Guy N. Woods
“Please discuss 1 Cor. 16:1, 2; and explain how this passage may properly be cited as a pattern for a church treasury from which funds may be taken for many purposes when it was originally intended to provide for the needs of poor saints only.”
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” (I Cor. 16:1, 2.) Earlier, perhaps in a previous letter the apostle had written to the church at Corinth (5:9) or, what is more likely, on the occasion of his last visit with them, he had revealed his plans to provide for the poor saints in Jerusalem in a great contribution he proposed to raise from Gentile congregations in Macedonia, Achaia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and the Corinthians had given immediate assurances of their willingness to assist. The time had now come for their promise to be translated into performance; and, it was his design in the instructions given in 1 Cor. 16:1, 2, to indicate the manner in which their obligation was to be performed.
(1) The time when the contribution was to be gathered was “upon the first day of the week.” The Greek phrase is kata mian sabbatou, literally, “upon one of the sabbath,” Hebrew idiom for the first day of the week. The word sabaton was by them used to designate the week (cf. Luke 18:12); hence, day one of the week is the first day thereof. We thus learn that the church was accustomed to meet on the first day of the week (see also Acts 20:7), and it was, therefore, appropriate that the obligation being enjoined by the apostle should be performed on that day.
(2) The duty embraced “every one” capable of giving of his means. It was not limited to the rich or to those possessed of abundance; the poor were to participate to the extent of their ability. In a later exhortation, this aspect of the matter was repeated: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (II Cor. 9:7.)
(3) The amount each was to give was to be determined in harmony with the prosperity he had enjoyed. The word God, though not in the Greek text, is implied, inasmuch as he is the source of every blessing. Each would give as he was able, thus distributing the obligation in such fashion as not to be unduly burdensome to any. (II Cor. 8:13.)
(4) The design of this arrangement was to avoid the necessity of contacting each disciple for his contribution when the apostle arrived. With their gifts pooled into a common treasury, the contribution would be ready on short notice, thus freeing Paul and his associates from the arduous and often unpleasant task of raising the money directly by personal appeals. This is sufficient refutation of the conjecture of some commentators, and all Sabbatarians, that the disciples were merely asked to place in a treasury at home their gifts, in which case the “gathering” which Paul desired to avoid would yet be required to be made. Each disciple was to give; each disciple was to give as he had been prospered; each disciple was to give upon the first day of the week, into a common treasury of the church.
(5) The purpose of this contribution was to relieve want and destitution among the poor saints in Jerusalem. (Rom. 15:26; 1 Cor. 16:3.) It is worthy of note that only here is a Lord’s day contribution enjoined; and the only specific purpose for it was to relieve the poor in the Jerusalem congregation. There is here no definite and detailed pattern of using the Lord’s day contribution to “pay” the preacher, purchase Bibles, song books, literature and communion supplies, or to erect auditoriums in which to meet for worship. There is, indeed, no apostolic example of using the money thus raised for the poor saints of the congregation [but] raising money only [for] the poor of another congregation! It is therefore absurd to insist, as do some extremists today, that general authority (as, for example, the command to “visit” the fatherless and the widows, in James 1:27), is not sufficient; and to demand a detailed description of every duty from the Scriptures, while they hesitate not to cite 1 Cor. 16:1, 2, to justify the use of the money for all the purposes indicated above, and many others besides, excepting, of course, a home for the homeless, sometimes styled orphanages!
But, do not all of us cite I Cor. 16:1, 2, as the proper way in which to meet all of the financial needs of the church in its work and worship today? Indeed so; but, not on the ground that it provides a specific and detailed pattern of such, because it does not. We have, in this passage, a demonstration of the way in which apostolic congregations, under the direction of an apostle, met a legitimate need. The need, in that instance, was to relieve the poor which then abounded in the congregation in Jerusalem. That great church had impoverished itself, in large measure, in providing for the great host of disciples who were in the city on the day of Pentecost, and for sometime thereafter; and subsequent persecution from unbelieving Jews had added to their burdens. In addition to the sense of obligation Paul felt toward all the poor (Gal. 2:9), he taught that it was an act of Christian brotherhood designed to promote greater fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians for the Gentile churches to come to the aid of the Jewish church in the city where the church was established. (Rom. 15:25-27.)
The churches thus met a need by means of a Lord’s day contribution. We reason, therefore, that in any instance, when a need has been established, it may be met in the same way. Support for the preacher, literature, songbooks, Bibles, the communion supplies, church buildings, an other matters in the same category, are proper and legitimate needs of the church. They may, therefore, be provided for from the treasury of the church supplied from the Lord’s day contributions.
—Questions & Answers-Open Forum. 1976, pp. 354-355.