Verse 2
From the earliest day of the church’s existence Christians assembled on Sundays to worship in commemoration of the Lord’s resurrection. The Lord had not commanded this, but it quickly became customary. The unsaved Jews met on Saturdays.
"This is our earliest evidence respecting the early consecration of the first day of the week by the Apostolic Church. Apparently, the name ’Lord’s Day’ was not yet in use, and the first day of the week is never called ’the sabbath’ in Scripture." [Note: Robertson and Plummer, p. 384.]
Sunday would have been a natural occasion to put money aside for fellow believers since it was particularly on this day that Christians reviewed their responsibilities. Paul did not specify whether the individual Christian should keep the money in his possession or whether a church official should. The former alternative seems more probable in view of the apostle’s language. [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 813.] Note also that he did not say how much to set aside except that it was to be as the Lord had blessed them. The amount was totally up to the givers. Paul mentioned nothing specifically here about giving proportionately to one’s income. We saw earlier that both rich and poor made up this church (1 Corinthians 11:21). Paul’s counsel amounted to: Set aside a little regularly now so you will not need to make a major withdrawal from your funds later.
"The essential features of Christian giving are stated here: (1) the time of giving; (2) the regularity of giving; (3) the participants in giving; (4) the basis of giving; and (5) the manner of giving." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 1250.]
Be the first to react on this!
