Lessons #587 and 588
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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The collection for the Jerusalem believers (1 Cor 16:1-4)
1Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 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. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
We have come to the sixteenth and final chapter of this first epistle to the Corinthians. The chapter is concerned with final matters of the apostle’s epistle to the Corinthians. In fact, there are four issues the apostle considered in this final chapter. The first concerns the collection to be made by the Corinthians for the benefit of believers in Jerusalem. This issue is considered in verses 1 to 4. The second issue concerns the travel plans of the apostle and his associates that he presented in verses 5 to 12. The third issue concerns his final exhortations to the Corinthians and so to the universal church of Christ as he presented in verses 13 to 18. Finally, he concluded with the issue of greetings and benediction given in verses 19 to 24. We, of course, begin with the first issue of collection to be made by the Corinthians for the benefit of their fellow believers in Jerusalem.
The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians that we have finished expounding was concerned with correct doctrine of the gospel message and the doctrine of resurrection. So, the apostle leaves no doubt that he was about to change his discourse to something different from the subject of resurrection that he had devoted most of the fifteenth chapter hashing out its essential details. We are certain that the apostle has moved on from the doctrine of resurrection to something else because he begins verse 1 of the sixteenth chapter with the phrase in the NIV Now about. The Greek phrase so translated in 1 Corinthian 16:1 in the NIV, as we have stated previously, is one the apostle used six times in his first epistle to the Corinthians to indicate a change in subject matter or to introduce an aspect of a subject matter that is a subset of a major subject or to link materials that although do not relate to the same general topic but are related in the sense that they form closely linked teachings. Let me mention the first five usages of the Greek phrase. In his first usage of the Greek phrase translated now for in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 7:1, it was to introduce the subject of marriage that he discoursed in detailed in that chapter. In the second usage of the Greek phrase in the same seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle used it to introduce the subset of the matter of dealing with virgins in the larger context of his teaching about marriage, as we read in 1 Corinthians 7:25:
Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
In the third usage of the Greek phrase in verse 1 of the eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle used it to introduce the concern of the Corinthians about eating of food offered to idols. The fourth time the apostle used the Greek phrase is in 1 Corinthians 12:1, to link matters related to the Holy Spirit as they pertain to worship that he began its discussion in the eleventh chapter. The fifth usage of the Greek phrase is in 1 Corinthians 16:1 where the apostle used it to introduce a different subject matter from what he discoursed in the fifteenth chapter. The new subject he was concerned with in the first four verses of the sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, as we have already stated, is the collection that was to be made for the benefit of believers in Jerusalem. It is also the case that the apostle was responding to questions asked by the Corinthians regarding this collection since it is most likely that the apostle having at some point brought up the matter to the Corinthians would not have considered it again without a question. Of course, it is possible that the Corinthians would have raised the question to the apostle based on what they heard the churches in Galatia were doing about supporting believers in Jerusalem. Regardless of how the Corinthians heard about it, it is most likely that they had raised a question or two about the collection that the apostle answers in the first four verses of this sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
In any case, as we have indicated, the first four verses of the sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians are devoted to the collection to be made for believers in Jerusalem. The apostle introduced the subject in verse 1 and in verse 2 he discussed the preparation for the collection. This was followed in verse 3 and 4 with its deliverance to the recipients. Hence, we can say that the apostle was concerned about conveying to the Corinthians special instructions concerning collecting and delivering the aid to believers in Jerusalem. Because of the apostle’s instructions to the Corinthians, we derive a message we believe the Holy Spirit wants conveyed to the universal church of Christ. This message is that a local church should endeavor to provide aid to less privileged believers in other locations that they are made aware of through their spiritual leadership, following biblical pattern. We will expound on this message as we consider the passage before us.
The first thing we should recognize about this message to the church regarding aiding other believers is that it is the spiritual leadership of a local congregation that should make believers aware of such need for aid. In effect, it is the spiritual leadership that should broach the subject of aiding other believers in different locations where believers are economically deprived. We say this because Apostle Paul himself having indicated that he was moving from the subject of resurrection to another topic introduced the new topic with the phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 16:1 the collection for God’s people. A literal translation reads the collection for the saints.
The word “collection” is translated from a Greek word (logeia) that appears twice in Greek NT; in verses 1 and 2 of 1 Corinthians 16. The word means “collection” of taxes or voluntary contributions. In the context, of 1 Corinthians 16, the word is used for voluntary contributions. By the way, some of our English versions sought to translate the word in a way that speaks to modern persons so that the NLT translates it as “money being collected” and the TEV translated it as “money being raised.” Nonetheless, in our context, the Greek word is not an obligatory collection but one that is freely given as the word expresses the same concept of willing contribution of a Greek word (koinōnia) that may mean “sharing” or “fellowship” but refers to willing contribution in Romans 15:26:
For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
There is no doubt that the contribution in question here in Romans 15:26 is the same collection that the apostle wrote to the Corinthians about in the sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. It is also the same collection that the apostle commended the Macedonian churches for their participation in what he described as “service to the saints” as recorded in 2 Corinthians 8:1–5:
1 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.
The phrase the Macedonian churches refers to the local churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Furthermore, the apostle communicated to the Corinthians that giving should be voluntarily and not under compulsion as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:7:
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
It is this collection that the apostle referred as “gifts” he delivered to believers in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 24:17:
“After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.
Anyway, the point we seek to stress is that the collection is voluntary, and no one is compelled to give. The church in Antioch demonstrated the same spirit of voluntary contribution when there was famine in Jerusalem as Prophet Agabus predicted. The aid of the church in Antioch to the church in Judea is described as voluntary according to Acts 11:27–30:
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
We do not have any further information regarding the origin of this collection the apostle wrote about. Some think that its origin is the Jewish custom of almsgiving for Israel where their sympathizers and new converts to Judaism did so as a sign of solidarity with Israel. Thus, the apostle would have encouraged Gentile churches to contribute to the aid of their fellow believers in Jerusalem as a symbol of unity of the church. Furthermore, since the apostle had taught that believers should share in the suffering of fellow believers, he could have been applying this teaching to the Gentile churches to help believers in Jerusalem because they frequently suffered economic problems. Regardless of its origin, it seems the apostle was concerned with Gentile believers showing their unity with their fellow believers in Jerusalem that were in need.
The collection the apostle had undertaken by appealing to various Gentiles churches is for the benefit of believers in Jerusalem. Thus, we have the phrase for God’s people. The word “for” is translated from a Greek preposition (eis) that may mean “to” as a marker of goal to be attained but in our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, the word means “for” in the sense of identifying those that are benefited or for whose advantage the collection is to be made.
The beneficiaries of the collection are described in the phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 16:1 God’s people or the Lord’s people as in the 2011 edition of the NIV. Majority of our English versions identified the beneficiaries with the phrase the saints although literally the Greek reads the holy ones. This is because the expression “God’s people” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (hagios) that pertains to being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God and so means “dedicated to God, holy, sacred.” The word may pertain to being holy in the sense of superior, moral qualities, and possessing certain essential divine qualities in contrast with what is human so means “holy, pure, divine.” It is in this sense that the word is used to describe God whose holiness believers are to imitate, as commanded in 1 Peter 1:15–16:
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
When the adjective is used with a definite article in the singular, it refers to “the holy” whether of a thing or a person. Thus, it can be used to refer to that which is holy as it was used in Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:6:
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
The description what is sacred may alternatively be translated what is holy. In this meaning of “the holy,” the Greek word is used in the NT for Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit but never of an individual believer. It is used to describe Jesus Christ several times in the Gospels and in Acts as the Holy One. Demons addressed Jesus as the Holy One in Mark 1:24:
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Peter used our word with the definite article to describe Jesus as recorded in John 6:69:
We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Again, when Peter addressed those who witnessed the healing of a crippled beggar, he described Jesus as “the Holy One” as recorded in Acts 3:14:
You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
Our Greek adjective is used in the singular with the definite article for the Holy Spirit in John 14:26:
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The examples we cited indicate that when our Greek adjective is used with a definite article in the singular, it means “the holy” but only in reference to deity. There is no single passage in the NT where the Greek adjective is used to describe a human being or any single individual.
The situation is different when the Greek adjective is in the plural and used with the definite article as in the passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1 that we are expounding. When the Greek adjective is used with the definite article in the plural, the meaning is “the holy ones.” The phrase “the holy ones” most often rendered with the word “saints” in our English versions is one that is used in the Scripture to describe God’s people, that is, those in a covenant relationship with Him. In the OT, the psalmist used it to describe God’s people in Psalm 16:3:
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
Daniel used the word “saints” for God’s people in Daniel 7:25:
He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.
In both passages of Psalm and Daniel, the word “saints” from the Septuagint literally reads “the holy ones” because the plural of the definite article and plural of our Greek adjective are used. In the NT, the combination of the plural of the definite article and our Greek adjective is used primarily to describe believers in the Lord Jesus Christ where, the Greek phrase, as we previously stated, is commonly translated “saints” in our English versions.
The very first use of the Greek phrase translated “saints” to describe believers in Christ is given in Acts 9:32:
As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.
Apostle Paul used the phrase the saints to describe believers in Romans 12:13:
Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
The phrase God’s people is literally the saints. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, it is used to describe God’s people or loyal followers of Christ as those dedicated to God. This is probably the reason the 2011 edition of the NIV used the phrase Lord’s people, referring to those who are followers of Jesus Christ who were in Jerusalem as later described in the passage we are studying. In any event, the first thing we should recognize about this message to the church regarding aiding other believers is that it is the spiritual leadership of a local congregation that should make believers aware of such need for aid, following Apostle Paul making the church in Corinth aware of the necessity to aid their fellow believers in Jerusalem. We should never close our eyes to suffering believers if we know how to reach them since we are expected to show our love to such individuals as stated in 1 John 3:17:
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
The second thing we should recognize about the message we are considering is that believers’ approach to giving must be in keeping with the Scripture. Furthermore, local churches of Christ should strive to operate in a culture neutral manner. By this, we mean that whatever a local church follows as a practice should be consistent with what a believer anywhere in the world could identify with. Hence, the apostle, having identified the beneficiaries of the collection he had in mind, issued a general instruction to the Corinthians that require them to comply with the practices of other local congregation in this matter of collection as in the second sentence of 1 Corinthians 16:1 Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. Literally, the Greek reads just as I gave directions about it to the churches of Galatia, so you do also. I will use the literal translation for the most part in our analysis of the second sentence of the verse we are expounding.
The word “what” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (hōsper) that is used as somewhat more emphatic marker of similarity between events and states, therefore, means “just as, just as indeed” as it is used to compare the effect on people the disobedience of Adam and the obedience of Jesus Christ in Romans 5:19:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, the Greek word has the meaning of “just as” to convey comparison.
The comparison the apostle intended to make concerns the instruction or directive he gave to other local churches as in the sentence of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 16:1 I told the Galatian churches or literally I gave directions about it to the churches of Galatia. The word “told” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (diatassō) that has two general meanings. A first meaning is “to make arrangements” as it is used for a previous arrangement of Apostle Paul with his team members regarding how they will meet up as he traveled through land while his team traveled by sea, as Luke narrated in Acts 20:13:
We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.
A second meaning is to give detailed instructions as to what must be done hence it has several nuances. The word may mean “to instruct” as it is used in Jesus’ instructing His twelve disciples according to Matthew 11:1:
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
The word may mean “to order” as the word is used in the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by the order of Emperor Claudius as stated in Acts 18:2:
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
The word may mean “to direct” as it is used in the instruction of Apostle Paul to Titus regarding appointment of spiritual leaders in Titus 1:5:
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, the word means “to instruct” or “to charge,” that is, to authoritatively give someone detailed instructions on what to do.
The detailed instructions the apostle gave regarding the collection are to the local churches described in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:1 the Galatian churches. Who are these local churches? Before we answer this question, we should note that the word “churches” is translated from a Greek word (ekklēsia) that may refer to a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities and so means “assembly, gathering.” The word is used predominantly in Scripture to refer to people with shared belief and so the word is often given the meaning “church” in our English Bibles. However, the meaning “church” is used in different ways in relation to believers. We have in the past examined the different ways the word is used in our Scripture. For example, on the one hand, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the totality of believers in Christ, living and meeting in a specific locality or larger geographical area, but not necessarily limited to one meeting place. On the other hand, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the global community of believers or the whole body of those who have believed in Christ regardless of where they are located. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, the Greek word is used in the sense of “congregation or church as the totality of Christians living and meeting in a particular locality.”
The phrase the Galatian churches of 1 Corinthians 16:1 is similar to the phrase churches in Galatia to whom the apostle wrote his epistle as stated in Galatians 1:2:
and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:
Because of the similarity of the two phrases let us focus on the phrase the churches in Galatia in the apostle’s epistle to the Galatians since its interpretation in the context of Galatians will enable us to interpret what Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:1. Anyway, the phrase the churches in Galatia raises two questions: Which are these churches? and who are the Galatians? These two questions are related and have been the subject of intense discussion among scholars. The problem of the identity of the local churches in view is due primarily to the history of what is known as Galatia. The term Galatia could be used in either an ethnographical sense or a political sense. Its use in ethnographical sense refers to the three Celtic tribes, akin to the Gauls in France, which invaded and occupied central Asia Minor in the third century before Christ. These Gauls in Asia were distinguished from the West-European Gauls by the expression “Gallo-Graecians” from which the name ‘Galatians’ came. At first, these tribes dominated central Asia Minor. But in 230 B.C., Attalus I, king of Pergamum, decisively defeated these Gauls who then were confined to a small territory in the north. This region was first known as Galatia with its chief cites being Ancyra (now the capital of modern Turkey), Pessinus, and Tavium. In a political sense, the term Galatia refers to the extended territory of the Galatians when after being defeated by the Romans became a part of a much larger Roman province established in 25 B.C. This province included the districts of Lycaonia and Isauria as well as portions of Pisidia and Phrygia. This province contained those cities that the apostle visited during his first missionary journey namely: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe and Lystra. From a historical point of view the Galatians were originally Celtic people but later became mixed with other groups of people that form the Roman province of Galatia.
The question remains; in what sense is the apostle using the term Galatians? Was he writing to the Christians in northern ethnic Galatians? Or was he writing to the Christians in the southern, Roman province? The popular answer originally was that the apostle wrote to the Christians in north Galatia. However, in nineteenth century, primarily due the influence of the archeological works of William Ramsay, scholars began to take the view that the apostle wrote to the Christians in the southern part of the Roman province of Galatia. Of course, Ramsay was not the first to advocate this view, but his archeological works fueled its acceptance. In any case, each of these two views is adequately defended by their proponents. However, it seems that the weighty arguments are in favor of the view that the apostle wrote to the Christians living in the southern fringes of the Roman province of Galatia. This is primarily due to the fact that we have more information about the local churches in the Roman province of Galatia. In fact, we have no information about the churches in north Galatia and no proof that the apostle founded churches in north Galatia. It is the local churches that the apostle visited during his first missionary journey with Barnabas that are in the south that makes more sense as the recipients of this epistle to Galatians, especially since the apostle mentions Barnabas in the epistle without a further comment as to who he was. The assumption would be that these churches knew Barnabas. This assumption would be correct only if Paul were writing to the local churches that he and Barnabas helped found. Furthermore, since the apostle had great Jewish opposition in this region of the Roman province of Galatia, it makes more sense to expect that it would be the same region that some Jewish teachers of the law would come to cause trouble for Apostle Paul. Based on this second interpretation of the recipients of the epistle to the Galatians, we believe that the phrase the Galatian churches of 1 Corinthians 16:1 refers to the local churches Apostles Paul and Barnabas founded during their first missionary namely: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe and Lystra.
The phrase the Galatian churches of 1 Corinthians 16:1 is the basis for our assertion that local churches should endeavor to be “culture neutral” in their practices. By this, as we stated previously, we mean that whatever a local church follows as a practice should be consistent with what a believer anywhere in the world could identify with. Several times in this epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle reminded them of the need to follow the other local churches in their practices. To convey the importance of this truth, the apostle referred to what he taught in every local church he founded or visited as stated in 1 Corinthians 4:17:
For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
In dealing with the subject of head-covering, he implied that the Corinthians should comply with the practice in the other local churches as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:16:
If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
In the matter of the role women should play in a local church, the apostle wanted the Corinthians to comply with that of the other churches as indicated in 1 Corinthians 14:33–34:
33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.
The point is that the apostle wanted the Corinthians not to be outliers in what happens in their local church but to confine their practices to those of the other local churches. The implication is that local churches should function based on the Scripture. Any practice not rooted in Scripture should be avoided, no matter how appealing or popular it might be.
In any case, we stated that the apostle used a Greek word that means “just as” in 1 Corinthians 16:1 to introduce a comparison of a sort. The comparison requires action on the part of the Corinthians that is similar to that of the Galatian churches. It is this comparison that is given in the literal translation of 1 Corinthian 16:1 so you do also. The word “so” in the literal translation that is not directly in the NIV and many of our English versions is translated from a Greek adverb (houtōs) that is used primarily in two ways in the Greek. It could refer to that which follows in a discourse material and so may be translated “in this way” or “as follows.” Another usage is to refer to what precedes, in which case, it may mean “in this way, in this manner, so, thus.” It is in the second usage of “in this manner” or “in that way indicated” that the apostle used the word in our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1 to indicate that what he expects of the Corinthians should be in keeping to what he instructed to the Galatian churches.
To indicate that the apostle expects the Corinthians to follow the same instructions given to the Galatian churches he wrote literally you do also. The word “do” both in the NIV and our literal translation is translated from a Greek word (poieō) that may mean “to gain” as it is used to indicate that Jesus Christ was winning more disciples than John the Baptist as we read in John 4:1:
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.
The word may mean “to carry out” as it pertains to an obligation as it is used by Apostle Paul to describe what the Lord will do based on his free quotation from an OT passage (Isaiah 10:22-23) as stated in Romans 9:28:
For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
The word may mean “to do” in the sense of undertaking or doing something as it is used in the description of the battle that takes place inside of the believer between the Holy Spirit and the sinful nature, as stated in Galatians 5:17:
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
The word may mean “to treat” as in the instruction given to slave masters or employers in modern term how they should deal with their slaves or employees in Ephesians 6:9:
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
The word may mean “to act” as Apostle Paul used it to describe his behavior towards believers prior to his conversion as stated in 1 Timothy 1:13:
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:1, the word probably means “to do or act,” that is, “to carry out or perform an action or course of action.”
By the way, the word “also” in our literal translation so you do also is translated from a Greek word (kai) that is often translated “and” in our English versions. However, the Greek particle has several other usages. For example, it may be used to introduce a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translated “and then, and so.” It may be used to emphasize a fact as surprising or unexpected or noteworthy with the meaning “and yet” or “and in spite of that” or “nevertheless.” Of course, it could be used simply for emphasis with the meaning “even.” It may be used to mark an explanation so that what follows explains what goes before it, leading to the translation “that is, namely, and so.” In our verse, the Greek particle is used for emphasis so that it may be translated “also” as in the NASB or the ESV. The point being that the apostle was being emphatic as he continued with his comparison between what the Corinthians should do and what the Galatian congregations or churches were doing. In any event, the second thing we should recognize about the message we are considering is that believers’ approach to giving must be in keeping with the Scripture and that local churches of Christ should strive to operate in a culture neutral manner.
The third thing we should recognize regarding the message we are expounding is that spiritual leaders should prepare the congregation to be involved in supporting fellow believers that are suffering in other locations. This responsibility is based on Apostle Paul’s action after instructing the Corinthians to follow the pattern of the Galatian churches. He did not leave the Corinthians to find out what the Galatian churches or congregations were doing. No! He explained to the Corinthians the preparations that these local churches or congregations were making regarding this special collection for believers in Jerusalem. He began by identifying a specific day involved in the preparation of the Galatian churches about the collection that was for the benefit of believers in Christ who live in Jerusalem.
The first thing he tells them is that the preparation of these other local congregations occurred presumably on a day of worship as implied in the first phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week or literally On (the) first (day) of (the) week.
The word “on” is translated from a Greek preposition (kata) that may be used to introduce the norm that governs something so has the meaning “according to” and in some context may mean “because of” or “on the basis of” as the apostle used it to indicate that the gospel he preached, indicates that Christ died for our sins in keeping with the Scripture as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
The Greek preposition may be used as a marker of temporal aspect. So, it is used with the meaning “about” to convey indefinite indication of time as in the general time that Paul and Silas were praying and singing in the Philippian jail reported in Acts 16:25:
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
It is with the meaning “at, on, during” that the word is used for definite indications of time as in the promise to Abraham by the Lord of the birth of Isaac that Apostle Paul quoted in Romans 9:9:
For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
Still under the usage as a marker of temporal aspect, our Greek word is used distributively so that it can refer to each individual of class so may mean “each, every” or it has the sense of “x period by x period.” If “x” is taken as “day” then the Greek preposition may be translated “every day” as the apostle used it to describe his experience in suffering for the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:31:
I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If “x” is taken as “year” then it means “every year” as was the practice of the parents of Jesus to attend yearly, the Passover Feast in Jerusalem as reported in Luke 2:41:
Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:2, the word is used in the sense of “on” combined with the word “every” as in the phase On the first day of every week that is literally On (the) first (day) of (the) week.
The expression “first day” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (mia)/(heis) that is a numerical term with the meaning “one.” However, there are several senses associated with the basic meaning. The word may mean “one” with focus on the quantitative aspect of person or thing. Thus, it may mean “one in contrast to many” as Apostle Paul used the word to indicate that one person, Adam, was responsible for entrance of sin into the world in Romans 5:12:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
The word may mean “one” with focus on uniformity or quality of a single entity and so in some passages may mean “one and the same” as it is used to describe the God that justifies both Jews and Gentiles in the same way, that is, by faith in Christ Jesus in Romans 3:30:
since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
The phrase only one God may be translated one and the same God. The Greek word may mean “one” in referring to an unspecified entity so may mean “someone” as it is used in the instruction regarding the practice of speaking in tongues in public worship as stated in 1 Corinthians 14:27:
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.
Our Greek word may be used as a marker of something that is first and so means “the first,” as it is used for the first day of the week when some women went to the tomb of Jesus as narrated in Matthew 28:1:
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:2, the Greek word is used in the sense of “first day” especially because of the word “week” that appears in our passage. Anyway, there is more to the phase On the first day of every week, but we are out of time, so we will continue with it in our next study. However, let me end by reminding you of the message we are expounding which is that a local church should endeavor to provide aid to less privileged believers in other locations that they are made aware of through their spiritual leadership, following biblical pattern.
01/05/24