More Than a Gift: Revisiting Paul's Collection for Jerusalem and the Pilgrimage of Gentiles

Abstract

The Danish scholar Johannes Munck proposed a connection between Paul's collection for Jerusalem and prophetic texts that envisage a pilgrimage of Gentiles to Zion in the end times. Nonetheless, Munck's seminal theory on the collection for Jerusalem has been contested in recent times. This article argues that the Pauline Epistles contain some textual evidence of this link between the two events and that the collection and the pilgrimage of Gentiles share many common characteristics in meaning, both pointing to an eschatological time of reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles under the Messiah. In conclusion, the pilgrimage of Gentiles tradition was likely an influence for Paul in his collection of funds for the church in Jerusalem.