Romanos 15:22-32
La Actitud Generosa de los Griegos
These Christians were happy to help. They made a contribution, where Paul’s choice of word points to something more than money. The term is the ordinary one for “fellowship” (and is used, e.g., of “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”, 2 Cor. 13:14) and will indicate here that the money was not a soulless gift, but the outward expression of the deep love that binds Christian believers in one body, the church (it is used similarly in 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13)
The fact that they did shows their pleasure at being able to help needy brothers and sisters. Paul goes on to say that there was in fact an element of debt; the Gentile believers were the “debtors”135 of believing Jews. Paul introduces his explanation of this with a conditional clause, For if the Gentiles have shared …, where the implication is that the condition has been fulfilled. What they shared137 is put in general terms, spiritual blessings, but there is no doubting that Paul means the gospel above everything else. That was the supreme privilege; nothing in all this world is to be compared to the gift of God in the gospel, and the gospel came first to the Jews. When the Gentiles received it, it was because Jewish missionaries proclaimed it to them and invited them to share in its blessings. It is reasonable, then, that the Gentiles should serve the Jews with their material blessings.