The Gentile believers had the responsibility to minister to the Jewish believers in carnal (material) things.
Because the Gentiles had been made partakers of Israel's spiritual things, Paul said their duty was to minister to the Jewish believers in carnal things. This obligation was directed especially to the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem, who had become destitute after the King and the Kingdom did not come. God met their need through the offerings of Gentile believers.
Romans 15:27 — Paul states the direct principle: Gentiles who share in Jewish spiritual blessings owe Jewish believers material support.
Galatians 2:10 — Paul records that the one requirement from the Jerusalem leaders was to remember the poor Jewish believers.
Scripture is explicit in Romans 15:27: "If the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things." The same passage shows the churches of Macedonia and Achaia making a contribution "for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." Paul also records in Galatians 2:10 that the only condition placed on his ministry was that "we should remember the poor," which he was eager to do. These verses show that Gentile believers were not simply urged to give out of generosity; they were debtors to the Jewish believers because of the spiritual blessings that came through Israel.
Les teaches that the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem were the primary recipients of Gentile giving in Paul's day. They had pooled their resources at Pentecost expecting the Kingdom to come soon, but when the King and the Kingdom did not come, the common supply ran out and they were left destitute. Since the Gentiles had partaken of Israel's spiritual things, Les says their responsibility was to minister to the Jews in material things. He emphasizes that this was not because Jews had a special spiritual advantage in needing salvation, but because God used Israel to bring spiritual blessings to the world. Therefore, the Jews were worthy of the Gentiles' material gifts. Paul stressed this giving over several chapters, making it the main financial need of the early church at that time.
Les explains that after Pentecost, the Jewish believers put all their material goods into a common treasury because they expected the Kingdom of Heaven to be just over the horizon. When the King and the Kingdom did not come, that common supply ran out, and the believers in Jerusalem became poor and destitute. They were not suffering because of laziness but because of their obedience to the Word of God.
Paul's basis for the giving is Romans 15:27: since the Gentiles had been made partakers of Israel's spiritual things, their duty was to minister to the Jews in carnal things. Les clarifies that this does not mean the Jew has a special spiritual advantage today; the Jew is just as much in need of saving grace as the Gentile. But because God used Israel as the channel of spiritual blessings, the Jews are worthy of the Gentiles' material gifts.
Paul gave orders to the churches of Galatia that on the first day of the week each believer should lay by in store as God had prospered, so there would be no collections when he came. At that time there were no mission boards, no foreign missionaries on salary, and no large church plants to support. The great need was the poor saints dwelling in Jerusalem, and Paul made that the target of the Gentile churches' giving.
A Pressing Need in Jerusalem
Les shows that the Gentile believers' responsibility was to support the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem because the Kingdom did not come and there were no mission boards or church staff to support.
Spiritual Blessings, Carnal Debt
Les reads Romans 15:27 and explains that although Jews and Gentiles are spiritually equal in need of grace, Gentiles still owe material support to the Jews who shared spiritual things with them.
Destitute Jewish Saints
Les explains that the Jerusalem believers became destitute after pooling their resources, and God supplied their need through the offerings of Gentile believers because of the spiritual things Israel gave to the world.
The One Requirement: Remember the Poor
Les explains that the Jerusalem apostles put one requirement on Paul and Barnabas: to remember the poor, referring to the Jewish believers who had given up their property expecting the Kingdom.
Introducing Paul: Why God Stopped the Prophetic Clock
So if you'll Now you want to remember, the Jews were steeped in all this. They were steeped in the covenant God gave to Abraham. They were steeped in the law that God had given to Moses. And even though they didn't understand much of it, yet they did realize that they were a chosen covenant people, and that the Gentiles had no part in that relationship.
Wild Olive Tree Grafted In — What Romans 11 Says About Gentiles
I'm not talking about believers necessarily, I'm talking about the whole Gentile world. We've been brought into the place of having the simple requirement of believing the Gospel. Let's read on, we'll at least finish part of the chapter. Verse 22, continuing on, "...upon them who fell severity, but toward thee Gentiledom, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness.
Why God Holds Everyone Without Excuse — Romans 1:18-21
Those of you who have been hearing me teach all the way up through the Old Testament have always stressed that from the call of Abraham all the way up until we're way into the Book of Acts, God dealt primarily with the nation of Israel. What about those pagan Gentiles all around them? Well they were without hope, Paul says in Ephesians 2.
Why Paul Warned About "Another Jesus" — 2 Corinthians 11:4
They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. They shook on the whole deal. And they all agreed. That we, Paul and Barnabas, should go to the heathen, that's Gentiles, the non-Jew. And they would go, I'm adding the verb, I know that. And they would go where? To the Jew, to the circumcision. Now, they can only go to the Jew a few more years, because the Romans overrun Jerusalem.
Romans 15:27: 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.
This is the clearest statement of the Gentile believers' material obligation to Jewish believers.
Romans 15:26: For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
This shows the concrete expression of the Gentile duty—a contribution for the poor Jewish saints in Jerusalem.
Galatians 2:10: Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
The Jerusalem leaders made the care of the poor Jewish believers a specific requirement of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles.
They were the Jewish believers who had pooled their possessions in a common treasury at Pentecost and later became destitute when the King and the Kingdom did not come. Les says their poverty was a direct result of their obedience to the Word of God.
It means physical or material provisions. Paul uses it in contrast to the spiritual blessings that came to the Gentiles through Israel. Because the Gentiles received spiritual things, they were to give material things in return.
Yes. Les points to Galatians 2:10, where the apostles asked Paul and Barnabas to remember the poor, and Paul said he was already eager to do so.
They expected the Kingdom of Heaven to be just over the horizon, so they thought they would no longer need houses, lands, or personal wealth. When the Kingdom did not come, their resources ran out and they became poor.
Watch the Teaching: Why Poor Churches Begged to Give - 2 Corinthians 8:1-6