Unity and Generosity

“At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.” -Romans 15:25–29

In this pericope, Paul accomplishes two things in his relationship with the Roman church. In the first place, he explains to them his travel plans as a way of helping them manage their expectations. Lest they feel themselves deceived by what they might perceive to be his lingering, he lets them know about the ministry project that is currently occupying his attention. 

It seems the Grecian churches (Macedonia and Achaia) had learned of the dire needs among the Jewish saints in Jerusalem and had taken up an offering, an alms, to relieve their brothers and sisters across the Mediterranean. The reasoning that motivated this kind of unusual generosity was the Grecian believers saw themselves as spiritually indebted to the Jewish believers for sharing the gospel with them when they were impoverished spiritually. Meeting the need of the fiscally impoverished saints at Jerusalem was an opportunity to pay a debt as it were.

The second thing Paul accomplishes by telling this story is he enlightens their imaginations. He teaches them by way of illustration about the kind of unity he has been preaching to them in his letter. The Gentile Christians in Greece were generous to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem because they saw themselves as unified, as equally part of the body of Christ. They believed, as Paul taught elsewhere, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14).

Further, by encouraging their unity and generosity by way of example, Paul is also preparing the church at Rome to receive him and his goal of taking the gospel to Spain with the same spirit, with “the fullness of the blessing of Christ.”