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by Katie Erickson

Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
- 1 Corinthians 16:1-4

After spending the past 7 weeks in 1 Corinthians 15, we have finally made it to a new chapter and a new section of this letter. There isn't really a common theme among the sections of this final chapter of 1 Corinthians, other than closing out the letter.

This section contains Paul’s instructions for handling money in the church. The beginning word structure in verse 1 is the same as in 1 Corinthians 7:1 when Paul introduced the topic of married life and in 1 Corinthians 12:1 when Paul introduced the topic of the gifts of the Spirit. It is likely, therefore, that this was another question the believers in Corinth had asked Paul – what do we do about collecting money? Specifically, it appears that the question was related to a collection for the church in Jerusalem. We do not know why the church in Jerusalem would be in specific need of money, however.

We also don’t know for sure what Paul is referring to that he “told the Galatian churches to do.” We know that Paul was in Galatia in Acts 16:6, and we have a letter in our New Testament that Paul wrote to the church there, of course. That may be referring to Galatians 2:10 (“All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along”), or he may be referring to something he told them in person that we do not have recorded.

Verse 2 gives specific instructions for setting aside money. Each individual or family should set aside money on the first day of the week in proportion to their income. While it doesn’t say specifically that this money would be collected during their worship gatherings, like how churches today collect weekly tithes and offerings, that could likely be implied through the context. Everyone was to participate in this, not just the rich, which is why the amount given should be related to that individual or family’s income.

Paul encourages them to follow this habit weekly so that they can save it up for when he arrives, rather than collecting money in the moment. But note that this money is not just going to Paul, so this is not Paul being greedy; the money is headed to the church in Jerusalem (verse 3). The Corinthian church was to appoint men to transport the money there, and Paul would write letters for those men to introduce them to the Jerusalem church and validate their role in this transfer. Paul’s affirmation would help the Jerusalem church not be suspicious of these messengers, and the church would trust that all of the money made it from Corinth to Jerusalem.

In verse 4, Paul mentions that he may go along with these messengers to Jerusalem, but is not clear whether Paul ultimately goes along or not. The distance between Corinth and Jerusalem was about 800 miles, so this would be a fairly significant trip for Paul and/or these messengers.

What significance does this passage have for us as the modern church? Clearly, we are not taking up an offering to give to Paul when he stops by. But the principle here is that we should collect money for the Lord’s people as Paul instructs the Corinthian church to do. While we are all called to spread the gospel message and make disciples, not all of us do that as a full-time vocation. We need to financially support those who do this work full-time so that they can fulfill their role of spreading the gospel and equipping the saints. This does not simply apply to pastors and local churches but also to missionaries and those who run organizations that help God’s people accomplish these goals.

It is also important to realize that giving a portion of our money to God should not be out of obligation or a burden but rather to celebrate what God has done for us and what He is doing in our lives and the lives of other believers. We know that everything is actually God’s (Job 41:11, Psalm 50:10, Psalm 24:1, etc.), and whatever we “have” is really just on loan from Him, and we should do with our wealth whatever God wants us to do.

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