Romans chapter 15

vs 23

If you are familiar with Paul's letters, you can sense the winding down as the topic changes to himself and his movements. While I wouldn't go so far as to say Paul's closing remarks of his letters are chock full of stuff to learn and reflect on, they are noneltheless valuable.

So here, Paul is talking about a winding down in his work. The idea that there is for Paul no more work in a region seems a bit wrong, so I am assuming he is referring to the work of building where there has been no other foundation placed. Frontiers always diminish.

vs 24

But hey, if it means that the Romans get a visit from Paul, and Paul gets the support of the Roman church, then there's nothing wrong with that. Paul had his eyes set on Spain - that's a bit of a new frontier for him, being the other side of Europe.

vs 25

I think he's talking about the gifts for the church there, which had found itself in a poverty type situation, possibly from disaster, possibly from bad management.

vs 26

Hmmm, can you hear the silent pull on the purse strings? It could be that Paul is simply stating fact and explaining that he needs to go to Jerusalem because these churches gave money, and someone has to take it.

If that is the case, then I might point out that the church, in wanting to send a bit of relief aid, didn't just send it with any old messenger - they sent it with an Apostle, Paul. Quite encouraging, I think.

vs 27

I think this is a truth that cannot be denied. The question is, are there places in the world that are more spiritually blessed than the western world (probably) and are we prepared to do a trade? Probably not. Oh, we're happy to send aid to help poor people (well, if you look at the actual numbers of the finance, not that happy), but we don't want to import in that crazy spirituality from backwards poor countries.

vs 28

Travel plans, first century AD style.

vs 29

Who knows what that's meant to mean.

vs 30

This isn't the only place that Paul sees prayer as a joining in on the struggle for something. Those of you who are resistance fighters or rebels at heart should be attracted to prayer, because it's the way you can be there on the front lines with those struggling for Christ, even if you're unable to get there and contribute physically. I must admit, I have always found praying for those people who are on the coalface of some sort of struggle a lot easier.

vs 31

Ok, the first prayer point makes sense. The Jews are not Paul's best friends. But the second one is kind of odd. You would hope that the Jerusalem church would be happy to receive some money.

vs 32

The idea seems to be that if they aren't, Paul may not make it to Rome.

vs 33

No, wait, there's another chapter to go. False alarm.