Romans 15.25-Paul Must Travel To Jerusalem To Serve The Jewish Christians Before Visiting Rome
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday June 30, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:25-Paul Must Travel To Jerusalem To Serve The Jewish Christians Before Visiting Rome
Lesson # 528
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:22.
This evening we will begin a study of Romans 15:25-26 and in this passage Paul reveals that before he visits Rome to see the Roman believers, he must first travel to Jerusalem to serve the Jewish believers there by delivering an offering to them from the Gentile churches that he had established throughout the Roman Empire.
Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. 15, But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God. 16, To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17, Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. 18, For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. 19, In the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20, And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation. 21, But as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.’ 22, “For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you. 23 But now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you. 24 Whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while. 25 But now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.”
Let’s look at verse 25.
Romans 15:25, “But now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.”
This statement stands in contrast with Paul’s confident expectation of visiting the believers in Rome while on his way to Spain.
“Now” is the adverb of time nuni (νυνί) (knee-knee), which is emphasizing the present circumstances of the apostle Paul and his immediate travel plans at the time of writing to go to Jerusalem and deliver to the Jewish believers there the offering from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia.
“I am going” is the first person singular present passive indicative form of the verb poreuomai (πορεύομαι) (poe-eh-vah-meh), which is used literally of going from one place to another and means “to travel” thus indicating Paul at the time of writing was traveling to Jerusalem.
The passive voice means that Paul as the subject is receiving the action of going to Jerusalem and verse 26 tells us that he had to fulfill the obligation to deliver aid from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia to the destitute Jewish believers in Jerusalem.
Thus, the expressed agency was the delivery of this gift.
The passive voice is also a “divine passive” indicating that Paul as the subject receives the action of the verb from an unexpressed agency, namely, the will of God.
This is implied since the prepositional phrase dia thelematos theou, “by the will of God” that appears in Romans 15:32 is used with respect to Paul’s confident expectation of visiting Rome.
The will of God is for him now to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome.
“To Jerusalem” is composed of the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “to” and the articular accusative feminine singular form of the proper name Ierousalem (Ἰερουσαλήμ) (yah-roo-sah-leem), “Jerusalem.”
The city of Jerusalem is located along the central mountain ridge of Palestine, 36 miles east of the Mediterranean and 16 miles west of the northern tip of the Dead Sea and is situated 2100-1500 ft. above sea level in a relatively level plateau of the Benjaminite highlands.
On the east, is the Kidron valley, which separates it from the Mount of Olives and on the west and south by the Hinnom valley.
Romans 15:25, “But now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.”
“Serving” is the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb diakoneo (διακονέω) (thee-ah-koe-neh-owe), which refers to the service that Paul will render to the destitute Jewish believers in Jerusalem by delivering to them the offering from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia.
The verb functions as a telic participle indicating that the purpose of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem was to serve the destitute Jewish believers in Jerusalem by delivering the offering to them from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia.
The futuristic present tense of the verb is used to describe the immediacy that he is going to serve the destitute Jewish believers in Jerusalem by delivering to them the offering from the Gentiles from Macedonia and Achaia.
The futuristic present indicates that at the time of writing Paul was going to Jerusalem for he “will soon be going to” serve the saints there.
“The saints” is the articular genitive masculine plural form of the adjective hagios (ἅγιος), which describes all the members of the body of Christ in Jerusalem who have been set apart through the Baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation in order to order serve God (See Romans 1:7; 8:27; 12:1).
So in Romans 15:25, Paul informs the Roman believers that at the time of writing this epistle the Holy Spirit permitted him to travel to Jerusalem for he was soon going to serve the saints in that city, which stands in contrast with his confident expectation of visiting them on his way to Spain.
Verse 26 informs the reader that he was going to serve the saints in Jerusalem by delivering to the destitute believers in that city an offering from the Gentiles in Macedonia and Achaia.
Romans 15:26, “For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.”
This offering was a major focus of Paul’s third missionary journey since each letter he wrote on the journey mentions it (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8-9) and is mentioned in other passages such Acts 24:17.
The Jerusalem church was destitute undoubtedly because of the persecutions since for a Jewish believer to trust in Jesus of Nazareth as Savior resulted in expulsion from the synagogue.
Consequently, this meant being barred from Jewish life, thus many lost homes and businesses, not to mention friendships and being disowned by family members.
Undoubtedly, Paul thought this offering to be important because it would serve to build unity among Jewish and Gentile believers and thus it would serve as a symbol of unity among believers.
Morris states that this offering “was a token of fellowship between Christians in the heartland of the Jewish way and Gentile believers. Some early Christians held that all converts ought to be circumcised and to live according to Jewish law; Paul had a continuing controversy with people who held such opinions. His collection would show that those who rejected this hard-line conservatism were nevertheless bound to Jewish believers in ties of Christian love.” (The Pillar New Testament Commentary, The Epistle to the Romans, Page 519; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K., 1996)
Mounce writes, “It was important for the Jewish Christians to understand that the contribution provided by the Gentile believers demonstrated their love and affection for their brethren in Christ. God’s love binds together all believers regardless of ethnic origin. The contribution made by the Gentile church expressed in tangible form the bond of Christian unity that surpasses the artificial barriers of race.” (The New American Commentary, volume 27, Romans, Page 269; Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995)