The Bible Study Hour

Mark Daniels: The Apostle Paul's final chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians focuses on several things, but mostly on the topic of how Christians should give, how they should use their means to bring glory to God. Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, the radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically.

Paul's instructions and example in giving demonstrate the sense that Christians should have that regardless of race, nationality, or background, they share a common belief in a hostile world. Listen now as Dr. Boice lays before us Paul's principles for the use of the financial resources God had given those Corinthian Christians, principles that still apply in our lives today.

Dr. James Boice: We've been studying 1 Corinthians together for a number of weeks now, and we come here in our final study to Chapter 16, which is a very practical chapter. It's almost surprising to come to it after the 15th chapter, which is this great chapter on the resurrection.

There are many great chapters in this book. Early in 1 Corinthians, there has been an extensive discussion of human wisdom versus that wisdom that comes from God. That's a key section of Scripture. And then there is the 13th chapter in which the Apostle Paul has given us that classic statement of love, that magnificent definition of love.

And then the 15th chapter on the resurrection. This has been the most extensive treatment of any doctrinal matter in the book. Paul has laid the groundwork for belief in the resurrection because it was being challenged at Corinth, and he has talked about the nature of the resurrection. And then he concludes with this magnificent statement of the victory that is ours in Christ because of the resurrection.

So we read that, and then we come to Chapter 16, and it almost seems like an anticlimax because here he begins to talk about Christian giving and a section that deals with personal matters, his relationship to Timothy and Apollos and some of the people from Corinth. And then finally, there are just some greetings and sort of encouraging statements at the end.

I don't think we should think of the chapter that way, however. When we do, what we are really betraying is an imbalance in the Christian life because we are saying, and we tend to do this, we have to admit it, we tend to say that what really matters in Christianity is theology or doctrine. And well, practical matters fit in somewhere, but they're less important, and perhaps there are even situations in life that we can dispense with them. The Apostle Paul didn't think that way.

The Apostle Paul always understood doctrine in terms of its practical application. And that's why in all of his great epistles, the flow of the thought is from doctrine in the first portion of the book to the application of that doctrine in the second part. You find it in the Book of Romans, the most doctrinal book of all Paul's writings, which contains a great statement of the gospel and in the middle sections, God's plan and purpose in history. All of that occupying the first 11 chapters of the book.

But then in Chapter 12 and for many chapters thereafter, he begins to talk about how Christians should live because of this great Christian theology. Galatians is the same way. He begins with some personal matters in the first two chapters of Galatians because the epistle was an occasional letter that arose out of problems in the church at Corinth. He deals with the doctrinal matters in the middle two chapters, Chapters 3 and 4. And then again at the end, in Chapters 5 and 6, he gets practical once again. And that's what we have here.

It is significant that the thing he begins with is this matter of the collection, which he's not too specific about, but which we know from some of the other epistles in which it is also mentioned, he was collecting around the Roman world for the poor saints in Jerusalem. This was really a new thing. People didn't do that in his day. We're sort of accustomed to what we call Christian charity, and we have charitable organizations that are not necessarily Christian.

In our time, it's just part of our culture. But because of that, we fail to see how really unique this sort of thing was. The Roman Empire, from time to time, somebody might give a coin to a beggar, and certainly a certain amount of charity was recognized in Judaism, but that was always within your own culture and to your own people. Compared to the kind of things that we think of in terms of Christian charity, it was generally a very small thing.

And yet here in Christianity, from the very beginning, you have a demonstration of the sense Christians had that regardless of what their national background might be or their race or the area of the world in which they lived, they shared a common life, and therefore the concern of one was the concern of all. Some time ago, Francis Schaeffer was talking about an experience he had had of this in witnessing to somebody. He had been talking to a friend of his about the gospel, and the man wasn't much interested in that.

He certainly didn't care for the theology of Christianity. But they got around to practical matters. And Schaeffer was talking about the effect that the gospel of Christ has on people in terms of their attitude to other people. And they were talking about Cambodia and the refugees from Southeast Asia and the fact that they had come to the West, and particularly to the United States.

And the man, who nevertheless was not persuaded by the argument, said, "I do have to admit that it is the Western nations and particularly the United States that has taken the refugees in." Well, that is just what is part of Christianity. And here in this 16th chapter, we have Paul talking about that in very practical ways. Now, in the first four verses, he talks about giving and he lays down some principles for it.

These, I think, are not rules in the sense that they're unvariable, that what Paul says here has to be followed in precisely this way in every single situation, but they're nevertheless pretty good principles where giving is concerned. One thing he talks about here is local giving because you see, when he begins to talk about this collection, he says that he's telling them to do the same thing that he had told the Galatian churches to do and presumably what he would also instruct the Roman churches to do and the churches in Philippi and all the other places where he had visited.

He's saying that giving in Christianity should be on a local level. It doesn't mean, of course, that there can't be such a thing as a national organization or even an international organization that raises money for a particular cause, but it does mean that giving as a local expression of faith is a valid principle. And not only a valid principle, a good one, because of course it has to do with accountability.

You see, if you have an organization that is somewhat remote from the people that are giving, the lines of communication are strained and accountability oftentimes gets lost along the way. Where giving is local, where the people in a given locality will give to Christian work and give to people that they know will then manage it in a responsible way, you have a kind of accountability which all Christian organizations and particularly local churches should have.

There is so much dishonesty in raising money, and I might say also so much waste in money that is raised. The best possible guard against that is to have the money raised and distributed at the local level. And then the second thing he talks about here is regular giving. You see, he says on the first day of every week. Now, again, I don't think that means that in every single instance and every single place for every single person, giving has to be once a week.

As a matter of fact, if someone comes by and is in need, regardless of when that is, a Christian has an obligation to help out. And to go to the other side of it, some people pay their bills monthly, and it's just convenient for them as they write out checks to write out checks to Christian work on a monthly basis. This is not the kind of statement that excludes that. But it is saying that giving should be regular because, of course, that means that it's built into the fabric of the Christian life.

It's not simply to be a thing that is done at whim, as if it doesn't enter our thinking most of the time, and we go on living our lives basically for ourselves, and then when somebody presents a particular need and is pressing a certain deplorable situation in the church, then we say, "Well, maybe I ought to respond to that," and so we give a little bit. That isn't what Paul is saying. He's saying that giving should be the essence of Christianity.

We have received abundantly from God, and therefore, as Christian people, we should give naturally and regularly. And so he says, in very practical terms, one way to do that is to do it on the first day of the week, that is to say, when Christian people gather together to worship as they do in their churches. He speaks also of individual giving. Notice, each one of you should set aside a sum of money.

He's not saying giving is for the rich. He's not saying giving is for somebody else. He's not saying giving is for certain saints who have reached a certain high level of spirituality. He's saying each one of you. We know because we have been reading this letter that some of these people were not terribly spiritual at all. They had all kinds of battles going on there in their midst, all kinds of problems, and yet he's speaking to every one of them.

And he's saying, "You see, this is something that touches every Christian." And then the fourth principle that he gives is what you would have to call proportionate giving: "Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income." Whenever you talk about proportionate giving, people always raise the matter of a tithe. Tithe was an Old Testament pattern. Tithe is a tenth; that's what the word means.

And the question is sometimes raised in Christianity, "Well, are Christians bound to the Old Testament tithe?" People that raise that question are usually giving less, and so they're a bit worried that perhaps there's more they're bound to do. I usually say when I respond to that question that, so far as I can see, the tithe is not established as a legal thing in the New Testament.

That's understandable because in the Old Testament, the tithe was really a tax. It's the money that was given to support the government and support the temple worship, which went together in a theocracy. And it's quite understandable how that would function. In Christianity, the life of the spirit is to be the life of the heart, and it's not quite the same thing. We don't find the same kind of legalistic guidelines laid down in the New Testament that are laid down in the Old.

And so I read the New Testament, I don't see it saying anywhere, "Yes, Christians are to give one tithe of all they possess to the Lord's work." And yet, I like to say whenever I comment along those lines that in the New Testament, when you speak of New Testament morality and you speak of the ethics of the heart as opposed to the legalism of the law, the standard generally is higher.

The Lord seemed to express that when he was talking about the law. You have it in the fifth chapter of Matthew. He said, "You've heard it said, 'Don't do this,' but I say to you," and then as he interpreted that Old Testament law for his day, he expanded it to show that it had to do with the heart, and it was a much higher and grander thing than anybody had been handling it as at that time.

So I say if the Old Testament principle was a tenth, we're not bound to a tenth, why we can give 15 percent of our income or 20 percent of our income. I wonder also, when I look at this and it talks about "a certain sum of money in keeping with his income," that if it's not suggesting, I'm not sure it is, but I wonder if it's not suggesting that those who have more should give proportionately more.

You see, someone who has a small amount of money and is trying to get by on that might say, "Well, the Old Testament they gave 10 percent. I want that to be at least my minimum." And so they give 10 percent of their money, and then they struggle to get by on the small amount that's left. On the other hand, you have somebody who makes a great deal, lots and lots of money, 10, 20, 100 times what the poor person makes.

And this person says, "Well, you know, Old Testament principle is 10 percent. I'm going to give 10 percent." And he gives 10 percent, and because it's 10 percent of a lot, it looks like a lot, and he feels real proud of himself, all that money that he's given. And yet, he has an enormous amount left to live on. I would suggest that proportionate giving should be something like the graduated income tax.

If the government can do it, certainly we can do it as Christian people. The more we have, the more we ought to be able to give, and fortunately, I know in many cases that this is precisely the way Christian people operate. At any rate, here we have very practical suggestions. Now, in the next portion of this 16th chapter, beginning with verse five, Paul speaks of himself and his fellow workers. It's an interesting kind of relationship he had there.

Paul, of course, is the Apostle, and so he speaks with a special divine authority that not everybody else had, and in his writing, he wrote by inspiration, therefore with the authority of the Holy Spirit. There's Timothy, Timothy who he was training to carry on a lot of the leadership of the church after he was gone. A younger man, a godly man, one about whom he speaks very favorably.

He does so extensively in the letter to the Philippians and in his letters to Timothy himself. And yet a man who, as we read those various references to him, was probably somewhat insecure in his position of leadership. He might even have had what we tend to call today an inferiority complex. I don't think Paul would have said that of him. But you know, he was with Paul, and Paul was the great Apostle, the dynamic leader, the dynamo in the church.

And Timothy was quieter. And it happened in Timothy's case, we pick that up from the various references to him, that those who saw him didn't always think quite so highly of him because after all, he wasn't Paul, and he wasn't as dynamic as Paul was, and he was younger than Paul was. And so again and again, as Paul writes to these churches, he tells them to receive Timothy and be kind to him and accept him, which is what he does here.

And when he writes to Timothy, he says to him, "Don't let anybody despise your youth, but instead be an example of the believers in all the various Christian graces." So you have Paul on the one hand and Timothy, and then he mentions this man Apollos here. Apollos apparently was a very eloquent man, a Greek who spoke with the eloquence of the Greek orators, therefore was very well received in the Greek city-states.

Apollos had been to Corinth because earlier in the letter, we find out that part of the factionalism that was there in the church was as a result of Paul and Peter and Apollos and the fact that the Christians there in the church more or less divided up among these Christian leaders. One said, "Well, I'm of Paul. I follow his party." And the other one said, "Well, I'm of Apollos. I follow his party."

Apollos had been there and he had apparently been a great leader. It would be possible, I suppose, for Paul to have been jealous of Apollos. You'll notice as you read the reference to him in verse 12 that he says that he urged him to go to Corinth, but that Apollos was unwilling to go, at least for now. It obviously means that Apollos didn't consider himself under Paul's authority.

Paul may have been the Apostle, but when Paul said to Apollos, "I'd like you to go to Corinth," Apollos didn't feel obliged to go. Timothy, of course, did. Timothy did what Paul said. But Apollos didn't feel under his authority. And yet, as we read this, we don't find any jealousy on the part of Paul. We don't feel any resentment. What you have here instead is Paul talking about Apollos as a brother and upholding his ministry before these Christians.

It's a wonderful thing when Christianity functions that way, and one of the sad things in the church is the kind of rivalry that exists between ministers. Sometimes within a local church itself, and perhaps even more often between local churches in a neighborhood or between denominations. I believe in denominations. I think they have their place, and I certainly believe that a local church should belong to something greater than itself because there's the matter of accountability.

And in terms of denominations, I certainly believe in a Presbyterian form of government and all of that. And yet I have to say that the church is bigger than any denomination. And certainly, I hope it's bigger than the Presbyterian denomination. And we have to find ways of reaching out across these barriers, not to deny what we think is important and a valid expression of the faith, but reaching out across these barriers to say, "That person is a brother in the Lord. That person is a sister in the Lord, and although we function in different spheres and we're doing things in different ways, we are nevertheless all members of the body of Christ."

Because unless we do that, well, we're creating the same error that these Christians at Corinth were guilty of when they said, "Well, we're of Paul, we're of Apollos," and so on. Paul, as I say, didn't do that. Now, in verse 13, he has a series of statements in which he's encouraging the Christians at Corinth. There are five statements there. First, be on your guard; second, stand firm in the faith; third, be men of courage; fourth, be strong; and finally, do everything in love.

That's a good challenge for any group of Christians at any time because it speaks of our work in Christianity as a warfare. That there are enemies, and Paul speaks of those that he was facing. He does it just earlier in this chapter, those who were his enemies at Ephesus. It acknowledges the enemies, but it says that Christians in the power of Christ are to stand firm against them.

First thing is to be on your guard. Well, that makes us think of 1 Peter, the fifth chapter, verse eight, where Peter is talking about Satan and he says virtually the same thing. He says, "Be on your guard because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he may devour." You see, it would be bad enough if we just had enemies in the world. There are lots of enemies out there that hate Christianity and everything it stands for.

They're very apparent in our American culture. But that's not the most dangerous thing. Oh, it's a hard thing to have human enemies, and some of them can be very powerful. But Peter says our real adversary is the devil. He is set against anything of God, and therefore he does whatever he can to oppose the gospel. And Peter says, and Paul is saying the same thing here, the wise Christian, the one who is living as God wants him to, will be on his guard against such things.

That means that we must be on guard against temptation, we must be on guard against factionalism, we must be on guard against error, all the kind of things that can creep into a Christian life or into a church and hurt it. He says secondly that we're to stand firm. That brings to mind the sixth chapter of Ephesians, where Paul is speaking of the same kind of warfare that Peter is speaking about in his letter.

Speaking about the devil and the principalities and the powers that oppose us on every hand, and where he says several times over in that great passage about the Christian's armor that we are to stand. "Stand therefore," he says, "and having done everything, stand." I don't know whether as he wrote that he had specifically in mind the difference between offensive and defensive warfare, but I think it may be what was in the back of his mind.

Offensive warfare is where you go forward and take new ground, and defensive warfare is where you stand ground on that land which you've already taken. Now, I suppose it would be true to say that any land that is taken in Christianity is taken by Jesus Christ because he is the great warrior. And our responsibility, therefore, is to possess that land which he has already taken and to stand firm on it.

It may be that that's what he has in mind here. At any rate, his emphasis is upon standing. Standing firm in the faith, not being shaken from that position to which we have already been brought by Jesus Christ. He says thirdly, be men of courage, and fourthly, be strong. So easy to lose courage or be weak because we look out and we see the enemies that are arrayed against us and we say, "Well, we can't stand against that. We're just poor and weak and insignificant and small in numbers."

And what we need to have is our eyes opened like the servant of Elijah to see the hills filled round about with the chariots of fire and the angels of the Lord. That's our armament, that's the host of the Lord, that's the strength in which we stand. And he's telling these Corinthians to do that. And then finally, he talks about love. He says, "Do everything in love." Some years ago, E. Stanley Jones, when he was in India and Mahatma Gandhi was still living, had an interview with Gandhi.

And he said in the context of the interview because Gandhi knew the Western world so well, he said to him, "Mr. Gandhi, what would the Christians have to do to win India for Jesus Christ?" And Gandhi said, "Well, first of all, the Christians have to live like Jesus Christ." And secondly, he said, "You mustn't compromise your faith." And third, he said, "Learn everything you can about the non-Christian religions."

And then he said fourth, "This is the most important thing of all: let everything you do be characterized by love." I think that's what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying, "Oh, we're engaged in a battle, and that battle requires strength of character, and God is looking for soldiers who are able to stand, but that warfare is not the kind of warfare in which the world engages.

This is not the kind of warfare that is carried forward by arrogance or by hatred of the enemy. This is the kind of warfare that is won by love." Because, of course, love is of the character of God. It tells us in Scripture, "God is love." Therefore, where love is seen in the hearts of God's people, God is at work, and people see God and are drawn to him, particularly as that love is manifest in Jesus Christ.

Now at the very end of this, Paul talks about a number of individuals. He always does that or generally does that in his letters. I think that's very interesting because it shows that Paul, for all his theology and all his sense of missionary strategy, he's always thinking in terms of where he's going to go next and what his plans are going to be for the next 12 months, and that's evident here as he tells where he's going to be and what he's going to do.

Paul, for all of that, for all of his intellectual ability and all of his strategy in terms of missionary things, nevertheless was always thinking about people. And he thought about them in a very warm way. Here's Stephanas. This man was one of the first converts in Achaia, there in Corinth. And he opened his house to Paul, and that's where one of the first churches in that city was established. That man probably was having difficulty because he says, "I urge you, brothers, submit to such as these."

It's easy to understand how that was happening because they weren't very willing to submit to Paul, and they weren't going to submit to Paul, they weren't going to submit to Stephanas either. But he says, "This man's a leader. He's an elder in the church," I think that's what he would imply. He said, "Submit to him." And then he speaks favorably. These men had come, Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, and perhaps others.

Probably they're the ones that had brought a letter from Corinth to Paul when he was at Ephesus, where he found out about the problems and he's responding and it's probably these men who are going to take the letter back. But Paul's appreciative of them. He says they've made up for what was lacking from you. It might mean that he has a gift in mind and he's thanking them for it in an indirect way.

I think probably what he's thinking of is the fellowship that he had enjoyed with the Corinthian Christians. He's saying, "I've missed you, and here were these three that came and they represented your church and your fellowship, and so to some degree they made up that void in my heart that I've had because you are not with me and I'm not with you. Oh," he says, "such men deserve recognition."

And then he turns to those among whom he is currently ministering, those in Asia where Ephesus was. Aquila and Priscilla had made their way there and he says they send their greetings and so do all the brothers. And finally, he, Paul, from verse 21 and following, sends his own greeting. Paul seems to have written the last words of the books with his own hands.

He must have had what's called an amanuensis to do most of his writing, that is he would dictate it and this person, probably a slave, would function as a secretary and write it down. Paul seems to have written the last words himself. Some have speculated because Paul speaks of an affliction that he had, that perhaps he had trouble with his eyes. It's very likely. If that's the case, he would write with large letters.

He does say that at the end of Galatians: "Look with what large letters I am writing." It might be he just didn't have the polished Greek hand of a scribe. We don't know that for sure, but at any rate, Paul characteristically wrote the end of the letters himself, somewhat as an authentication because there were counterfeit letters, forgeries that were going around that were supposed to be from Paul.

So he wrote this himself at the end. And he writes: "I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand," and then here it is: "If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus." In the Greek language here in the original text, there are two interesting words there. One is the word "anathema," which is a Greek word.

It's a word we have translated "accursed." And then there is the Aramaic word "Maranatha," which is translated in the New International Version, "Come, O Lord." That word "Maranatha" can be divided up in two ways, and it can mean a statement, "the Lord is coming," or it can be a prayer, "Come, O Lord." Probably it's to be taken in the latter way, which is how it's translated here. Paul recognizes the seriousness of Christ's judgment.

Jesus is coming, and those who are not in Christ, who do not love him because their natures have been changed because they're born again, will experience his judgment. They are under the curse of God. It's a serious, serious thing. And yet, at the same time he says that, Paul can express a prayer for Jesus' return because that prayer will mean the resolution of all things, will mean judgment upon sin, it will mean the reward of the godly and Christ's reign forever and ever.

No wonder he says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus." What a practical epistle. Thank you, Paul, for giving it to us. May we have the courage and grace of Jesus Christ to live by the principles we find here. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess when we read even a short portion of Scripture that it is far beyond us to live up to what we find there perfectly.

But Father, help us to make a beginning, and particularly we pray for those specific matters that you have laid upon our hearts, each one individually as you've spoken through this study. Give us grace to do what we know in our hearts we must do, and so to be faithful in little things, in order that by your grace in later days we might be found faithful in greater things too. We thank you for your grace.

We thank you for that love which is in the gospel. We thank you for the presence of Christ. We thank you for the promise of his return. Our Father, help us to live as if we were going to meet the Lord Jesus Christ this very evening. Amen and amen.

Mark Daniels: You're listening to the Bible Study Hour, featuring the teaching of Dr. James Boice. Did you ever wonder what it would be like to go back in time and sit with first-century believers as they worshipped and see how they lived together in a community of faith? Find out more with our free CD offer entitled "The Church at Worship and Work," also by Dr. Boice. This free CD is our way of saying thank you. Just call 1-800-488-1888, and we'll be honored to send you a copy of "The Church at Worship and Work." That number again is 1-800-488-1888.

As we look at the Apostle Paul's principles for giving and apply them to our own lives, we still find great need in the world. One of the most important needs is for people to hear and understand God's word. To that end, would you consider a gift to the Bible Study Hour? You can make your monthly pledge or a one-time donation by calling us directly at 1-800-488-1888, or visit us online at thebiblestudyhour.org. And our mailing address: 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601.

The message you just heard, as well as audio books and more from Dr. Boice and many other reformed teachers, authors, and speakers, is available at reformedresources.org. That's reformedresources.org. I'm Mark Daniels. The Apostle Paul was hurting. He worried about his fledgling churches, he fretted about the false teachers trying to infiltrate them and the lies they were spreading about him. Yet Paul did not despair because he possessed the weapon of comfort in the midst of troubles.

Join Dr. James Boice as he examines the reasons God allows us to suffer and the comfort he affords in the midst of that suffering. That's next time on the Bible Study Hour, preparing you to think and act biblically.