Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 15:26

"For it hath been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints that are at Jerusalem." — Romans 15:26 (ASV)

The poor saints.—Literally, for the poor among the saints. It cannot, therefore, be inferred from this that the church at Jerusalem consisted entirely of the poor.

Still, from the first, it would seem that people like Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and Mary the mother of Mark were exceptions. We also know that the church at Jerusalem suffered severely during the famine in the reign of Claudius.

Wealthier churches, such as those of Macedonia and Greece, would naturally be glad to have the opportunity of sending relief to the mother church, from which, it could be said, they themselves were derived.

Saint Paul himself proceeds to urge this very argument. From Jerusalem went forth the gospel which had been preached in Greece and Macedonia, and it would be but a small and due return if some of the superfluous wealth of those more favored regions found its way to Jerusalem.