Romans 15:27 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

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.

Romans 15:27

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.