Who are the saints in the collection Paul writes about?
The saints are the poor believers in Jerusalem. Paul instructed the churches to remember them because they had sold their possessions and shared everything in a common kitty in Acts 2 and 3, expecting the Kingdom, but were left needy and dependent on offerings from Gentile converts.
Les explains that the collection Paul writes about was for the poor saints in Jerusalem. They had given everything they had, cashed in their CDs, sold their land and houses, and put it into a common kitty in Acts 2 and 3 in light of the Kingdom. But the Kingdom did not come, because it had been rejected. Many had come from Babylon and Rome for Passover or Pentecost, got involved, gave what they had, and did not even have ship fare home. They lived off the kitty as strangers who could not work, and God in His providence cared for them through offerings from Paul’s converts from Gentiledom, brought back to Jerusalem. Paul gave order to the churches of Galatia and Corinth to collect on the first day of the week, Resurrection Day, not the seventh-day Sabbath.