman Christians to join him in the struggle through:

prayer.

WHAT DOES PAUL WANT THEM TO PRAY FOR?

Paul is very specific.

First:

“That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.”
— Romans 15:31

Paul knows there are people in Judea who strongly oppose his ministry.

His concern isn't imaginary.

Acts will show us just how real the danger is.

BUT PAUL HAS ANOTHER CONCERN

Paul also asks them to pray:

“That my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.”

That's interesting.

Paul isn't only worried about:

unbelieving Jews.

He is concerned about how the:

Jewish Christians

will receive his ministry.

Why?

The text doesn't spell out everything Paul was thinking.

So we shouldn't pretend it does.

But Acts shows that tensions surrounding Paul's Gentile ministry were very real.

Some Jewish believers were deeply concerned about reports concerning Paul's teaching and his relationship to the Law.

Paul wants this gift from Gentile churches to be:

received well.

THINK ABOUT WHAT THE GIFT REPRESENTED

Imagine Jewish Christians in Jerusalem receiving help from Christians in:

Macedonia

and

Achaia.

Gentiles whom many Jews once regarded as outsiders are now:

brothers and sisters.

They worship the same Lord.

They have received the same mercy.

And now they are caring for each other's needs.

The collection itself says:

The gospel has brought us together.

PAUL ASKS FOR PRAYER ABOUT HIS PLANS

Paul continues:

“So that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.”
— Romans 15:32

Notice:

“By God's will.”

Paul has plans.

But he doesn't confuse:

his plan

with

God's will.

He wants to go to Rome.

He prays to go to Rome.

But ultimately:

God decides the route.

DID GOD ANSWER PAUL'S PRAYER?

This is worth thinking about.

Paul prayed to be delivered from unbelievers in Judea.

When he reached Jerusalem, opponents tried to:

kill him.

Was the prayer unanswered?

Not exactly.

Paul was:

delivered.

But how?

Roman soldiers rescued him.

Then Paul spent considerable time:

in custody.

Eventually he was sent to Rome.

So God answered the prayer.

But the answer looked very different from what we might expect when we hear the word:

deliverance.

SOMETIMES GOD'S ANSWER DOESN'T LOOK LIKE OUR ANSWER

We might imagine:

Deliverance means nothing bad happens.

But Paul was attacked.

Arrested.

Imprisoned.

Shipwrecked.

And finally brought to Rome as a prisoner.

Yet through all of that:

Paul survived.

Paul reached Rome.

And:

Paul preached Christ there.

God's answer didn't eliminate the trouble.

God worked:

through it.

“THE GOD OF PEACE”

Paul closes:

“May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
— Romans 15:33

That is especially appropriate after everything Paul has said.

Jew and Gentile.

Strong and weak.

Different consciences.

Different backgrounds.

Different histories.

Yet Paul wants them united under:

the God of peace.

LOOK HOW FAR THE JEW-GENTILE STORY HAS COME

Romans began with:

“To the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Then Paul showed:

Jews are under sin.

Gentiles are under sin.

Both need:

Christ.

Abraham becomes father of believing:

Jew and Gentile.

Adam shows the problem is larger than Israel—it is the problem of:

humanity.

Romans 9–11 explains Israel, election, unbelief, mercy, the remnant, and Gentiles being grafted in.

Romans 14–15 tells Jewish and Gentile believers:

Welcome one another.

And now Gentile Christians are sending their money to help:

Jewish Christians.

Paul's theology has become:

a collection for the poor.

THAT MAY BE ONE OF THE BEST TESTS OF THEOLOGY

It is easy to say:

We are one in Christ.

It means more when one Christian sees another Christian suffering and says:

Then his need matters to me.

Doctrine that never reaches:

our wallets,

our homes,

our relationships,

and

our treatment of other people

hasn't finished its work.

Romans never separates what Christians believe from:

how Christians live.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

Ask the text:

Where was Paul going before Rome?

Jerusalem.

What was he taking?

Financial help for:

poor Christians.

Who had provided it?

Christians in:

Macedonia and Achaia.

Why did Paul say Gentiles owed something to Jewish believers?

Because Gentiles had:

“Come to share in their spiritual blessings.”

Was the gift payment for salvation?

No.

It was practical generosity flowing from:

shared spiritual blessings.

What did Paul ask the Romans to pray about?

That he would be delivered from unbelievers in Judea and that his service would be accepted by the saints in Jerusalem.

Did Paul eventually reach Rome?

Yes.

But by a route he probably would not have chosen:

as a prisoner.

Paul has now finished the main argument of Romans.

But he hasn't finished the letter.

Romans 16 opens a window into something we can easily miss.

Behind all this great theology are:

real people.

Men.

Women.

Couples.

House churches.

Missionaries.

Workers.

Friends.

And the first person Paul names is a woman named:

Phoebe.

NEXT: PHOEBE, PRISCILLA, AQUILA—AND A LOT OF NAMES

Romans 16:1–16

TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.

Questions, comments, or disagreements?
We welcome them. Use the response form on our HOME page to send us a note.

Return to New Testament Books