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Romans 15 · a question people ask

"they are their debtors" (15:27). What is the debt?

In the text

The verse gives its own reason: "Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in material things." (15:27). The verse before names who made the contribution, and for whom: "For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem." (15:26). The letter says no more about the contribution than 15:25-28 say. These notes don't fill it in from Acts or from other letters, and apply none of it to any giving today.

The verses

“But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints. For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem. Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in material things. When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.”
Romans 15:25-28 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Romans 15

Romans 15: The God of hope

Three times Romans 15 says the God of: "the God of perseverance and of encouragement" (15:5), "the God of hope" (15:13) and "the God of peace" (15:33). And in it Paul calls himself "a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God" (15:16).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions