Main news for 2 September 2022

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

1 Corinthians, Chapter 16, verses 1-2

¹ He exhorteth them to relieve the want of the brethren at Jerusalem

¹Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

²Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Read more:1 Corinthians, Chapter 16

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16

16:1 The saints - A more solemn and a more affecting word, than if he had said, the poor.

16:2 Let every one - Not the rich only: let him also that hath little, gladly give of that little. According as he hath been prospered - Increasing his alms as God increases his substance. According to this lowest rule of Christian prudence, if a man when he has or gains one pound give a tenth to God, when he has or gains an hundred he will give the tenth of this also. And yet I show unto you a more excellent way.He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Stint yourself to no proportion at all. But lend to God all you can.

NOTES

At the close of his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul, as...

At the close of his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul, as always, mentions the people who shared his labors and ministry with him. About some we know a little from other New Testament books; about others we can only guess, because only their names are known to us. Some of these people were probably little known to the Corinthian church, or even not known at all. And still the apostle asks the Corinthian brothers to receive them as their own.

Meanwhile church guesthouses like those that exist today at some churches did not exist in those days, so one of the brothers would have had to receive the people Paul writes about into his own home. But the apostle, as one can see, is not embarrassed by this. He does not ask them to receive his companions if there is opportunity or desire; he is absolutely certain that the Corinthian Christians will have both the opportunity and the desire. If the matter concerned the laws and norms of our world, which has not yet been transformed, such an attitude could be regarded, at best, as tactlessness. But Paul in this case acts according to other laws, according to the laws of the Kingdom, where there are no strangers, and therefore it cannot happen that one of the brothers who has come from far away will have to spend the night on the street.

And this confidence of the apostle that such a thing is possible, that he can rely on the Corinthian Christians with regard to hospitality, testifies that both in the Church in general and in the Corinthian church in particular, the spiritual situation was normal despite everything Paul himself wrote to his Corinthian brothers about. After all, one can receive into one's home a person one sees for the first time only when relations with him are either established immediately, at first sight, or have existed for a long time already. Both are possible only by grace and only in the Kingdom; the nature of our world, which has not yet been transformed, acts destructively on any relationships, which under such influence either grow cold or become formal, unless people are bound by something natural. And the very fact that Paul does not doubt his Corinthian brothers for a minute is the best testimony to the reality of the Church as a community of people living in the Kingdom and according to the laws of the Kingdom: the Church as it should be, as it was conceived and created by its Founder.

More and more doors are opening to the Gospel. Paul uses every opportunity to bear witness...

More and more doors are opening to the Gospel. Paul uses every opportunity to bear witness to people about Christ. Paul is a wonderful example of a selfless missionary. How can a modern missionary imitate Paul? Of course, forgetting ourselves, we should devote all our time to mission or work, to serving people. Sometimes that is exactly what we do. Our motives are not always unambiguous; perhaps absolutely pure motives are impossible for a person in this world. Could it be that we take on many ministries or much work in order to gain a certain status in the Church or in society? Or perhaps we simply try to fill our time, to remain constantly busy because we are afraid to be left in silence, face to face with ourselves and with God? Have we not experienced such troubling feelings in our work? Does this not cause us to see both God and those close to us only “in passing,” losing the opportunity and the ability to communicate personally? But is this what Paul calls us to? On the contrary, he very much wants to spend more time with the brothers and sisters in Corinth, “if the Lord permits,” of course. For Paul, who has experience preaching to very large audiences, fellowship with particular people, with particular brothers and sisters, is extremely important; he greatly values mutual enrichment and mutual support.

Let us read verses 13–14 once more. Again Paul gives astonishing advice that is difficult to follow. How hard it is to be steadfast in love! How easy, by contrast, to set down who is right and who is wrong, who has been cut off from grace and who abides in the true faith. Have we not encountered situations in which we conceal our lack of love and our rejection of another person behind courage and firmness? We hide them and convince ourselves that we are living according to the Apostle’s exhortations. Yet even those “who do not love the Lord” Paul calls us to exclude not forever, but until Christ’s coming (this is how the words “anathema, maranatha” are translated), without daring to assume God’s own role of deciding people’s destinies.

The apostle ends his letter not with spiritual instructions, but, as it appears at first glance, with much more down-to-earth matters connected with...

The apostle ends his letter not with spiritual instructions, but, as it appears at first glance, with much more down-to-earth matters connected with his own plans and with questions of charity and mutual aid among church communities. The transition appears quite sharp, but Paul himself does not appear to feel this. He hopes, after all, to stay in Corinth for a long time in order to continue in person the conversation he began in the letter, so that it can hardly be considered finished.

In this respect the letter became only a prelude to the main thing Paul intended to say at a personal meeting. Still, to us today the transition to topics that we would define as down-to-earth can appear quite sharp. For Paul everything was different. He does not divide his service into parts or single out in it something 'high' and 'spiritual' as opposed to something else, 'material' and 'earthbound.'

For the apostle, delivering material aid collected by one community for another is just as absolutely important as telling a church assembly about Christ, the Kingdom, and Christian life, the things he wrote about in his letter to the Corinthian church. If service is carried out in the name of God and for the sake of Christ, then it is important. Simply important, without gradations. At the moment when a person is engaged in this particular service, it is absolutely important for him; otherwise it is better not to take it up.

Paul carried out every service of his in exactly this way. And at that point it no longer mattered whether the issue was witness or a simple collection of donations for the needs of suffering communities; the apostle gave each service exactly as much attention as it required. And it required everything, entirely. Otherwise the work may be completed, but it will not be done before the face of God. Then service becomes simply work, an outward activity, even if religiously motivated. But for the Kingdom such activity will be useless. And therefore for salvation too.

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