Romans 15:27

It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) It hath pleased them.—It pleased the Macedonians and Achaians to make their contribution. And, indeed, they owed a debt to the church at Jerusalem which it was their duty, so well as they could, to discharge.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:22-29 The apostle sought the things of Christ more than his own will, and would not leave his work of planting churches to go to Rome. It concerns all to do that first which is most needful. We must not take it ill if our friends prefer work which is pleasing to God, before visits and compliments, which may please us. It is justly expected from all Christians, that they should promote every good work, especially that blessed work, the conversion of souls. Christian society is a heaven upon earth, an earnest of our gathering together unto Christ at the great day. Yet it is but partial, compared with our communion with Christ; for that only will satisfy the soul. The apostle was going to Jerusalem, as the messenger of charity. God loves a cheerful giver. Every thing that passes between Christians should be a proof and instance of the union they have in Jesus Christ. The Gentiles received the gospel of salvation from the Jews; therefore were bound to minister to them in what was needed for the body. Concerning what he expected from them he speaks doubtfully; but concerning what he expected from God he speaks confidently. We cannot expect too little from man, nor too much from God. And how delightful and advantageous it is to have the gospel with the fulness of its blessings! What wonderful and happy effects does it produce, when attended with the power of the Spirit!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Their debtors - The reason he immediately states; compare Romans 1:14.

Of their spiritual things - Have received the gospel by the instrumentality of those who had been Jews; and were admitted now to the same privileges with them.

Carnal things - Things pertaining to the flesh; that is, to this life. On this ground the apostle puts the obligation to support the ministers of the gospel; 1 Corinthians 9:11. It becomes a matter of "debt" where the hearer of the gospel "receives," in spiritual blessings, far more than he confers by supporting the ministry. Every man who contributes his due proportion to support the gospel may receive far more, in return, in his own peace, edification, and in the order and happiness of his family, than his money could purchase in any other way. The "gain" is on his side, and the money is not lost. The minister is not a beggar; and what is necessary to his support is not almsgiving. He has an equitable claim - as much as a physician, or a lawyer, or a teacher of youth has - on the necessaries and comforts of life.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also—"they owe it also"

to minister unto them in carnal things—(Compare 1Co 9:11; Ga 6:6; and see Lu 7:4; Ac 10:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It hath pleased them verily; he makes this repetition, as to commend the Grecians, so also to admonish the Romans to the like benevolence.

And their debtors they are; i.e. the Gentiles are debtors to the Jews; though what they sent them was a gift, yet it was also a debt, it was due by the law of charity, Romans 13:8, and by the law of gratitude and equity; they had received from them, and they were obliged in some sort to make returns to them.

For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things: by the spiritual things of the Jews, of which the Gentiles were made partakers, you may understand all those things of which mention is made, Romans 9:4,5; more particularly, the gospel, with the ministry and ordinances thereof: the gospel was first preached to the Jews, and from Jerusalem it was spread abroad among the Gentiles: see Luke 24:47 Acts 1:4,8. By the carnal things of the Gentiles, you may understand their gold and silver, with all things needful for the sustentation of the body: you have a parallel place in 1 Corinthians 9:7.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It hath pleased them verily,.... This is repeated from the former verse, and is designed to point out the spring of this contribution, and the manner in which it was performed: it arose from themselves; it was the pure effect of their good will and pleasure; the first motion was from among themselves; it was their own thought, mind, and will; they were willing of themselves unto it, and begun it of themselves, unasked, and not moved unto it by any other: it was not done by constraint or necessity, but was entirely free; they did not make it for ostentation sake, or to gain the applause of men, but from a principle of love to the poor saints; and which showed itself to be sincere, hearty, and genuine, by deeds, and not bare words: they performed this service with great alacrity and cheerfulness; they gave not sparingly, but largely; it was not a matter of covetousness, but of bounty; and they did it not grudgingly, but cheerfully; they took delight and pleasure in it; their hearts and souls were in it, and yet notwithstanding did but what they ought to do.

And their debtors they are; for being debtors to God for their temporal and spiritual mercies; and to Christ for what he has done for them in redemption, and for what he is to them; and to the Spirit for the influences and operations of his grace upon them, they are debtors to the saints; they are bound to love them; they owe the debt of love to them, as they are in the spiritual relation of the children of God, members of Christ, and brethren one of another; and their paying of this debt to them is, in some sense, reckoned a paying it to the divine persons. Moreover, it was not merely a debt of love which these Gentiles owed, and in this way paid to the believing Jews; but it was a debt of justice and equity; they had received what was of valuable consideration from them, and by their means: Christ himself was of the Jews; hence salvation is said to be of them, John 4:22. The writings of the Old Testament were committed to them, and faithfully preserved by them; and from them transmitted to the Gentiles; the apostles were all Jews, under whose ministry they were enlightened, converted, and brought to the knowledge of Christ, and salvation by him; the Gospel of the grace of God came out from among them; it was first preached in Judea, and at Jerusalem; and from thence was carried and spread in the Gentile world; yea, it looks very likely, and is not at all unreasonable to suppose, that the charge of carrying and spreading the Gospel among the Gentiles was at first defrayed by the believing Jews, and out of that common stock and fund which was at Jerusalem; for it was not proper that the apostles, at their first setting out, should take anything of the Gentiles, lest they should be thought to be mercenary persons, who only sought their own worldly advantage: hence the apostle argues from the greater to the lesser,

for if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things: the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, which are spiritual things; contain and make known spiritual blessings; impart spiritual gifts; in which the Spirit of God is greatly concerned, he is the author of them; he leads men into them; qualifies them to preach them unto others; blesses and succeeds them to the conversion; comfort, and edification of souls; and by means of which he himself is received as a Spirit of illumination, sanctification, and faith: and which doctrines also relate to the spiritual and eternal welfare of the souls and spirits of men; hereby they are enlightened, quickened, comforted, and nourished up unto eternal life: wherefore, since this is the case, and these the favours the Gentiles enjoyed through the Jews,

their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things; in outward and temporal things; in things pertaining to the flesh; or outward man, for the clothing and nourishment of the body. This he said to stir up the Romans, who were Gentiles also, and under the same obligations to make a contribution for them likewise.

Geneva Study Bible

{11} It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to {q} minister unto them in carnal things.

(11) Alms are voluntary, but yet we at the same time owe these by the law of charity.

(q) To serve their turns.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 15:27. Information, why they did so, by way of more precisely defining the mere εὐδοκήσαν previously expressed.[30] “They have been pleased, namely, to do it, and (this is the added element) their debtors they are”.

The Gentiles have acquired a share (ἐκοινώνησαν) in the spiritual possession of the Christians of Jerusalem (ΑὐΤῶΝ), in so far as the mother church of Christianity was in Jerusalem, so that thus the spiritual benefits of Christianity, which in the first instance were destined for and communicated to the Jews and subsequently passed over also to the Gentiles, have been diffused from Jerusalem forth over the Gentile world (which march of diffusion so begun continues), as indeed in Antioch itself the first church of Gentile Christianity was founded from Jerusalem (Acts 11:20).

τοῖς πνευματικ.] for the benefits of Christianity (faith, justification, peace, love, hope, etc.) proceed from the Holy Spirit, are τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δῶρα: comp. on Ephesians 1:3.

ΤΟῖς ΣΑΡΚΙΚΟῖς] for the earthly possessions concern the material and physical phenomenal nature of man, which is his bodily form of existence. Comp. 1 Corinthians 9:11.

The conclusion is a majori, which they have received, ad minus, with which they are under obligation to requite it. Comp. Chrysostom. By λειτουργῆσαι, Paul places the almsgiving of love under the sacred point of view of a sacrificial service (see on Romans 13:6, Romans 15:16), which is performed for the benefit of the recipients. Comp. 2 Corinthians 9:12; Php 2:30; Php 2:25.

That further, as Chrysostom, Calvin, Grotius, and many, including Rückert and Olshausen, assume, Paul intended “courteously and gently” (Luther) to suggest to the Romans that they should likewise bestow alms on those at Jerusalem, is very improbable, inasmuch as no reason is perceivable why he should not have ventured on a direct summons, and seeing, moreover, that he looked upon the work of collection as concluded, Romans 15:25. Without any particular design in view (Th. Schott thinks that he desired to settle the true relation between the Gentile Christians and the apostle to the Gentiles), he satisfies merely his own evident and warm interest.

[30] “Est egregia ἀναφορὰ simul cum ἐπανορθώσει,” Grotius.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 15:27. εὐδόκησαν γὰρ: they have resolved, I say. Paul felt bound to let this resolution affect his own conduct even to the extent of delaying his journey westward. Indeed he explains in 2 Cor., chaps. 8 and 9, that he expected great spiritual results, in the way of a better understanding between Jewish and Gentile Christianity, from this notable act of Gentile charity; hence his desire to see it accomplished, and the necessity laid on him to go once more to Jerusalem. ὀφειλέται: cf. Romans 1:14, Romans 8:12. The resolve of the Gentile Churches to help the poor Jewish Christians, though generous, was not unmotived; in a sense it was the payment of a debt. τοῖς πνευματικοῖς αὐτῶν: the spiritual things belonging to the Jews in which the Gentiles shared are the Gospel and all its blessings—“salvation is of the Jews”. All the gifts of Christianity are gifts of the Holy Spirit. ἐν τοῖς σαρκικοῖς: the carnal things of the Gentiles, in which they minister to the Jews, are those which belong to the natural life of man, as a creature of flesh—the universal symbol of these is money. There is the same idea in a similar connection (the support of the Gospel ministry) in 1 Corinthians 9:2 In neither place has σαρκικὰ any ethical connotation. λειτουργῆσαι is simply “to minister to”: no official, much less sacerdotal association. Cf. Php 2:30.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. It hath pleased them verily] Lit. For they were pleased; an exact repetition of the first words of Romans 15:26; a note of kindly irony. St Paul was far from thinking with real coldness of these gifts of Christian love: see 2 Corinthians 8, 9.

and their debtors they are] “Debtors” is emphatic. The two reasons stand side by side; the givers’ goodwill, and their duty.

For if the Gentiles, &c.] Lit. For if (or as) the Gentiles shared in their spiritual things, they are bound even in fleshly things to serve them.—“Even in fleshly things:”—i.e., as well as in spiritual things. Such should be their gratitude as to think no service, however earthly its guise, beneath them.—“To serve them:”—the verb is cognate with the Gr. of “minister,” Romans 15:16; where see note. It is significant here: the Gentiles should look on their charitable gifts as a solemn and sacred service, as at an altar.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 15:27. Εὐδόκησαν γὰρ, for they have been pleased) supply, I say, comp. the beginning of the preceding verse. Pleased, and debt, are twice mentioned.—καὶ, and) Liberty and necessity in good works are one and the same [found together].—εἰ γὰρ, for if) This mode of reasoning applies also to the Romans; he therefore mildly invites and admonishes them, in this epilogue of the epistle, to contribute: comp. ch. Romans 12:13.—ὀφειλουσι, they owe it) by virtue of the debt of brotherly kindness, 2 Corinthians 9:7.—λειτουργῆσαι, to minister) The inferior ministers to the superior.

Romans 15:27

Vincent's Word Studies

To minister (λειτουργῆσαι)

See on Romans 13:6. By using this word for priestly service, Paul puts the ministry of almsgiving on the footing of a sacrificial service. It expresses the worship of giving.