Our discussion will primarily revolve around a study of 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. It describes the work of the ekklesia that points to individual obligation. This, too, has been usurped by the corporate church organization, where the collection of monies or supplies is stored for those in need and/or the support of preachers. Members of the organization are taught to give on the first day of every week into the corporate treasury. So, 1 Corinthians 16:2 is read each week to validate the need to give into the treasury every Sunday. If any commentary or teaching is given prior to the actual collection, it is usually something like this, “Separate and apart from the Lord’s Supper, we have another command/obligation to do….”
Many people claim that “laying by in store” demands a church treasury. The organization needs the operating expense to thrive if we want the organization to survive. Yet, the example of 1 Corinthians 16 describes a gift for a specific purpose and a restriction of time that made it temporary in nature. It was designed to relieve the poor saints in Judea.
Considering the passage, it states that the need was met by individuals laying some aside each week to give to the poor saints. Notice, it reads, “Lay by him in store.” In other words, let each individual lay up in store (at home), i.e., set it apart or designate a certain portion by himself. This is not an unusual take on this verse as many writers express it with certainty. In all fairness, we will offer Barnes’ explanation as he offers both possibilities. He writes:
”The phrase in Greek, “treasuring up,” may mean that each one was to put the part which he had designated into the common treasury. This interpretation seems to be demanded by the latter part of the verse. They were to lay it by, and to put it into the common treasury, that there might be no trouble of collecting when he should come. Or it may, perhaps, mean that they were individually to treasure it up, having designated in their own mind the sum which they could give, and have it in readiness when he should come. This was evidently to be done not on one Sabbath only, but was to be done on each Lord’s-day until he should come.”
As a part of a living, active organism, the daily presentation of our bodies as a living sacrifice would be seen in the fruits of our individual lives as sacrificial gifts. Two other passages support this translation of “laying by himself in store.” Galatians 6:6 reads, “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things.” Second, Ephesians 4:28 reads, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.” Even Paul’s example shows that he worked with his own hands to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The two passages referenced above is clearly applied individually. Men who taught (Ex. Elders worthy of double honor) were assisted in material needs by those who were recipients of the teaching. Both passages depict the giver as giving his gift directly to the one in need. Are we to give it to a centralized organization into which we place membership, and through which we give? Or, do we “lay by ourselves in store at the beginning of each week?” One thing is for sure: church organizations couldn’t exist long without its treasury. They couldn’t have their fine facilities or update them every few years. They couldn’t hire their preachers and give them a healthy salary. Lest someone adds, “They couldn’t support preachers of the gospel in other places,” let me remind you that the brethren in Philippi sent once and again to Paul’s necessities (Phil. 4:16). If one applied the understanding of individual commitment in the above passages, there’s no reason for not thinking of the church in Philippi as individual Christians living there that had fellowship with Paul in this giving and receiving relationship (Gal. 6:6). To suggest that the Phillipians could not do the work without the local church organization is not such an obvious conclusion as we might like, but honesty demands that we not read into the passages that speak of the “called-out” doing something as requiring the corporate church organization.
Still, the most obvious conclusion to 1 Corinthians 16 is that the arrangement given for the weekly collection was for the poor saints in Judea. The expeditious way of collecting it each week would avoid the chaos and confusion of collecting it when Paul came through Corinth. Brethren, Paul is not coming to your town to pick up a certain collection for the poor saints that you have been saving for weeks. This was a specific gift for a specific purpose, expected to relieve them until the economic conditions improved with new crops. Whether we can resolve the issue of each having their portion collected at home or placed in a common bag, the stated purpose for this arrangement is unmistakably clear. Whatever was collected was taken up by Paul so that there was nothing remaining in the bag or storehouse. If we are going to be consistent in our application of divine authority, then every fund of this sort must be “ear-marked” in the sense that there must be a designated purpose for the fund. Giving just for the sake of giving is the product of the local church organization that must have the funds to exist. And, it does exist! We could argue in favor of an operating expense if you were a business and had a payroll to meet. Men have created the need for the operating expense by building facilities, programs, and improvements, not to mention its maintenance and municipal utilities.
Providing benevolent needs or supporting preachers needing help, (another benevolent need for a brother who has sacrificed himself in the spreading of the gospel), was accomplished by the sacrifice of individual brethren. Seeing there is no evidence of a salary paid preacher, a building payment and a host of these other ongoing expenses, the corporate church treasury would have no purpose to exist. What remains is the dedicated sacrifice of brethren willing to sell their houses and lands for needy brethren. Digging deep into the recesses of our own necessities, like the Macedonian brethren, requires a commitment too few are willing to make. It’s much easier to write a check that is collected with others’ checks to hire preachers to do our work of teaching and studying and build church buildings instead of opening our own homes, even though it requires a host of other expenditures that are deemed expediencies.
In the early days at Jerusalem, each shared their possession with the needy (Acts 2:44-5), giving it to the apostles who supervised its distribution (Acts 4:34-37). Houses and lands were sold to meet the needs of brethren. In this way, individual Christians cooperated together as each gave their gift. In the case of sending benevolent aid to a preacher or poor saints to a distant place, saints cooperated by giving their possessions directly to the need by way of a messenger. In the case of the famine prophesied by Agabus (Acts 11:28-30), the proceeds were given to the elders instead of the apostles. Seeing that the apostles stay in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1) and the famine affected Judea, brethren were accompanied by elders in various towns of Judea who would see that the poor saints received it. Christians cooperated only in the sense that they joined the effort of other Christians in helping the poor saints.
The needs that did exist would not have required an organization through which to work. It may have required some organization, though the details are not given. But, it does not require the formation of an organization. It is commonly held that Philippians 1:1 is proof that Philippi was a local church organization and that this was how they were organized. Even if this were true of those who had shepherds among them, it would also demand the conclusion that those who had no elders were not an organization. If having elders proves they were a local church organization, then having none shows they are not a local church organization. But, that there must be more to this is apparent because local churches take on a corporate identity whether they have elders or not. The fact of the matter is that the existence of spiritual shepherds does not necessitate a local church organization as there is no connection. According to their work, their existence shows their oversight of souls through teaching, not the oversight of a corporate business organization. Such men are watchmen over spiritual Israel, not administrators of a business organization. As leaders set the example, these men led the way in giving according to their prosperity and they purposed in their heart to save in store for a crisis that arose. When a crisis of this magnitude occurs in our era, it too would require some means of the collection as when the mailman delivers your mail. Each should lay “by him” in-store each first day of the week and when the mailman came to collect it, it would be given to the address where the need exists. Each would address it to someone they trusted for its distribution. This may not only imply personal confidence in people’s integrity but the ability to deliver it to those in need. This pattern is the same one given in Acts 2, 4, and 11. In the case of Acts 11 and 1 Corinthians 16, you have Paul collecting it and delivering it.
One reason for assuming that a treasury is under consideration in 1 Corinthians 16 is the mention of the “first day of the week.” Seeing that saints gathered on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s supper, they must have, also, given into a treasury. Yet, the only mention of a gathering is Paul’s collecting it when he came through on his trip, not the gathering of saints for the purpose of collecting it. It is not necessarily inferred that the saints are gathered when the collecting was done. In fact, “let every one of you lay by him in store” sounds like an individual setting something aside by himself. He gave it according to his prosperity and set it in storage. He’s responsible to give it to Paul just as the brethren in Acts 11 gave it to Paul.
There is reason to believe that the same was carried out when helping an evangelist. Paul said the Philippians had sent once and again unto my need” (Phil. 4:16). Unless this is a Greek idiom with which we are unfamiliar, Paul merely states that the saints living in Philippi had helped him more than once. I see no evidence of a monthly salary or a local church treasury. What we do discover is that Silas and Timothy made a trip to Macedonia and was told to return in haste to Paul (Acts 17:14-16; 18:5). After working with Pricilla and Aquila making tents, he gives himself to the work when his two fellow-workers arrive. This is hardly an example of a salary for services rendered nor does it preclude that brethren in Macedonia had a treasury from which they took the gift. Have we even considered the possibility that the reason we need such a treasury today is because we do things a bit different than the early church. We have a hired preacher salary to pay, building expenses, repairs and upgrades to make, and a host of other things unrelated to the work of the church (individual Christians).
It is taught among certain conservatives that the church organization, generally referred to as “the local church,” is restricted to the benevolence of brethren, edification, and evangelism. The building falls under the category of either edification of saints or evangelism in the event of a visitor. It is justified on the grounds that it is an expedient plan to carry out the work of the church. The individual becomes a member of the organization and gives to it, while the organization chooses how the money is spent, who receives it, or who they will hire. Yet, the example in Scripture shows each individual Christian being diligent in all of those areas and when this exists, the called-out is at work. Consider two passages as an example of work done by the called-out. James 1:27 reads, “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Second, Galatians 6:10 reads, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.” The concluding verse follows a description of individual action. Such action includes (1) restoring a person overtaken in a trespass, bearing his own burden, thereby, proving his own work, and (3) Sharing with him who teaches the word and sows unto the Spirit. Workmen that need not be ashamed are individuals who are diligent in their work instead of hiding behind an organization and claiming to carry out good works through a proxy.