1 Corinthians 16:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 16:2

Comments

On the Lord's Day, when you gather for worship; on that occasion, let everyone of you give what he has laid by in store. The KJV gives a very literal translation there, but people are not so much being commanded to save up themselves, as to give to the common purse. The sense is that you treasure up what you can give. And ‘treasure’ would be a good word to have here in the translation. It is something that each one does, ‘as God hath prospered him.’ From their piecework – because many were on piecework, just paid by the hour, or by the day – or from my smallholding. So many of them had their own smallholdings, and from their produce they fed the family and also sent things to market. How much did I make this week? What was the surplus? What have I got in hand? Thoughtfully, with love in the heart, you were to set aside what you could afford, according to how God had prospered you, and you treasured it up. We know well that the early Christians – and this is one of the indications – had moved from the Sabbath to the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath commemorated the creation of the world; and the Lord’s Day commemorated the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.It was such an important blessing and discipline to every soul, to be making such contribution as they could. There was no tithing in New Testament days; no literal tenth, no imposed spiritual taxes on the churches. It was all from the heart, as the Lord had prospered; which could for wealthier people mean that their stewardship amounted to very much more than a tenth. And so it will today, of course. But for the very poorest people it could well have been rather less. So all lay by them, and then this particular offering for the relief of famine would be taken up week by week, and stored by the officers of the church, presumably, until the apostle came.

Application

Some translations employ the word treasure, and it's a good word to have, because your heart is in something you treasure up. This isn’t something we do without thinking. I get paid so much a month into the bank. I've got a direct debit and it goes into church funds, and I am hardly aware of it. Well that may be the practical way of giving for even a majority of people, but if so, you've got to add the heart and the thought. Don't let it go out of your mind. The principle that we are given in the word of God is that we treasure up. Our heart is in our giving. Let’s say I've had a certain sum fixed for so long. Is it enough? Can I afford more? Have I been prospered? What am I buying? Where am I directing funds? It’s something we rejoice in: to help the gospel of God, the work of God. Whether it's relief work, as here, the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, or whether it's 1 Corinthians 9, the support of God's servants. ‘Let all your things be done with charity’, with outgoing love, with your heart in it, and your mind in it.

It is not good for pastors to be talking about stewardship all the time. But sometimes they do have to say, this should be a matter of the heart. What am I doing with the funds and the substance with which God has prospered me? Again, we do not believe in rich pastors. The very reverse; we believe in leading very careful and modest lives in the ministry. We don't go along with those who think ministers should be paid fortunes. Even less, these absurd and heretical prosperity gospel men who even run aeroplanes and helicopters. No, stewardship is for the work of God, for the propagation of the gospel, for the support of the needy, and we should treasure it up, and our hearts should be in what we give and how we give it. There is an act of worship as we pray and commit our substance to the Lord.

‘Let every one of you treasure up as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.’ We don't want emotional appeals, giving which is just driven by sentiment from time to time, some special collection. It is something that we do as God hath prospered us, quietly, and constantly, from our hearts.

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1 Corinthians 16:2 Commentary and Bible Study