An offering from gentile to Jewish Christians. In (1Cor 16:1-2), Paul the apostle gives instructions to the Corinthian Christians about a fund that he is intent on raising for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. His churches in Galatia (1Cor 16:1) and Macedonia (2Cor 8:1-5; 2Cor 9:1-2) had also been urged to make contributions, and the latter, at least, seem to have responded generously (2Cor 8:3-5). At least two factors account for the high priority Paul seems to have placed on the collection project over a several-year period: first, he considered it a needed act of charity (2Cor 8:4; Rom 15:26), perhaps an extension of the relief fund he and Barnabas had delivered to the Jerusalem church on behalf of the Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:27-30); second, he had committed himself to it as a part of the agreement reached when the Jewish-Christian leaders in Jerusalem approved his mission to the Gentiles (Gal 2:1-10); it therefore symbolized the partnership of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel.
