Good day to you all. A question has come up here, one that always does, and has to do with I Corinthians 16:1-4. The questioner appears to be denying that the text is an authority for the weekly giving we practice here on the first day of the week. Apparently that:<\/p>\n
I would appreciate your thoughts and material on this subject.<\/p>\n\t
The full passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 (NIV) says, “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.\u00a0 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.\u00a0 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.\u00a0 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.<\/em>“<\/p>\n Paul is indeed giving some very specific instructions for a specific need of the time.\u00a0 There is no way to honestly look at this passage and come to any conclusion other than this particular set of instructions was for the collection of God’s people.\u00a0 There was a great need in Jerusalem and the churches (at least Galatia and Corinth) were determined to help.\u00a0 The question then becomes one of how does this example extend from a specific to the general.<\/p>\n There are two ways that I could see in extending this passage.\u00a0 One is that the collection was for “God’s people”.\u00a0 Since a preacher is also one of God’s people, then it would be a good example to follow any time that God’s people are involved and not just when there are needy saints in Jerusalem.\u00a0 The other is to look at the passage as the only way in which the church is told how to raise money.<\/p>\n In Philippians 4:15 Paul says, “Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only.<\/em>”\u00a0 Paul mentions the matter of giving and receiving that he tied to his own upkeep.\u00a0 From this passage, it is clear that Paul received a living wage from the church in Philippi while he was preaching in another area.\u00a0 There is no specific mention of how the Philippian church gathered the money, only that the money collected made it to Paul.<\/p>\n In II Corinthians 11:7-9 Paul says, “Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.<\/em>”\u00a0 Paul said he did not accept any money from the Corinthian church while he was there — he got all he needed from the Macedonian churches.\u00a0 By implication, though, Paul could have accepted wages from the Corinthians.\u00a0 Again there is no mention of how it was gathered, only that the money gathered made it to Paul.<\/p>\n There are several other passages that show that preachers are recipients of money from churches and could, therefore, be considered another form of “God’s people.”\u00a0 In fact, the passages above show that while the collection for the saints in Jerusalem was to relieve their great need, Paul said the Philippians supplied his needs, implying that he was supplied far above any measure of destitution.<\/p>\n However, the collection had to be a public (as opposed to a household or private) collection because of the phrase “so that when I come no collections will have to be made.<\/em>”\u00a0 If this was something that was done at home, then in order for it to get to Jerusalem, there would have to be at least one collection at the end.\u00a0 The only way around that would be to assume that every household would be sending someone to Jerusalem.\u00a0 That is highly unlikely due to the “appointment of men” to carry the gift and the letters of introduction that Paul mentions.<\/p>\n Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good day to you all. A question has come up here, one that always does, and has to do with I Corinthians 16:1-4. The questioner appears to be denying that the text is an authority for the weekly giving we practice here on the first day of the week. Apparently that: the giving of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[157,159],"class_list":["post-9894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-contributions","tag-giving"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-liberty-in-how-we-give\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":0},"title":"Is there liberty in how we give?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question concerning worship. Is there liberty when it comes to some parts of worship? For example when it comes to giving, does one have to give during worship service or can someone give any time just long as it\u2019s on a Sunday. Can a congregation decide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-special-contributions-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":1},"title":"Are special contributions scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Concerning collections: is it a good practice supported by Scripture to set aside \"Special Giving Days\" for specific purposes on the first day of the week in addition to the regular collection? This practice seems to contradict what a treasury is for in the work of the church. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-arrange-to-give-funds-to-a-church-from-my-life-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":2},"title":"Can I arrange to give funds to a church from my life insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about giving. I have arranged to give funds to my church from my life insurance. I was wondering if this acceptable from a biblical standpoint. I understand, that God requires us to give as we have been blessed and since this is a special giving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-handle-my-contributions-when-i-rotate-between-three-congregations\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":3},"title":"How do I handle my contributions when I rotate between three congregations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I have a question regarding the weekly contribution (I Corinthians 16:1-2). In my city, there are three local churches of Christ that I attend regularly. Normally I'll attend one on a certain week, the next on the following week, and the third the week after that. And then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17928,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-go-to-a-youth-group-or-chapel-service-during-the-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":4},"title":"Is it a sin to go to a youth group or chapel service during the week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I saw that the church only met on the first day of the week to gather and worship. Does this mean that I sin if I go to youth groups on Wednesdays (while still going to church on Sunday), or if my school has weekly mandatory chapel services on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91964,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-give-on-other-days-than-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":9894,"position":5},"title":"Can I give on other days than Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Is the giving during Sunday worship any different from voluntary giving at any other time? Suppose a brother receives a salary on Wednesday and knows he may overspend that month, so he decides to transfer the money to the church account rather than splitting his giving into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}