or,' i.e.
the poor Christians at Jerusalem; where poverty was specially rife,
because, as we should gather, the wealthier Jews had held aloof from
Christianity[26]. And this, he adds, was the very thing he himself was
zealous to do[27]. How much it was in his mind, both the Acts and his
own epistles bear witness. We hear much in {186} the epistles to the
Corinthians[28] of the collection made in the churches of Macedonia and
Achaia. Not only was this expression of Gentile good will intended to
conciliate the half-alienated and suspicious Jewish Christians of
Jerusalem, but the acceptance of the gift at St. Paul's hands, as the
fruit of his own labour, was to diminish their suspicion of himself.
St. Paul was at pains to prevent any suspicion attaching to his
administration of this bounty, and at every point we perceive how much
trouble he took about the matter. But, hopeful and zealous as he was
about this work of charity, he did not underrate its dangers. His
urgent request for the Roman Christians' prayers in this passage, and
his readiness to meet his death, if need be, at Jerusalem, as expressed
in the narrative of the Acts, show us that he knew the danger he was
incurring from the fierce hostility of the Jerusalem Jews.

6. This passage about the collection[29], coupled with the allusion to
Cenchreae, the port of Corinth, at the beginning of the next chapter,
and the allusion to the Corinthian Gaius as St. Paul's host[30], enable
us to fix the occasion of {187} the writing of this epistle exactly at
the moment recorded in Acts xx. 3--the end of his three months'
residence in Greece. We also gather from the Acts[31], as well as from
this epistle, that it was his intention at that period, when he had
paid his visit to Jerusalem, to go to Rome. Once more we know from the
Acts[32] that Sosipater and Timothy were with him at this point, and
they join in the greetings of the epistle[33]. So that all the
indications taken together fix with wonderful accuracy the exact point
when the epistle was written[34].

7. We do well to note the word used by St. Paul in asking the Roman
Christians' prayers. He begs them to 'strive together' with him in
their prayers. This word is a derivative of that which describes our
Lord's 'agony' in prayer; and Origen's comment upon it is this: 'Hardly
any one can pray without some idle and alien thought coming into his
mind, and leading off and interrupting the intended direction o