Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Romans 15:25-33, The gift for Jerusalem
Before coming west Paul must take a gift from the churches of Macedonia and Achaia to the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. He asks for prayer that he will be kept safe and the gift accepted.
Romans 15:25-33, in every translation this tool compares.
Before coming west, Paul must first take a gift to Jerusalem, money collected by the churches of Macedonia and Achaia for the needy believers there. He sees it as a debt: the Gentiles have shared in Israel's spiritual blessings and should share their material goods in return. He asks the Romans to pray that he will be kept safe from opponents in Judea and that the Jerusalem believers will accept the gift.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-tax\/","n":"The temple tax","s":"Every year free adult Jewish men across the empire paid two drachmas toward the temple in Jerusalem. After AD 70 Rome went on collecting the same sum for a pagan temple.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
Every year Jewish men throughout the world paid the half-shekel temple tax, and trusted messengers carried it to Jerusalem; this offering would show the same solidarity between Jewish and Gentile believers (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). Augustus had ordered that the Jews' "sacred money be not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem" (Josephus). In some circles, Qumran above all, the poor served as a name for Judea's devout (Keener). Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes say some Jerusalem believers may have seen the gift as the first of the nations' promised tribute, and the notes add that refusing a gift declared enmity, so a refusal would be rare; Wright thinks some Jewish believers may still have found Gentile money tainted. Sealing the fruit recalls the seal on commercial goods that guaranteed their contents (Keener). Wright's biography sums up the plan: "Phoebe, then, will travel west with the letter," while Paul goes east with the money. In the second century the Roman church was known for sending funds to needy churches and freeing Christian slaves from the mines (Keener).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Romans 15:26, 15:27 and 15:31
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Romans 15:16, 15:25-26, 15:27 and 15:28
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 16.6.2, trans. William Whiston
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part Two, comment on Romans 15:25-33
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 12, Corinth II
