1 Corinthians 16

About the Text

(1) What was this "collection" for? It was for the poorer Christians in Jerusalem. Possibly because of persecution (Acts 8:1) or famine (Acts 11:28), the Christians in Jerusalem were so poor that they needed to combine all their belongings into one common pot, cf. Acts 2:44. Paul instructed the wealthier Christians in both Corinth (Greece) and Galatia (now modern Turkey) to have compassion upon their fellow Christians and give generously to their needs.

(2) Why on the "first day of every week"? This verse, along with Acts 20:7, gives some indication that some churches in the early history of Christianity (ca. 55 A.D.) had already chosen Sunday as their day of gathered worship. Other writings of the early church (e.g. Justin Martyr, 150 A.D.) show that the practice of gathering and giving offerings on each Sunday quickly became part of Christian tradition. These verses do not, of course, prohibit Christians today from meeting for worship on other days of the week. But they do describe the development of religious practice in the early church, giving a glimpse of our own heritage.

(3) What does "in keeping with his income" mean? Simply that the rich were to give more, and the poor less.

(5) Where is Macedonia? It is the region north of Greece, about 150 miles north of Corinth. This was a considerable distance to travel in Paul's day. But for Paul, who traveled extensively as a missionary, Corinth would be his next stop after Macedonia.

(8) Where is Ephesus? It was a large cosmopolitan city on the western shore of what is modern Turkey today. It was the city where Paul stayed the longest at - about two to three years. There was much "fruit," that is, he won many converts there, the church grew strong and mature, and the people there were eager to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(20) What is a "holy kiss"? It was a custom probably carried over from Judaism. It is called "holy" because it was meant as a sign of affection and fellowship done between Christians only. Most churches do not practice this custom anymore, nor do we know exactly how it was done (was it on the cheek?). Nevertheless, God calls Christians today to practice the spirit of that act, that is, to warmly greet and care for each other.

Insights

• The world loves "fences."
• Christ reconciles believers not only to God, but also to each other.
• God commands us to express our new "kinship" in practical ways.

The Bottom Line

In modern society, we like to draw boundary lines and say "mine." We protect our privacy to the extent that we erect fences between homes, place those rubber dividers on the grocery store check out stand, and hang "no soliciting" signs outside our doors. Some non-Western peoples cannot understand our obsession with privacy. Of course, it is not necessarily wrong to protect one's privacy, yet it can become a hindrance to intimate fellowship among God's people. In the churches of Paul's day, the privacy lines for God's people got fuzzy on purpose. They took up collections for poorer Christians in Jerusalem (v. 1-4). Some of them even shared all their possessions (Acts 2:44). They opened up their homes (v. 19). And they greeted each other with a kiss (v. 20). They confessed sins to one another (James 5:16). They were like family, God's family. Modern relationships are like billiard balls all colliding with each other on a pool table. We each have a hard, impenetrable shell where we'd rather not get too personally involved in another Christian's affairs. We'd like church to be a cocktail party. We'd rather put on our Sunday best, keep our problems to ourselves, and say "it's none of their business." But God calls us to be more like clay balls. We are to bond to each other, molding and reshaping ourselves around one another, such that when one ball is ripped away, bits of us are torn away and cling to that ball. That is why the elders at Ephesus cried and kissed Paul when he left (Acts 20:37). That is why we call each other brothers and sisters. When we become believers in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we not only become reconciled to God, but we become radically divorced from the world, and we become part of a new family, which God calls the "family of believers" (Gal. 6:10). Do you have a band of believers whom you can trust, confide in, and open up to? How many believers do you personally know by name? Do you have a group of Christians whom you would sacrificially give your money and time to?

PRAYER