15:22 This verse captures the point of what Paul explained in the preceding pericope.
15:23-24 The apostle felt that the Christians in the areas he had evangelized were in a good position to carry on the propagation of the gospel in their territories. Consequently he believed that he could look to comparatively unreached fields farther to the west in Europe (cf. 1:11-12).
"Parts of Spain (which in the ancient world included all the Iberian peninsula) had been occupied by Rome since about 200 B.C.; but it was only in Paul's lifetime that the Romans had fully organized the entire area."402
15:25-26 The purpose of Paul's collection of money from the Macedonian and Achaian churches was to relieve the poverty that existed among the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. A secondary purpose was to cement relations between Gentile and Jewish believers (cf. 1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9).
15:27 The money that Paul was collecting was both a love-gift and an obligation. He could say that the givers owed it because the gospel had come from Jerusalem and Judea to the Gentiles. Believers in Asia Minor also contributed to this fund (1 Cor. 16:1; Acts 20:4).
15:28 Paul evidently anticipated the completion of this project eagerly. The money given was "fruit"in that it was the product of gospel seed-sowing. Paul as "apostle to the Gentiles"evidently wanted to seal it to the Jerusalem Christians by affirming its integrity and insuring that they understood it properly.403
15:29 The blessing of Jesus Christ in view was God's blessing on Paul by allowing him to reach Rome. The apostle probably also had in mind the blessing that would come to the Romans through his ministry among them. He did not know at this time that he would arrive in chains (Acts 28:15).
