Yes — impoverished believers did send an offering toward Jerusalem, but Scripture frames it as spiritual indebtedness rather than financial calculation.
Paul names Macedonia and Achaia, areas Les describes as mountainous with little opportunity for wealth, as the givers of a certain contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem. The same passage explains that since the Gentiles had partaken of Jewish spiritual things, they had a duty to minister to them in material things.
Romans 15:26 — It directly records the believers of Macedonia and Achaia making a contribution for the poor saints at Jerusalem.
Romans 15:27 — It gives the underlying reason: those who had shared spiritual things were duty-bound to share material things.
Romans 15:26 records that "it pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." Verse 27 goes on: "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." The Bible's own explanation is that these Gentile believers gave out of a sense of spiritual debt, not because they had extra wealth. They had received spiritual blessings from the Jewish believers, so they responded by ministering to them in material or "carnal" things.
Les points out that Macedonia and Achaia were mountainous areas of Greece with very little opportunity for creating wealth. Yet Paul names those believers as the ones who made a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem. Les also explains why Jerusalem had so many poor believers: early Jewish believers had sold their property and put everything into a common kitty, expecting the Kingdom to come quickly. When the Kingdom did not come, the kitty ran dry and they were left destitute. God in His grace then laid it on the hearts of Paul's Gentile converts to take up collections for those poor saints. Les says this gave him a whole new perspective on these passages, because the offering flowed from impoverished Gentile regions back to Jerusalem.
Les explains that the early Jewish believers in Jerusalem sold their land and houses and put all the money into a common treasury, expecting the Kingdom to arrive soon. Because the Kingdom did not come in, the money eventually ran out, and these believers became poor and destitute. This is why Paul was continually taking up collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem.
Paul says the Gentile believers were debtors to the Jewish believers: the Gentiles had been made partakers of spiritual things, so it was their duty to minister in "carnal" — that is, material or physical — things. Their giving was a tangible response to the spiritual benefit they had received. Les connects this to the ongoing collections Paul took up wherever he went among the Gentiles.
No. Les describes the area of Greece where Macedonia and Achaia were located as totally mountainous, with very little opportunity for creating wealth. That makes the fact that they made a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem especially striking.
Poor Regions Making a Contribution
Les points out that Macedonia and Achaia were mountainous regions of Greece with little opportunity for creating wealth, yet these believers made a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Kitty Ran Dry
Les explains that the Jerusalem believers had sold their material wealth into a common kitty, the kitty ran dry, and God used offerings from Paul's Gentile converts to care for them.
Manna from Heaven & The Sabbath: Law vs. Grace Explained
And you remember why they were poor, don't you? You remember early in Acts when they had lands and houses? If they had CDs or whatever, what'd they do with them? They sold them, and they put all their money into a common kitty, and everybody lived on it. Remember that? Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 3, everybody had all things common. Well, I don't care.
Why Paul's Gospel to Gentiles Is Different From Peter's
They all agreed, this is the way God intends. We are to stay with the Jew, and you go to the Gentiles. And they shook hands, and they went on under those circumstances. And then verse 10. Paul says, "...they only put one requirement on Barnabas and I, and that was that we were to remember the poor, the same which I was forward to do." Now, that brings up another point.
God's Providence Through Gentile Offerings
Les describes how the Jerusalem saints lived off the common kitty and, when it ran out, were provided for by the offerings Paul's Gentile converts brought to Jerusalem.
Why Paul Collected for Jerusalem
Les says the Jerusalem saints were destitute because they had sold everything and the kitty ran dry, which is why Paul was always taking up collections for them.
God Laying It on Gentile Hearts
Les says the Jerusalem believers became destitute after their common kitty ran out, and God laid it on the hearts of Gentile believers to give offerings for them.
Why Acts 2 Is NOT the Birth of the Church — Explained
But there isn't such a thing. There is no such thing. But here it was. Why? Because this is not the church as we understand it. This was a called out group of Jewish believers. The Spirit had been poured on them, and they were all of one mind, living out of one common kitty. And I know they didn't have fifteen, twenty percent interest.
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 verse records the offering from Macedonia and Achaia to the poor saints in 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 gives the spiritual rationale for the contribution: partakers of spiritual things should minister in material things.
Because they had received spiritual benefits from the Jewish believers. Since they had been made partakers of spiritual things, Scripture says their duty was to minister to them in carnal, or material, things (Romans 15:27).
Les explains that they sold their houses and lands and put everything into a common kitty, expecting the Kingdom to arrive. When the Kingdom did not come, the kitty ran dry and they were left destitute.
Watch the Teaching: Why Did God Entrust Romans to a Woman? Romans 14-16 Explained