Are we unscriptural in taking up a collection in the worship on the Lord's day? Are the churches of Christ around the world engaging in a sinful practice by doing this? Are we to understand that Paul teaches us to put a portion of our money away at home as the Lord prospers us?

Evidently there was a collection among Christ and his disciples before the establishment of the church. Judas Iscariot was what we would call "the treasurer" of the group for the Bible tells us he "had the bag" (John 12:6). Clearly the practice was for Judas to buy those things that the apostles had need of' and to distribute to the poor out of this common treasury (John 13:29).

Immediately after establishment of the church (Acts 2) new disciples who had possessions and lands sold them and brought the money and "1 aid" it at the apostles' feet in a common collection (Acts 4:35,37; 5:2). In Acts 6 the apostles turned over the task of tending to this collection and distribution to capable men. Later Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about the matter of giving of their means which evidently had been already discussed. He said, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon 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. God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem" (1 Cor 16:1-3).

The day that the collection was to be taken up was "the first day of the week." God told Israel, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." He did not specify any certain Sabbath, so the people of God understood Him to mean that every sabbath day was to be remembered and kept holy. The Sabbath day holds no personal significance to the Christian, but the first day of the week was the day of Christ's resurrection (John 20:1). Furthermore, the church of Christ was established on the first day of the week-Pentecost day (Acts 2:1; Lev 23:11,15,16). Just as each week has a first day, each week has a day of worship for Christians. The New Testament church met to "break bread" on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). It surely was the day referred to by John in Revelation 1:10 when he wrote: "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." On every Lord's day the worship of God is to be conducted and it is to include "the collection."

Where is that collection to be done? It seems perfectly clear from what we have already seen that it is to be taken up during the worship on the Lord's day. However, Joseph H. Thayer in his lexicon of the New Testament defines the words, translated in the King James Version "by him" in 1 Corinthians 16:2, as "by him i.e. at his home." (Page 163). Some have taken what Thayer has said to give them the liberty to put away at home a proportionate amount as the Lord has prospered them rather than placing that amount in the collection during the Lord's day worship. We will see as we look more closely that Thayer's is an unfortunate definition of that phrase.

Thayer defines the pronoun, eautou, in its various forms as a "reflective pronoun of the 3rd person. It is used: 1. of the 3rd person sing. and plur., to denote that the agent and the person acted on are the same; as..." After he cites several passages Thayer goes on to say: "Of the phrases into which this pronoun enters we notice the following: ... of itself. i.e. in its own nature, Rom 14:14... to come to one's self' to a better mind. Lk 15:17..." Thayer defines kaq eauton as meaning, "by one's self' alone" and cites Acts 28:16 as to where it occurs. That passage reads: "And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him." Nothing is said in this verse about where Paul is kept. We learn later (from verse 30) that Paul is allowed to have his own hired house, but we do not find that in this verse. Neither are we told that he is not kept in the prison house, and one would certainly dwell "by himself' in what is called "solitary confinement". Dr. George Ricker Berry in his interlinear word for word translation gives: "...but Paul was allowed to remain by himself, with the who kept him soldier." (We know that to make sense in English the word "soldier" needs to be inserted between "the" and "who"). What we are told by verse 16 is that Paul is not kept with other prisoners, but he is allowed to stay by himself (with a guard). Thayer goes on to define kaq eauton in James 2:17 to indicate that faith "by itself" is dead.

Please continue to remember the general definition, "of the 3rd person sing. and plur., to denote that the agent and the person acted on are the same Now Thayer gives the phrase par eautw in 1 Cor 16:2 the definition "by him i.e. at his home,". We believe this expression to mean that "by himself" "with himself" "in himself' a decision on how much to give was to be made-a private decision and responsibility, and, therefore, to specify a place (although it is a private place) is an error. "What," someone might say, "do you mean you would challenge Thayer?" Absolutely! Why not? We do not purport to be smarter than Thayer, but we believe in this place he is wrong when he indicates a location. Please remember we believe his work to be among the best of its kind, but Joseph Thayer was just a man. His work although monumental was not inspired. No one should accept it as having Divine authority. And moreover remember Thayer was not a Christian. Sometimes it is difficult to see why such brilliant scholars never come to understand, accept, and obey the Truth, but pride may stand in their way. The apostle Paul said, "not many wise" men are called. When reading after a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or a Baptist, always recognize that his views in some areas are necessarily slanted otherwise he would not belong to a denomination.

The definition Thayer gives to this same expression in Luke 24:12 is, "to himself i.e. to his home." This passage reads: "Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves. and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass." The sight of the empty tomb and the grave clothes caused Peter to wonder, or he pondered "in himself' what had happened. But Thayer would have Peter wondering, or pondering "to his home" which does not make sense to us. Peter is merely wondering in private thought as to what the things he had seen meant. To corroborate his definition Thayer gives John 20:10 which reads, in the King James Version: "Then the disciples went away again unto their own home." But we find that the word "home" is not translated from any word in the original text but is added by the translators. The Diaglott translates this passage: 'amen the disciples went away by themselves." We would say: "Therefore the disciples went their own ways." In Luke 24:12 Peter wondered "within himself' what those things meant.

Thayer gives this same expression in Luke 18:11 to mean, "with himself, i.e. in his own mind." This passage concerns the story of the Pharisee and publican that went up to the temple to pray. Jesus said: "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God. I thank thee..." Thayer's definition certainly is acceptable here. But why would Mr. Thayer say par eautw in 1 Cor 16:2 means "at his home?" It is possible that there were certain documents of the first century which used this expression to mean "at home." However it seems clear that in all these passages of Scripture it carries with it a similar meaning-a reflection on the person or thing doing the acting.

The context clearly shows that a person each week was to "lay" or put into the "collection" an amount determined by him according to what he had been prospered. "Lay" is from tiqhmi to put, place, set, frequently signifies to lay, and is used of (a) laying a corpse in a tomb, Matt 27:60... (b) laying money at the Apostles' feet, Acts 4:35,37; 5:2... (1) Christians, in laying money in store for the help of the needy, 1 Cor 16:2 (lit.. 'let him put')," so says W. E. Vine in his Expository Dictionary. So the term "1ay" or put into the collection in 1 Cor 16:2 is the same as that used to signify the laying of money at the Apostles' feet.

The terms "collection" in verse 1 and "gathering" in verse 3 are from the same Greek word, logia. Paul made it perfectly clear that the collection was to be done BEFORE his coming and NOT AFTER he arrived. If the collection were done by each person at his or her home, it would make necessary another collection or gathering of those various treasuries when Paul came, an act that Paul obviously wanted to avoid. So we can only conclude that the context of 1 Cor 16:1-3 proves that the expression par eautw cannot mean "at his home," but signifies that the person, "himself" is responsible for this action.

We have some questions to ponder. IF each individual were to "purpose" and put in store AT HOME the amount that reflects his or her prospering for the week THEN:

1. Why did the apostle specify that it be done "on the first day of the week?"

2. Why did he not specify Friday, or their pay day, or the Sabbath?

3. Why limit that personal storing up at home to just one day of the week?

4. BUT if this money is to be collected into one treasury, then is it not reasonable that they would collect it when they "came together" to worship?

IF the "collection" of this money is to be done AT HOME then it is not an ordinance of worship, and ALL OF IT should be collected AT HOME, and we have no right to collect it in the worship. BUT if it is an ordinance of worship then IT MUST BE DONE WHEN WORSHIP IS CONDUCTED. Is that when the collection was commanded to be done? YES! The "collection" or "gathering" of this money was to be done on "the first day of the week," the day "when the disciples came together to break bread."

The expression, par eautw, then, is simply reinforcement of the command to every individual- "let each of you for himself put in the collection whatever he may be prospered." This corresponds to Paul's instruction in his second epistle to the Corinthians when he said: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7). Every person, therefore, by personal, private deliberation "with himself' is to calculate the amount that he or she has been prospered, and in turn "purpose," or commit a specific amount to be "laid," or put in the "store" or "collection" when the disciples come "together to break bread" "upon the first day of the week."-1852 - 3rd P1. N.E., Birmingham, Alabama 35215