Romans 15:25-27 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But now I go unto Jerusalem Of this journey the apostle gave an account to Felix, Acts 24:17; to minister unto the saints To perform the office of carrying some contributions to them for their relief. For it hath pleased them That is, the Christians; of Macedonia and Achaia, particularly the brethren at Philippi, Thessalonica, Beræa, Corinth, and in every other city of these provinces, where churches were planted by the apostle; to make a certain contribution Κοινωνιαν τινα, literally, some communication, namely, of money; for the poor saints For their believing brethren; which are at Jerusalem Exposed to peculiar persecution and affliction. It hath pleased them, I say, and their debtors they are That is, they are bound in justice, as well as mercy. “This repetition is very emphatical, especially as the apostle immediately explains the obligation under which the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia lay to make these collections for the poor of the brethren at Jerusalem. And his intention in this, no doubt, was to show the brethren in Rome that they ought to follow the example of the Macedonians and Achaians in that matter.” For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things That is, the gospel, and the blessings of it, which were first declared to the Jews, and were spread abroad from Jerusalem to the Gentiles, throughout the world, Acts 1:4-8. Their duty is also They are under an obligation by the great benefit received from them to recompense them in some sort, and (which is the only way they can recompense them) to minister unto them carnal things Things needful for the body. “By calling the knowledge of the gospel, which was imparted to the Gentiles by the Jewish preachers, spiritual things, and the money, which the Gentiles were sending to the Jews, carnal things, the apostle hath declared the true nature of both, and showed the great excellence of the one above the other; money procures conveniences only for the flesh; but the gospel improves the spirit, and fits it for a blessed immortality.” Macknight.